ALABAMA A&M and AUBURN UNIVERSITIES

LEGAL DOCUMENTS CAN HELP YOU PLAN PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL AFFAIRS

Last week's article focused on health care surrogates and living wills. This article continues to examine legal documents available to help plan how your personal and financial affairs are to be handled.
 

AUBURN, OCT. 29---There are a variety of legal documents that can help you plan how your personal and financial affairs will be handled in the event you are mentally or physically disabled or die. Dr. Jo Turner, Extension program specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System offers the following information.

The Durable Power of Attorney, is a comprehensive document that gives an individual or individuals decision-making power when they are disabled. It can cover health care decisions and personal matters, but it usually covers financial decisions if you become incapacitated.

You might feel more comfortable having someone else manage your financial decisions because of his/her expertise. On the other hand, you might want to grant durable power of attorney to the same person you name as your health care surrogate. Your doctor and attorney can assist you in specifying which medical procedures and treatments you want and which you don't want. It is wise to do this when you are young in case of an accident or other unforeseeable tragic events.

Patient Self-Determination Act: is legislation that has been passed to inform individuals of their rights to exercise more control over their lives. Under this act, health care facilities must: a) inform all adult patients of their rights to create an advance directive, such as a living will, designation of a health care surrogate or durable power of attorney; b) explain the facility's policies for carrying out patient decisions; and c) provide education for staff and the community about advance directives, including when and how they may be used.

This law, although very important for the terminally ill, applies to any person using the health care system. The law states that hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, and all other health care facilities receiving Medicare funding must provide patients with written information regarding their rights to accept or refuse any medical treatment.

Other representatives also are available to help you.

A Substitute Payee is typically used only for the purpose of providing you with help in cashing and writing checks. Your bank can provide you with the appropriate forms for designating a substitute payee.

A Representative Payee is used in a government benefit program such as Social Security. The person asking to be named a representative payee must file an application and must provide the Social Security Administration with evidence of the relationship to the person to whom the checks are made out. The representative payee must use the payments for taking care of the Social Security recipient and must submit a written report on how the funds are actually spent.

In some cases, a Court-Appointed Representative helps individuals who can no longer handle their own affairs and who haven't made arrangements for executing their wishes. For this to happen, the court must conduct a trial by jury to determine the individual's ability to manage personal or financial affairs. While the specific terms of these positions vary from state to state, they are found nationwide. If a person is judged to be incapable of managing his or her affairs, the court may appoint another person as either a conservator or as guardianship.

A Conservator is a person who has control in managing the business and financial affairs of an individual for reasons of mental illness or another incapacity. This person can provide assistance either temporarily or permanently, depending on the duration of the disability.

Guardianship can be granted for any person who is incapable of managing his or her personal affairs. A district court appoints an individual to act on behalf of the disabled person.

SOURCE: Dr. Jo Turner, Extension program specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, (334) 844-3243.