Planning for Incapacity When You Have No Close Family Members

Estate planning is often concerned with spouses, children, and close relatives. Nevertheless, more people than ever find themselves in a position where they lack close relatives and trustworthy persons around them, who may assist them should they ever become incapable of managing their own affairs. If such people do not make provisions, then their inability to make crucial decisions could end up in the hands of people who know nothing about them.

It would help to plan for such contingencies in advance to ensure that people’s wishes are honored even when they are unable to make such decisions themselves.

Why incapacity planning matters

Incapacity planning concerns how your affairs will be managed if you become incapacitated and can no longer make decisions about your finances, legal matters, and healthcare. Your incapacity can result from illness, injury, dementia, or any other medical issue.

If you don’t have all the required legal documents, the court may appoint someone else, which could be both time-consuming and expensive for everyone. It also means that you lose part of your choice when it comes to a decision-maker.

People who do not have close relatives may face much greater difficulties in this aspect.

Choosing trusted decision makers

The most important consideration in incapacity planning is choosing individuals to represent you.

For instance, in case of incapacity, a durable power of attorney would permit you to give powers to another individual to handle your finances. The individual may have the power to pay the bills, invest money for you, file insurance claims, and handle any other necessary tasks.

In the same way, you can use a healthcare power of attorney to authorize another person to make decisions about your health care.

If there are no members of your family to fill in the positions, then you may select a trustworthy friend, professional fiduciary, lawyer, accountant, or anyone else.

Advance directives provide guidance

Advance directives provide an opportunity for you to make your wishes known concerning your medical care before anything goes wrong. The advance directive may cover matters such as life-support measures, care at the end of life, pain control, and organ donation.

It makes things much clearer for everyone involved.

Consider professional assistance

Some people opt to work with professional fiduciaries, trust companies, or other professionals to help them plan for the future. Professional help is needed when there is no family or when the family is unable to help.

Estate planning lawyers will also be able to determine whether planning strategies such as revocable living trusts can help.

Take control of your future

Even if you lack close family, this does not necessarily mean that you must put your fate in luck’s hands. With an adequate incapacity plan, you can designate someone to make decisions for you, express your medical wishes, and minimize the possibility of legal proceedings.

With all of this in order beforehand, you will feel more in control of your business and have a sense of relief from the knowledge that, should something happen to you, your decisions will still be carried out.

Talk to a Virginia Beach, VA Elder Law Attorney Today

The Law Office of Angela N. Manz represents the interests of those who need to establish or revise their estate plan. Call our Virginia Beach elder law lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin discussing your next steps right away.