Why Your Estate Plan Must Include More than a Will

However, a Will still requires probate administration and it only covers your wishes after death and does not address decisions related to your finances or medical care if you become incapacitated. To ensure that these decisions are handled according to your wishes during your lifetime, there are several additional essential documents you should consider as part of your estate plan:

Power of Attorney for Health Care

Also known as a Healthcare Proxy or Designation of Healthcare Surrogate, this document allows you to designate someone you trust to make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you are no longer able to make them yourself. These decisions can include choosing healthcare providers, types of treatment, and long-term care facilities. It also includes critical end-of-life decisions such as the use of feeding tubes and do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders.

Power of Attorney for Finances

Similar to a healthcare power of attorney, a Power of Attorney for Finances allows you to appoint a trusted individual to manage your financial matters if you become unable to do so. This can include handling income, managing investments, and making other important financial decisions. By setting up powers of attorney for both healthcare and finances, you can help avoid costly and stressful court-ordered guardianship proceedings for your loved ones.

Living Will

A Living Will allows you to specify your wishes for medical treatments in end-of-life situations. While a Power of Attorney for Health Care gives someone else the authority to make decisions for you, a Living Will outlines your specific preferences regarding life-prolonging treatments, such as resuscitation or the use of ventilators. This document can relieve your family from making tough decisions without knowing your desires and ensures that your healthcare preferences are clear and respected.

HIPAA Release  

A HIPAA Release lets you decide who can access your medical information. Without this release, healthcare providers are restricted from sharing details about your condition with anyone not explicitly named in the document, due to the strict privacy rules set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Having this in place ensures that the right people can stay informed about your health when needed.

Revocable Living Trust

Creating a Revocable Living Trust can prevent your estate from going through probate, which speeds up the distribution of assets and keeps your financial matters private. A trust also allows you to set specific conditions for when and how your heirs will receive their inheritance, which is useful if you have concerns about a beneficiary’s ability to manage their inheritance responsibly.

Irrevocable Trust

For those looking to protect their assets from potential threats such as long-term care costs, divorce, creditors, or lawsuits, an Irrevocable Trust is an effective tool. This type of trust can help safeguard your wealth while still providing for your loved ones.

To ensure your wishes are fully honored—both while you are alive and after you pass away—it’s important to have all of these legal documents in place. Estate planning is not a one-size-fits-all process, and we are here to help you craft a plan tailored to your unique needs and goals.

We invite you to contact us to discuss your estate planning needs and create a plan that offers peace of mind for you and your family.

At Haimo Law, we pride ourselves on our holistic approach to representation, which sets us apart. First, we build personal relationships with our clients, taking the time to understand them on a deeper level. Second, we collaborate with other professionals, such as CPAs, financial advisors, realtors, other attorneys and more, to achieve our clients’ goals. We view planning as a team effort. Third, we consider our client’s emotional, mental, familial, and spiritual needs, recognizing that various circumstances and factors influence their behavior, with legal matters being just one aspect. Our distinctive and refreshing approach ensures that we consider all these elements in every client engagement. Offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Port Jefferson, New York.

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