Elder Law Report
Elder Law Report
Proactive Planning: Tips for Alzheimer's and Dementia Families
What if you could take the stress out of future healthcare decisions for yourself and your loved ones? Join us for a crucial conversation with attorney Jordan McIntyre and managing attorney Samantha Gordon from our Charlotte office, as we explore the essential steps to shield yourself from the potential impacts of dementia or Alzheimer's. We promise to equip you with the knowledge to establish vital documents like the General Durable Power of Attorney and the Healthcare Power of Attorney, ensuring that your loved ones can seamlessly make decisions on your behalf without the emotional turmoil of guardianship proceedings.
Throughout this enlightening discussion, Samantha and I emphasize why it's important not to assume that marriage automatically grants authority in these matters. Learn how a financial power of attorney can empower your appointed agent to manage real property, bank accounts, and even long-term care arrangements. By setting up these documents while you still have the capacity, you can safeguard your family's future against unnecessary court interventions. This episode is your guide to proactive planning for peace of mind, effectively protecting your future and those you care about the most.
Hey everyone, welcome to the Elder Law Report. I'm attorney Jordan McIntyre at McIntyre Elder Law and I'm joined by the wonderful Samantha Gordon attorney, samantha Gordon, who is our managing attorney at our Charlotte office.
Samantha Gordon:Hey, everybody happy to be here. So today we're going to be talking about if you are facing a situation where your loved one may be, or you're considering because it's something that has gone on in your family that one of your family members has had dementia or Alzheimer's and you're concerned that what if that happens to me? What am I going to do to make sure that I protect myself? That's what we're going to talk about today to ensure that everyone that's listening understands the important foundational documents that could be necessary to ensure that, if you were faced with that situation, you have everything in place to ensure that your loved ones have the ability to make decisions for you and don't have to go to the court to ask the court to be able to make decisions for you. And so, jordan, if you want to just kind of touch on you know what documents would someone want to consider if they're concerned about a dementia or Alzheimer's diagnosis, or if they have a family member that they're concerned about that or has been diagnosed but still has capacity?
Jordan McIntyre:Well, I think it's important to establish these legal documents early, before capacity declines, and there are two main documents I would be concerned with. That would be the General Durable Power of Attorney and the Healthcare Power of Attorney. The General Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that will allow you to appoint an agent or an attorney, in fact, to manage legal and financial affairs for you, or an attorney, in fact, to manage legal and financial affairs for you, and this could be great assistance in getting you qualified for a benefit like Medicaid if you needed special assistance for long-term care, as well as having someone who has the ability to make health care decisions for you if you needed them to while you were in the hospital, or to release medical records that are protected by HIPAA. You want to make sure that you have these documents in place so someone can assist you if you're worried about being in a position in the future where you're not going to have the cognitive awareness to make these decisions for yourself.
Samantha Gordon:Yeah, definitely so. A financial power of attorney. If I appoint an agent, you know what can they do? Well, they have a lot of authority, possibly, right, and so a financial power of attorney. Whatever you do financially for yourself, your financial power of attorney more than likely will encompass that and give those authorities and powers to your agent. So handling real property decisions, handling bank accounts, handling retirement accounts, possibly, like you said, hiring an attorney for a long-term care situation. So it's super, super important, because even individuals who are married do not have that legal authority just because you are married.
Samantha Gordon:You need to have a document in place that actually says who can make your decisions for you, for your financial matters, also your health matters. If you don't have one of these documents in place, then a guardianship could happen, and guardianships are super emotional. They're much more costly than getting these documents in place and it's asking the court to be the guardian of your own loved one where, if you had a document in place that you appointed someone to make those decisions for you, that can be implemented if something were to happen, rather than having to wait maybe 45 days to go to a court hearing, sit in front of a judge and explain why you should be making decisions for your mother, your husband, whoever it may be, and so it just really ensures that you choose who you want to make your mother, your husband, whoever it may be and so it just really ensures that you choose who you want to make your decisions. But it also makes that process a lot easier for your loved ones and it doesn't present those roadblocks which, jordan, you and I see that a lot and it's you know, it's heartbreaking when someone comes in and they don't know what to do because the documents were not properly set up, these estate planning, foundational documents for a situation that maybe you never thought would happen.
Samantha Gordon:No one has a crystal ball. You don't know what's going to happen, and so getting those documents in place is just so, so, so important. But you know, if I were in a hospital and I did not have a healthcare power of attorney and say I wasn't married, you know who's going to be able to make my healthcare decisions for me, like what happens, jordan well, in that situation we might have to explore guardianship if it's necessary yeah right, and I think you never want to leave that up to chance.
Jordan McIntyre:yeah right, independent third party attorney called the guardian ad litem appointed who will make a report, and it's not guaranteed that a loved one will make those decisions for you or be appointed the guardian. I think you want to communicate with family early to avoid these types of scenarios and you want a loved one appointed to make these healthcare decisions for you. You don't want to leave it up to chance, right, and you want to have the control over who's going to make these decisions. You want to have it be somebody that you trust and that's going to give you peace of mind for the rest of your life, and I think that's what we offer here at McIntyre Out of All.
Samantha Gordon:Definitely peace of mind, for sure.
Samantha Gordon:Peace of mind for you, peace of mind for your loved ones.
Samantha Gordon:Making sure that you have a guide for your loved ones and that they know that if something were to happen and someone needs to step in and make a decision, that there is a guide that allows them to do that for you and there's no roadblocks and there's something in place that says, hey, this is the person I've chosen, and now they can handle those obstacles that may come across your life, your situation, that maybe you just really didn't think would ever happen.
Samantha Gordon:So super, super important financial power of attorney, which is also super, super important. Financial power of attorney, which is also known as the general durable power of attorney. Healthcare power of attorney. Healthcare power of attorney you can state if you have religious instructions, if you want to have an autopsy done or do not, if you want to be buried, cremated, like that document can be a really great instruction list and instruction guide to your loved one on what you want done for your health. And if something were to happen to you, if you would want to be buried or cremated or you know what might happen after the fact, and so those documents are just so, so, so important.
Jordan McIntyre:Yeah. So just to close, I think anytime that you're facing these life challenges, proactive planning is the only way to ease this burden right Mentally, financially, legally and by securing the right legal documents and protecting yourself, you're only going to provide yourself and your loved ones with uh peace of mind and the best possible future planning for you. I think that either I or samantha gordon would love to meet with you um and prepare these documents for you. You can visit the website at wwwmcelderlawcom, where we have plenty of articles, blogs, videos on our estate planning documents, and it will only help you if you come in for a consult. We have offices in Shelby, charlotte and Hendersonville and you can give us a call at 1-888-999-6600.
Samantha Gordon:Awesome Thanks, Jordan. It was great chatting with you.
Jordan McIntyre:Of course.
Samantha Gordon:Bye.