Helping Your Parents Avoid Guardianship

Helping Your Parents Avoid Guardianship

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As your parents get older, the concern grows that their mental faculties will become impaired, and theyll no longer be able to handle their own personal or financial affairs. Ailments like Alzheimers and other forms of dementia are common and become more likely with age, as does the risk of stroke and other debilitating health issues.

And, once a person becomes mentally incapacitated, the need for a court-appointed guardian becomes likely. Guardianship marks a huge loss of control over a persons life, not to mention an intrusion by the court system and a loss of privacy. So, what can you do to help your parent avoid guardianship?

First, encourage your parents to put a Financial Power of Attorney in place. This is a document your parents can use to appoint someone they trust (called an attorney-in-fact) to take over their financial affairs for them should they become mentally incapacitated. The attorney-in-fact can be given the authority to pay bills, manage bank accounts and investments, handle property transactions, and essentially step into your parents shoes for financial purposes.

You can also encourage your parents to make Advance Healthcare Directives. An Advance Healthcare Directive is a document that allows your parents to communicate their wishes as to what types of end-of-life medical treatment they do and dont wish to receive. They can also appoint a healthcare agent to make medical decisions for them if theyre unable to make those decisions for themselves.

Finally, your parents may wish to put a Revocable Living Trust in place, naming a Disability Trustee to take over and manage the trust assets if your parents become mentally incapacitated.

The key to avoiding guardianship is to encourage your parents to take these recommended steps while they are clear-headed and aware of their actions. Once a person is suffering from a mental disability, its too late to engage in incapacity planning.

Its also important that, while you encourage your parents to take these important steps, its your parents and not you - who ultimately decide to put their plan in place.

About the Author:

Robert J. Kulas, P.A. is a leading provider of expert estate and financial planning in Port St. Lucie, FL. For more information on parents become, visit our website.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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