Believe it or not, many people don’t know the first thing about incapacity planning. The phrase sounds familiar, but they have never considered what this means to them and their family.
If you have yet to look into this, if you don’t know how it fits into your current estate plan, now is the time for a change.
Here is how we describe incapacity planning on our website:
“Incapacity planning is a broad area of law that covers how you are cared for if you become physically or mentally unable to care for yourself. The type of care could range from simple tasks like buying groceries, paying bills, and handling financial matters to more important decisions such as selling real estate, gifting assets to your children, or making critical medical decisions.”
With that in mind, you now have a better idea of what incapacity planning is all about. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you are ready to make key decisions just yet.
The Primary Benefit
The primary benefit of incapacity planning is the ability to create a plan that could greatly impact your life should you be unable to care for yourself.
You need to plan for anything and everything, as you never know what the future holds. It is easy to think that you will never become incapacitated, but there is a chance this could happen at some point. How will you receive the care you require? Who will care for you? What will happen to your personal and financial affairs?
With the right incapacity plan in place, all of these questions are answered in advance. This way, if something does go wrong, you don’t have to concern yourself with what will happen next. You can trust that your plan will take care of anything and everything that moves to the forefront.
What are the Best Incapacity Planning Techniques?
It is one thing to understand the importance of incapacity planning. It is another thing entirely to implement the best planning techniques at the right time.
The plan you follow may not be the same as the next person, however, there are some details that always come into play.
Some of the best incapacity planning techniques include: health care powers of attorney, property powers of attorney, living will, guardianship, and advanced health care directives.
Maybe you need to consider all of these incapacity planning techniques. Maybe you only need to consider one. Either way, you should learn more about the finer details of them all, ensuring that you leave no stone unturned.
Answer these Questions
Now that you have a basic understanding of incapacity planning, including why it is so important to your future, there are some questions you need to answer:
- Have you considered incapacity planning in the past?
- Do you need to make any changes to your incapacity plan, or are you okay with the way things stand right now?
- Have you thought about your wants and needs from a financial and personal perspective?
For example, the third question is extremely important. You need to know that a reliable party will handle your finances until you are able to once again take over. And of course, you need somebody on your side who can make challenging health care decisions on your behalf.
When you answer these types of questions, among others, it won’t be long before you have a better understanding of what types of changes you can make to improve this area of your estate plan.
Like many, you may have avoided estate planning in the past. And even if you do have an estate plan in place, there is a chance that you have overlooked the importance of incapacity planning. Don’t let this remain a problem into the future.
If you need help, we are here to point you in the right direction. For example, you can download and review our report entitled “Fifteen Common Reasons To Do Estate Planning.”
With this report in hand, you will have a better understanding of why now is the time to do estate planning. On top of this, you will get a clear idea of the reasons and benefits associated with incapacity planning. Don’t wait any longer to take on this task!
- The Questions of Estate Planning, Part 6: Why - January 6, 2020
- The Questions of Estate Planning, Part 5: How - January 2, 2020
- The Questions of Estate Planning, Part 4: Where - December 30, 2019
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