TRUST AND ESTATE PLANNING
Covering Temecula, San Diego,
& Inland Empire
Planning for Incapacity
How Planning Ahead for Incapacity Helps Your Family
If you’re currently considering family financial and estate planning, including planning for incapacity,to help protect your family’s financial stability, you’re definitely on the right track.
In today’s world, such forward-thinking can be considered a rarity, as many people fail to safeguard their family’s future while they still can.
Among the critical aspects of any financial planning exercise is laying down the foundation for a family’s financial security in case the breadwinner suddenly suffers from a debilitating illness or injury.
While it’s undoubtedly an uncomfortable topic to think about, it’s best not to ignore the logic of preparation given life’s uncertainties. Knowing such, financial planning should be a top priority of families, blended or otherwise.
The aim of this article is to guide you through the questions regarding disability financial planning so you and your family will be properly prepared if worst comes to worst.
Here are some essential things that you should know about planning for incapacity.
Facts about Disability
We’ll start by exploring some facts about disability to better understand its scope and how it may affect us personally:
More than a billion people worldwide have a disability
This roughly translates to 15% of our population. Of the figure, up to 190 million adults suffer from extreme functional difficulties. This situation is only expected to worsen as people age and the rate of chronic health conditions increases globally.
In the U.S., 25% of adults suffer from a form of disability
One in every four adults in America have a disability, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control. Additionally, one in every ten adults aged 66 years and older has a psychological disability such as dementia or Alzheimer’s.
These figures illustrate the huge possibility of American adults suffering some disability at one point in their lives.
Disability affects people belonging to vulnerable sectors
Data show that people who are part of vulnerable sectors are more likely to be affected by forms of disability than the others.
It’s been revealed that older people, women, and children who belong to lower-income brackets are disproportionately affected by disability more than those who are financially well-off or at least have financial stability.
Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are disadvantaged in terms of healthcare
Around 50% of PWDs don’t have the money to afford proper medical care. They are also three times more likely to face some form of denial of healthcare services and four times more likely to be subjected to bad treatment from healthcare providers.
Moreover, persons with disabilities are two times more likely to find the skill sets of healthcare personnel lacking.
Children with a disability are more likely to skip schooling than children without
Children who have some form of disability are more likely to skip being in a formal school, especially if they live in a poor community or belong to a financially-challenged family.
PWDs have difficulty finding a job
While progress has been made in some countries when it comes to providing equal opportunity employment to PWDs, there’s no denying that some PWDs are still finding it hard to obtain employment.
Data shows that men and women with disabilities have lower chances of employment compared with men and women without a disability.
Persons with disabilities are prone to having bad living conditions
PWDs are more likely to live in bad living situations than those who don’t have a form of disability. Persons with disabilities have less-than-ideal living conditions in terms of housing, food, sanitation, and healthcare compared with individuals who are not differently-abled in any way.
Tips to Prepare for Incapacity
Some forms of disability are so severe that they render a person incapable of performing even the most basic functions like eating, drinking, or even lifting their own hands.
These disabilities could be psychological, physical, or due to a tragic accident. But, whatever the form of disability may be, the same truth is inescapable: that incapacity in any form is sure to negatively affect not only the person suffering from it but the people closest to the person.
With that, here are some tips on how you can best prepare for the possibility of being incapacitated.
Get insurance
Getting insurance – whether accident, educational, or life insurance – is easily one of the best decisions you can ever make in your life. By investing in insurance, you can be sure that you and your family will have a form of financial safety net if you suddenly become incapacitated in any way.
Have a Durable Power of Attorney
A Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that contains specific authorizations on who can make decisions on behalf of a person in case the latter becomes incapacitated. Such decisions can cover a wide range of matters such as financial, medical, spiritual, and legal aspects.
However, as you’re essentially relinquishing control of certain aspects of your life, you should exercise caution when naming the person/s whom you want to make decisions for you when you suffer from an incapacity.
Create a living trust
A living trust will include your assets and the person who will manage such assets if you become incapacitated. You can also transfer your current assets into the living trust even without suffering from incapacity.
The living trust can be designed to relinquish control of your assets to your trustee only when you have lost the means to take care of your assets.
Consult a trusted estate planning attorney
Let’s admit it: financial and estate planning poses some serious complexities. With this, you should take advice only from an estate planning attorney with a sterling reputation.
By hiring such a lawyer, you can expect not just sound advice, but also competent expert help in preparing all legal documents relevant to your planning needs for the possibility of incapacity.
Andrea Aston: An Estate Lawyer You Can Rely On
For years, I, Andrea Aston have been offering topnotch estate planning services to clients living in the Inland Empire, Temecula Valley, and North San Diego County.
Legal advice and representation is highly advised for the preparation of difficult legal documents, particularly those related to complicated situations like planning for the potential of incapacity.
I offer free and confidential consultation and am available to render my legal expertise at our convenience, online, or in person - even in your home. You’re guaranteed to receive legal advice and services you can trust.
Contact me today at (760) 758-1565 to schedule a consultation for your estate planning concerns.
Tags: planning for incapacity, family estate planning, financial plan for disability