What Estate Planning Steps Should You Take Before a Medical Procedure?
Most medical procedures happen uneventfully. However, there’s always a slim chance that something could go wrong. While it can be stressful and uncomfortable to think of such complications, you can give both yourself and your family priceless peace of mind by taking these key estate planning steps.
Create a Living Will
Estate planning attorneys don’t only assist clients with wills and trusts. They also help clients of all ages with creating a living will. A living will is a document that tells your healthcare team what treatments you want — and don’t want — if you are seriously ill and can’t speak for yourself.
Living wills often address situations like these:
- Whether you consent to being put on a ventilator
- Whether you want tube feeding and hydration
- What type of palliative care you prefer
- Whether you want to donate your organs
- Whether you want CPR
You should always take your time when creating a living will. Your doctor can help you understand the ramifications of different interventions.
Designate a Healthcare Power of Attorney
The goal of estate planning services is to help you ensure your wishes are respected in the event of your death or incapacitation. A living will is useful if your complications are so serious you’re unlikely to recover, but a healthcare power of attorney can cover a wider range of situations.
A healthcare power of attorney is a document that gives a certain person authority to make medical decisions on your behalf. If you choose a specific person to do so, make sure to discuss your wishes with them in advance.
Update Your Will
If you’ve already begun the estate planning process, you likely already have a will. Creating a will is one of the fundamental steps of estate planning, but so is updating it regularly. While your will allows you to specify who should receive your assets in the event of your death, that isn’t its only purpose.
In your will, you can also name guardians for minor children, specify who you want to care for your pets, and include instructions for your funeral and burial. Before any major medical procedure, you should review your will to make sure it is still in line with your wishes.
Update Your Beneficiary Designations
One of the biggest estate planning mistakes is forgetting to update beneficiaries on retirement accounts and life insurance policies. Even if your will is current, it may not supersede beneficiary designations on specific accounts.
For instance, if your will says your retirement account should go to your current spouse but your former spouse is the beneficiary on the actual account, your former spouse may be legally entitled to the funds in the account.
In addition to making sure your beneficiary designations are current, you should also consider naming contingent beneficiaries. Contingent beneficiaries are secondary beneficiaries who can receive your assets if your original beneficiary choice dies or is otherwise unable to inherit.
Contact an Estate Planning Attorney Today
If you need to review your estate plan before a medical procedure or just need general legal advice for estate planning, the experienced attorneys at Mason Law and Planning Group can help. We are dedicated to assisting the Colorado Springs community with wills, trusts, and other facets of estate planning. Contact us to get started today.
