There is more to estate planning than understanding what will happen to your assets upon your death. Forget about this for a second and turn your attention to incapacity planning.
It doesn’t matter if you are thinking about your own future or assisting a loved one who is going through a tough time, you need to understand the finer details of incapacity planning, including how to make the tough decisions.
Incapacity planning is exactly what it sounds like. This allows you to prepare for a possible incapacity in the future, ensuring that your wishes are still carried out.
An example of this is the ability to specify who will handle your finances and personal affairs if you are unable to do so on your own, often as the result of a serious illness or injury.
There are many incapacity planning strategies to consider, including:
- Trust. This has a lot to do with the actual distribution of your estate after your death, but it can touch on all aspects of incapacity planning as well.
- Power of attorney. This is a written document in which you appoint a person to act on your behalf in the event of an incapacity.
It’s hard to think about a situation in which you may not be able to make your own decisions, but it’s something you need to do. Through the right approach to incapacity planning, you can feel much better about the future.
It doesn’t matter if you are thinking about your own situation or assisting a loved one – such as trying to determine if a parent should move into a nursing home – there are key details that require your full and undivided attention.
With the right approach to incapacity planning, you can feel better about a future that is full of uncertainties.