Selecting Attorneys and Representatives

A large part of estate planning actually deals with planning for when you are still alive, which often comes as a surprise to people However, incapacity planning is just as important as planning for after death.

The primary incapacity planning tools are Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements. Usually, Powers of Attorney cover financial, business, and legal matters whereas Representation Agreements handle day-to-day decision-making and healthcare decisions, including end-of-life healthcare decision making.

Both of these documents are typically only used when the person who makes them, otherwise called the Adult, is unable to make decisions for themselves. This is particularly true for Representation Agreements. For example, you have had an accident and are in a coma or suffered from a stroke and are unable to communicate.

As such, it is important to consider who to appoint as your Attorney(s) under your Power of Attorney and Representative(s) under your Representation Agreement. The individual(s) that you choose should be someone that you trust. In addition, it is important to consider the types of decisions that the individual will have to make on your behalf. Although it may be appropriate to appoint one person in both roles, it is also important to recognize that everyone has a different skill set. For example, one of your children may be an accounting genius but is terrible in an emergency. Whereas another one of your children may have a calm and collected nature but struggles to do basic math. In that case you may want to appoint the first child as your Attorney and your second child as your Representative.

In addition, there are other factors that should be considered when appointing attorneys and representatives such as place of residence, citizenship, age, and family dynamics.

Our estate planning lawyers at Harper Grey LLP can assist you in making these important decisions as well as all other estate related matters. Reach out to us today.