Incapacity happens when you have a physical condition or a mental condition that affects your ability to process information, make judgments and decisions, and communicate your preferences and desires. Incapacity can happen for lots of different reasons, from a stroke to being struck by a car. It can also happen at any time over the course of your life, whether you are young or old.
No one ever wants to think about becoming incapacitated because it is not a fate that anyone would wish for. Unfortunately, if tragedy strikes, your family could be left in a far worse situation if you have not made plans in advance.
You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to work with a Salt Lake City, UT incapacity planning lawyer so you will be prepared no matter what tomorrow brings. Give Randy Holmgren a call today at (801) 981-4437 to find out about the personalized incapacity planning services we offer and to get questions answered including:
- What is involved in incapacity planning?
- What if I don’t have an incapacity plan?
- How can a Salt Lake City incapacity planning lawyer help me?
What Is Involved in Incapacity Planning?
Incapacity planning involves three primary steps: making sure you have made decisions on medical care in advance; making sure you know who will manage your assets if you can’t; and making sure you can pay for nursing home costs if you need custodial care because of your incapacitating illness or injury.
There are a few different approaches to take to complete these steps. For example, making decisions on medical care in advance can involve making a Do Not Resuscitate order and/or creating a living will and specifying what kinds of care you want and under what circumstances. You can name a healthcare proxy as well, which gives you the power to say who will make healthcare choices for you when you cannot communicate your own preferences.
If your focus is on protecting your assets, you can consider using living trusts and naming a backup trustee who will immediately begin to manage trust assets once you no longer can. A power of attorney can also transfer the authority over your assets and decision-making to a trusted agent of your choosing. If you opt for a power of attorney, you will need to make it durable so it stays in effect when you need it.
What If You Don’t Have an Incapacity Plan?
You need to take all of the essentials steps of incapacity planning and make effective use of the right legal tools in order to avoid a wide variety of undesirable outcomes for you and your loved ones in the event of incapacity. If you have not made and carried out your plans in advance:
- Your family struggle to make hard choices on whether to keep you alive with machines or pull the plug.
- Your family could fight over what kinds of medical decisions should be made on your behalf.
- You could end up with medical care you don’t want to receive.
- Your loved ones could be forced to go to court and initiate guardianship proceedings just to get control over your property once you cannot manage it.
- Your assets could decline in value because no one has authority to take care of them until a guardian is appointed.
- The guardian appointed to manage your affairs may be someone you wouldn’t want in charge of your affairs.
You don’t want any of these things to happen to compound the tragedy of incapacity. Call us now to start on your incapacity plan to make sure none of this happens to you and your loved ones.
How can a Salt Lake City Incapacity Planning Lawyer Help?
Randy Holmgren provides incapacity planning services to clients in Salt Lake City, Provo, Orem, Ogden, Park City, Cedar City, St. George, and surrounding areas throughout Utah. When you are ready to create a plan to protect your future and your family’s future, even in the event that tragedy occurs, we will guide you through the process. Give us a call at (801) 981-4437 or contact us to find out more about how we can help.
