You are six times more likely to become mentally disabled in a year than to pass on. Estate Planning is about planning for as many contingencies as possible. Mental decline, dementia, Alzheimer’s, or some other version of mental decline seems to be growing as we age.
In a Revocable Living Trust a/k/a Living Trust, you can design a mechanism for Mental Disability planning. You can appoint a Disability Panel who, along with a physician, will decide if you are mentally unable to attend to your affairs and if they should turn on the mental disability provisions of the Living Trust. You can be specific as to how you want to be cared for (i.e., kept at home as long as mentally and physically possible), if you are going to be in a care facility which one do you want to be placed in, and who will choose the care facility (i.e., the surviving spouse or an adult child or other person).
You want to watch who you choose as your Health Care Agent. Language in the Health Care Power of Attorney may provide them with authority as to your placement in a care facility. Therefore, you want to make sure the person you’ve given authority to is the one you want to choose the care facility so that you’re not creating a conflict between your Living Trust instructions and your Health Care Power of Attorney.
At the Law Firm of Steven Andrew Jackson, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, we have helped hundreds of families protect themselves and their loved ones, avoid Estate Taxes and Probate Costs, and keep their Estate Plans current with the law through The Customized Protective Estate Planning Solution™.