I personally experienced this recently. My father’s health had declined and eventually he became incapacitated. And fortunately he had the foresight to go ahead and get some of the proper documents drafted and executed. I think one of the most important documents that a person needs is a power of attorney. There’s a lot of things a person needs to understand about a power of attorney before they sign that and give that power to somebody else. It’s a very, very powerful document that people sometimes don’t understand. But that’s the number one document I think that’s important so that somebody can carry on your business affairs if you become incapacitated.

Another document that recently with my experience became most important was a healthcare directive.  And that dealt with what my father’s wishes were when his health deteriorated. And there was some disagreement within the family, and we were able to rely on, “Well, what were his wishes? We don’t agree, but what were his wishes?” And that really made the process a lot easier, and it does in other situations because you know what that party’s wishes are.

There’s also another document that I think is important, is called a healthcare power of attorney. Essentially you are giving another person the right to make all medical decisions for you if you become incapacitated. It’s difficult when you – when there’s a number of family members and there’s all these decisions at end of life or whatever. But if this person has specifically designated people, they have the power. And though it may cause conflict at that point in time, the people that are in authority, the hospital, the courts or whatever, they recognize that that document is valid, and it erases who’s gonna be in control. And it allows somebody to be in control. Whether the rest of the people agree or not, it does bring some certainty to the situation, which is so very important when you find yourself in that situation. And they are not difficult documents to obtain from any attorney.