Estate Planning

Estate Planning starts with a personal conversation with your family and loved ones. We are all familiar with discussions about wills, who inherits what and how it is divided when we pass away. The conversation we avoid, though, is the most crucial conversation, what happened before that day. We all assume that until the day we die, we will have complete control of all our decision-making capabilities; unfortunately, this is not always what happens. Though we can not control every aspect of our lives, we can put things into place to make our care and financial management transition a little more smother and feel more comforted to know we will be taken care of and protected.

A simple conversation can put some documents in place that can ease your stress and help you transition through various stages of life.

Power of Attorney v Enduring Power of Attorney

Both these documents deal with your financial affairs, but there are poignant differences. A Power of Attorney may vary in its details. You can choose for it to be narrow and quite specific in the actions you select that can be undertaken on your behalf. A Power of Attorney can also be cancelled at any time.

However, a Power of Attorney ceases to operate if you lose mental capacity. In contrast, an Enduring Power of Attorney will continue to operate even if you lose mental capacity. The Enduring Power of Attorney will expressly state that it is to continue even if you lose the cognitive ability. It is an important document that will enable a trusted family member or friend that you choose to manage your financial affairs. Like Powers of Attorney, you can also choose to make your Enduring Power of Attorney narrow or specific. You may also choose to limit when the power may come into effect, for example, on your treating doctor confirming that you are no longer able to manage your financial affairs.

Enduring Guardianship

Usually drafted together with Enduring Power of Attorney and similar in its approach, an Enduring Guardianship is a registered document that allows you to appoint an individual/ or individuals to make decisions about your health and wellbeing when you cannot make those decisions may also choose to limit when the power may come into effect. With an aging population, this is an essential conversation as it will guide trusted people around you to make decisions about aged care.

All of these documents will depend on personal circumstances and your specific needs or issues. When you decide about your will, it might be worth considering these other documents be put in place at the same time for peace of mind.