Portland, Oregon Estate Planning Lawyer: Southwood Case Reminds Us That Incapacity Planning is Important
As we age, our likelihood of mental incapacity increases. After all, our bodies and minds deteriorate as we age. Mental incapacity could result from dementia, stroke, brain injury, or other illness. What is mental incapacity and in what ways can you plan to be best prepared for it?
Keep Your Advance Directive Simple: Name One Child, Not All of Them, as Representative
As a Portland estate attorney, I believe that an Advance Directive (commonly known outside of Oregon as a Medical Power of Attorney or Healthcare Proxy) should be included in every estate plan. A properly created Advance Directive allows someone to make important medical decisions for you in the event you are incapacitated or unable to speak for yourself.
Make Your Medical Wishes Known for National Healthcare Decisions Day
National Healthcare Decisions Day is on April 16th, and it’s an important reminder for every adult to begin having conversations with loved ones about their most private wishes for medical and end-of-life care.
Filling out the Oregon Advance Directive
Greetings, fellow quaratiners! I really want you to fill out your Oregon Advance Directive, so I did a video walking you through how to fill it out.
Adulting: How to prepare for summer travel with estate planning.
Many years ago, I read a story about a family who was in a car wreck while on vacation in another state. The parents were killed, but all of the children survived and since the parents did not have an estate plan, the kids were put through a long, traumatizing court process. They were in foster care for 18 months before the guardian was appointed and could take them home. It was up to the state to approve medical treatments for the kids. Thousands of dollars were spent on legal fees. The youngest child had been 18 months old at the time of the car wreck, and he was three years old when he finally went home with the guardian.
The case really shook me, especially because at the time, my youngest was only two years old, and imagining that scenario was terrifying. It had a huge impact on the way I did planning for my clients. I have always started from facing the worst possible scenarios that could happen, and then planning to avoid any bad legal outcome that we could identify.