A Living Will expresses your personal wishes for end-of-life care.
A Health Care Surrogate Designation appoints one or more persons to make health care decisions for you if you a not able to make those decisions. It also allows this person or persons to speak with your health care providers and obtain your medical records.
A will names the person or persons who will receive your property and assets after your death. It also appoints a person or persons to gather your property and assets, pay your debts, and distribute your assets under court supervision.
Please understand that property or assets that have joint owners (such as real estate, vehicles, and bank accounts), will pass to the other owner upon your death regardless of what your will says. In addition, assets that list one or more beneficiaries (such as retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities, and some financial accounts), will pass to those beneficiaries upon your death regardless of what your will says. If you do not want this property or assets to pass to those persons, please ask whether a more advanced life plan is appropriate for you (such as a trust, special deed, re-titling of assets, asset transfer, etc.).
A power of attorney (POA) appoints one or more people to perform legal and financial transactions for you. This is very important if you are temporarily or permanently incapacitated and will allow your agent to manage your affairs and preserve your assets. However, a power of attorney is effective immediately. If your agent has the original or a copy of the POA, he or she can access your assets and sign legal documents for you.
If you do not need an agent to perform legal and financial transactions for you now, I recommend that you do not create copies of your POA. Keep the POA in a secure location and inform your agent or another person where they can obtain the POA if you become incapacitated.
When choosing an agent for your POA, be as careful as possible to choose someone completely trustworthy. If you have any doubts at all about a person’s ability to resist temptation and act only in your interests, I recommend that you appoint two people to serve together.
To obtain your Simple Life Plan package, please provide the following information: