Kraft, Walser,
Hettig Honsey & Kleiman
A Professional Limited Liability Partnership
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Spring/Summer 2001
Previous Newsletter
In The News
Appointments
Don Walser
"Legionnaire of the Year" of American Legion Post 96 in Hutchinson.
Office Anniversaries
Dan Honsey
7 years, February 1, 1994
Lena Soukup
9 years, March 11, 1992
Steve Hettig
22 years, April 1, 1979
Linda Bremseth
3 years, April 15, 1998
Susan Walser
1 year, April 16, 2000
Tune in to our Legal Update radio program Saturday mornings at 7:45 on KDUZ AM 1260
Olivia Office
107 North 9th Street
P.O. Box 148
Olivia, MN 56277
(320) 523-1322
Email
Hutchinson Office
131 South Main Street
P.O. Box 129
Hutchinson, MN 55350
(320) 587-8150
Email
This newsletter is intended as general information to our clients and friends on legal issues of interest. It is not intended to render legal advice or opions; such opinions can only be given when related to actual situations. If you have any questions, please contact us.
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Planning for Incapacity
Eases Family Burden
By Steven E. Hettig
W
hen most people think of estate planning they think of Wills.
Estate planning involves more than just deciding where your property should go when you die. What if you have a stroke or an accident that leaves you without the ability to manage your affairs? Whi will take care of your business matters, file your tax returns, pay your bills, and handle the multitude of financial and record-keeping matters that life in our society requires?
One of the greatest gifts you can give to your family is a plan for incapacity. The time to make this plan is now, before incapacity occurs. If you do not plan ahead, your family m ay face expensive and time consuming court proceedings to establish a conservatorship or guardianship. A judge will appoint a guardian or conservator to make decisions for you and to manage your property. This may create family disputes over who should be the guardian or conservator. The person appointed might not be the person you would have chosen.
Fortunately, there are ways to plan ahead. Two of the most common and useful instruments for disablity planning are Durable Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives. In this article, I will discuss Powers of Attorny and Durable Powers of Attorney. We will consider Health Care Directives in a future edition of Legal Update.
A Power of Attorney is a written authorization for someone to handle business and financial matters for you. It covers everything from banking transactions to business and insurance matters. Using a properly prepared Power of Attorney, the person designated by you as "attorny-in-fact" can do anything you could do with your business or financial affairs.
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If the Power of Attorney states that it continues to be effective if you become incompetent, it is called a Durable Power of Attorney. This is the type of Power of Attorney needed for disability planning.
The most important decision in preparing a Power of Attorney is who to appoint as your attorny-in-fact. you must have absolute faith and confidence in this person. You will be giving them complete control over everything you own.
You may name more than one person to act as your attorny-in-fact. If you do, you have to decide whether they must act together or may act independently in exercising their powers. Requiring them to act together may provide some protection against misuse of power, but it can complicate matters. All those who are named as an attorney-in-fact would be required to sign documents. If only one person is designated as your attorney-in-fact, we recommend that you appoint an alternate in case the designated individual should die or become disabled.
After a Power of Attorney is signed, you retain full control of your financial affairs, including the right to revoke or change the Power of Attorney at any time. The Power of Attorney is effective immediately upon signing and, if the document is available, it can be used by the attorney-in-fact even though you remain capabel of handling your affairs. When this is a concern, we keep all copies of the Power of Attorney. We release them only with your approval or in the event that you become disabled.
A Power of Attorney is an inexpensive estate planning tool which can avoid expensive and time-consuming court proceedings if you become disabled. We strongly urge you to make a Durable Power of Attorney a part of your estate plan.
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