Get your Health Care Wishes Realised Before Time with an Advance Health Care Directive

If a person becomes debilitated, incapacitated to make sane decisions and is unable to voice his or her opinions because of health conditions they need help. A legal document voicing the health care demands of the person can be drafted to put forth the wishes of a person with help of a judicial representative. 

An advance health care directive is certainly not age related, though many people have the misconception that the senior age groups prefer to get it drafted. They feel that the advance health care directive that it is done by the adult age group who are incapable of voicing their opinions and thoughts. This directive that is normally drafted by a qualified advance directive attorney comes into effect when the person succumbs to poor health conditions and is unable to voice an opinion because of flailing health, incapacity or illness. Age has no bar here and an advance directive attorney has the capability of drawing up the valid papers for the signature.

The advance directive lawyer dealing with the advance directive helps a person by documenting medical related concerns and treatments that he or she desires in future during poor health conditions. Medical related decisions can be enforced only when, proper certification that the person is incapable of making proper valid medical decisions because of permanent unconsciousness or terminal diseases is submitted to the judicial authorities. The State regulations and laws have to be followed before the directive can be put forth by the advance directive lawyer. 

The lawyer can make medical decision on behalf of the person as a surrogate decision maker or can appoint someone to play the role, only if the person getting the advance directive made is totally incapable of taking these decisions. All these conditions and wishes are documented beforehand. 

Before the surrogate decision maker decides on a decision regarding the incapacitated person, the sick or debilitated person has to be assessed by one or more physician, Once it has been ascertained that he or she cannot take any personal decisions and the condition may be permanent or detrimental, the surrogate decision maker may ask for life sustaining treatments to be stopped, but this decision will be made by the authorized person only!

Decision making in this case is very challenging because there is always a chance that the person may recover enough to have the mental capability of making personal choices. This directive has purely been designed for the authorized person to take decisions on behalf of the unwell individual, because he or she is in an incompetent or non-communicative state. Generally a list of procedures is prepared beforehand and decisions of emergency care or treatments are chalked out and these can be decided on if a person is permanently in an unconscious state or dying. The medical decisions can be taken by a trusted member of the family or a close friend. Before the document is drafted all the care that is possible to cover each and every eventuality can be pre-decided on!

Place your Assets in Revocable Living Trust for Smooth Transfer to Beneficiary Later

Probate processes like attending hearings and filing judicial documents are a normal process for an executor of a will. Do you need these legal complications? There is another way to go about it.  The assets can be placed in a trust for personal benefit till the time you are living and later they can be handed over to the successor trustee or chosen representative and this can be formalized by the executor. 

All the assets, stocks, bank accounts, certificated or bonds, etc are transferred to the trust through appropriate paperwork though in no way is the trust funded by any of the assets. The beneficiary will benefit only after the owner’s death. 

The paperwork can be drawn up detailing each need and then the assets can be kept in this legal entity or revocable living trust till the transition to the beneficiary can take place smoothly after the person making the trust departs to the holy abode. The person who creates the trust is a trustee, trust maker or grantor. The assets and other finances are managed by the attorney or institution acting as the trustee. 

Anyone who has assets or an estate titled in their personal sole name can get legal guardianship to their property without probate complications with help of an estate planning tool termed as revocable living trust. The process of getting the trust set up is less complicated and the handover becomes extremely smooth and easy.The whole legal process is probably almost as easy as heading to the showroom and purchasing a car. These are a few benefits of a revocable living trust. 

A part of the assets or the whole property can be set up for transfer and the decision for this is made by the owner of the assets. The transfer or transition of the responsibility is very effortless and smooth after death or any kind of incapacitation. The details of wishes and decisions of property distribution can be listed and the trustee has to show a copy of the revocable living trust and identification of the beneficiary for financial transactions and investments. 

Court supervision is not needed after death; rather the trustee has the authority to carry out the detailed wishes mentioned. The privacy of the beneficiaries and heirs is maintained and other details stay private. In case of any eventuality like an accident or in-capitation, the trustee has the authority to step in and make payments for bills and mortgages out of the checking account of the owner. The whole control can be shifted back to the trust owner when he or she recovers and gets back to health. 

In case there is a change in choices, circumstances or wishes, the trust decisions can be revised and documented again. Normally the successor trustee is close to the trust maker who is setting up the trust and he can take over the authority to manage the assets and finances in case of any eventuality. An attorney can chalk out details of estate planning and draft a trust document for the assets that have been transferred to the trust.