Youth is often used as an excuse for putting off doing a Last Will and Testament or a Living Trust.  The thing is, that estate planning is not just about planning for your death; it also includes planning for yourself personally in the event you experience an incapacitating injury and are unable to make your own financial or medical decisions.  While the odds are certainly in your favor that you will not need an estate plan (we are all invincible when we are young!), you should still consider these four scenarios…

1.  You need a plan in the event that you become disabled or incapacitated.

Unfortunately tragedies happen every day, many of which are out of our control.  And you are not immune to them because you are young.  Just turning on the local news will be evidence of that.  If something happens to you and you are no longer able to make decisions regarding your own financial, legal, and medical affairs you will need to make sure that there are basic documents in place (such as a medical directive, power of attorney and HIPAA authorization) so someone can make life decisions for you.

2.  You need to pass your assets.

You might be asking, “What assets?”  Even if you do not yet own your own home, you need to consider IRAs, retirement accounts and life insurance policies offered through your employer. You need to make sure that beneficiaries are named in the right way so that the people you want to leave them to get maximum benefit.

3.   You need to name guardians for your kids.

If you have children, you simply must name guardians.  You should be the one who decides who will raise them if you are no longer around.  You do not want this decision left to squabbling relatives or to a court system that doesn’t know you, your child or your family dynamic.  You might be thinking that everyone in your family loves your children, that there won’t be any problems.  If they all love your children, they will all probably want to raise them, right?  If they all want the same thing, this will have the potential of becoming a battle…do you want your children to be put through that after having lost their parents?

4.  You need to plan for your pets.

If you have a pet, chances are they are a big part of your life.  They are totally devoted to you and also totally dependent on you.  Have you stopped to think what might happen to them if something were to happen to you?  If you want to make sure your companion is cared for if the unexpected happens, you could choose to put together a plan for their continued care.  The plan may include directions about feeding, medical care and other needs along with funds necessary to provide for your pet’s support and to compensate the caretaker.

The scenarios above are just a few to consider when educating yourself on the importance of having a Last Will and Testament or a Living Trust.  I encourage you to talk with a Charlotte, North Carolina wills and trusts lawyer.  Only then will you have the peace of mind of knowing that you are fully protected.

The fall is a busy time for planning and preparation. It’s also an important time to safeguard your children in the event of an emergency. As both a mom, and an estate planning attorney, I have seen the importance of having a plan in place for emergency situations.

Parents are used to filling out emergency contact forms for their children at school. While these are a good start, they only go so far. Very often schools don’t know until the information is needed that the card is outdated.

It is essential that emergency medical information is available for your child wherever and whenever an emergency occurs. It must also contain enough information to be useful to emergency responders and other health care providers. One of the services I provide is preparing emergency action plans to be executed in the event of an emergency.

To ensure that a child’s important information is known in a medical emergency, I register many of my clients in a service that provides instant electronic access to a child’s emergency information and documents. This program provides access to information a non-parent caregiver might need in an emergency situation.

Minors Matter, provides a card that parents can give to the child’s caregivers — babysitters, grandparents, neighbors, even older siblings. The card contains important health information regarding your child’s allergies, medical conditions and pediatrician, and allows hospitals and doctors to immediately get additional, detailed emergency information about the child from the Minors Matter website or via fax. This is just one of the many components of an emergency plan which I can help you design for your family.

Parents of kids away at college also face many challenges when confronting a medical emergency. When it comes to health care, college students over 18 are legal adults, even if parents are paying their tuition and otherwise still responsible for them.

Because of the federal health care privacy law called HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), hospitals have been known to refuse to give parents any information about their child who was admitted for a medical emergency, even if the parents are out-of-state. This, naturally, leaves parents frantic.

College students can avoid this hurdle by completing a legal form called a “HIPAA release.” This allow hospitals and medical professionals to talk with parents. A HIPAA release (or healthcare power of attorney) can mean the difference between knowing what is happening with your college student in a medical emergency and being completely shut out. Helping families with Health care powers of attorney is one of my main focuses.

As with information of younger children, the HIPAA release needs to be available at the hospital to be useful. I also register many of my college student clients in a companion service called DocuBank I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency), which also includes a wallet card for the student to carry.

With both of these services, when the card is used at the hospital, parents receive an immediate alert, as well as the phone number at the hospital to call for more information.

The key to being prepared for an emergency situation is having a plan in place prior to the situation arising. I am happy to discuss with you the various options available to put an emergency plan in place for your family.