It’s a touchy topic that very few of us like to think about: making final choices.
Our time here is not eternal, and as we get older, the likelihood grows that we won’t be able to make our own financial and medical decisions.
At a recent workshop on “Effective Estate Planning for Seniors,” hosted by Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay, Albany attorney Bonnie K. Bishop offered options to ensure that you make the best decisions.
“Who’s going to take care of you?” Bishop asked the 10 participants at JFCS’ Center for Older Adult Services in Albany, who took detailed notes during the two-hour session.
“And when you die, who’s going to take care of your property? This is all really important.”
Bishop, a certified specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law, emphasized how essential it is to understand and complete the paperwork while you’re able and functioning — rather than when it’s too late.
“You want to be doing this voluntarily,” she said, explaining that once most people hit their 80s, too often “something happens, and you lose your ability to make your own decisions.”
Ada Burko, director of the center, agrees.
“Unfortunately, too often we consult people when things are in crisis,” she says. “At this point, the older parents are at a place when they need to deal with many things at once — including their health care — and they often worry how, financially, they will be able to cover their cost.”
Bishop emphasized that no matter what your net worth, it’s critical to give someone you trust the power to make your financial- and health-care decisions should you become debilitated.
This, too, Burko has found, tends to be something we put off.
“Although it may be upsetting at times to think about ‘what if,’ and who among your children is the most suitable to execute plans on your behalf, it is much less so than later on when crisis is taking place,” Burko says.
“Sometimes one of the parents may have dementia and can say very little at this point regarding how they would like their money to be spent and what his and her priorities are,” Burko explains. “At this time, the family members — who may have different relationships with their parents and different perceptions — are starting to speculate, give advice and often get into confrontation regarding what may be best for their parents andhow the money should be spent.”
A common dilemma, she adds, is: “Should they sell the house and move the parents to a senior housing facility? Or, should they stay at home with full-time care at any cost?
“These are hard questions that create much-unneeded tension among family members and between parents and adult children. Planning in advance may help minimize the struggle.”
A couple of single individuals at the workshop wanted to know what they should do if they don’t have children or extended family to turn to. In this case, Bishop says, you need to “pull from friends, or pull from the professional world.”
If going the latter route, it is possible to hire a professional fiduciary — a state-certified professional who can act as a trustee, attorney in fact or health-care agent. There are only 100 or so private professional fiduciaries in the state of California who do this kind of work, according to Bishop. But, she added, “more and more, there’s going to be a very heavy caseload.”
So, when it comes to paperwork, where should you start?
With the California Medical Association’s “Advance Health Care Directive Kit,” according to Bishop.
By filling out this eight-page form, you are making sure that your health-care wishes are known and considered if for any reason you are unable to speak for yourself, Bishop says. In California, the Advance Health Care Directive Kit is legally recognized as a living will.
In short, a living will spells out the types of medical care you want — or don’t want — if you become incapacitated or terminally ill.
A will, however, won’t cover your assets. This is why Bishop highly recommends having a living trust, too, in which you list everything subject to probate — such as cash, real estate, stocks and bonds, and business investments.
Having this kind of paperwork prepared will help loved ones settle the estate after death, a process than otherwise can take up to one year.
“You don’t settle the affairs of a lifetime in six to eight weeks,” adds Bishop.
For information on private fiduciaries, visit www.pfac-pro.org. To learn more about advance health care directives and order forms, see www.cmanet.org.