conservatorship, or revocable trust. These options should be considered if possible, since they are less restrictive to the aging individual than guardianship.
Creating a relationship with an attorney early on in your elder care can allow you to gain trust and a mutual understanding of your wishes as you age. This professional will be most apt to provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the challenging waters of elder law.
Estate Planning
No matter your age, you should be prepared for what will happen to your assets should you die. Focusing on wills and trusts, estate planners can assist you in laying out a road map for your children, pets, home, and other assets to ensure that everything is taken care of the way you intended.
Estate planning starts with a solid relationship with an attorney who understands your financial state and your wishes for how your assets should be distributed. Estate planning is typically fluid and could change often with births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and other large life events.
Estate planning can also assist you in identifying a power of attorney who could handle your affairs should you be incapacitated, and with creating an advance health care directive to name someone who could make health care decisions if you’ re unable to do so yourself.
Younger families may choose to focus their estate planning on building a living will and naming guardians and trustees should both parents die unexpectedly, while aging adults focus more on estate planning and Medicaid issues. Whatever your circumstances, it’ s important to find a legal professional you can build a relationship with and trust with your future.
Setting yourself up to be financially sound could make your golden years exceedingly more enjoyable. Knowing that you and your loved ones will be comfortable and secure makes the time and effort you put into researching and educating yourself on retirement planning, elder law, and estate planning all worth it. n
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