No estate plan is complete without designating who will care for you when you can’t care for yourself and Powers of Attorney address these issues. There are a few different parts to this planning, and you may encounter different names for these documents, but they usually include a Power of Attorney for Finance, Power of Attorney for Health Care, Living Will, and HIPAA Authorization.
A Power of Attorney for Finance designates someone to manage the assets in your personal name if you become disabled or incompetent. Your designated agent will not manage any assets you may place in a Revocable Living Trust, but the person that manages the Trust after you can be the same person you designate in your Power of Attorney for Finance.
A Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you to nominate a person to make medical care decisions if you become too ill to communicate your own decisions about medical treatment. If you don’t have one in place, the state will assign someone such as your spouse, parents, or children to make medical decisions on your behalf. A HIPAA Authorization allows your health care provider to discuss your medical conditions with your health care agent.
A Living Will differs because it expresses your end-of-life wishes when you cannot communicate your own decisions and (1) you have an incurable or irreversible injury, disease, illness or condition; (2) your condition is terminal; (3) artificial life-sustaining procedures would serve only to artificially prolong your life; and (4) your death is imminent or you are in a permanent vegetative state. In your Living Will, you can choose the level of artificial life-sustaining treatment you want or don’t want at the end of your life.
