Q. What is a durable power of attorney for finances and how important is it?
Q. What happens if I die without a will?
Q. What is a living will?
Q. What is a durable power of attorney for healthcare? Doesn't that do the same thing as a living will?
Q. What happens if I don't have any healthcare documents?

Also see generally from Metropolitan Life Insurance Booklet on the Importance of a Will.

Q. What is a durable power of attorney finances and how important is it?

A. A durable power of attorney becomes effective upon your disability and delegates to another person the power to manage your financial and other affairs. While a relatively simple document, a durable power of attorney, is even more important than having a will. Most individuals will become incapacitated before they die, either for a short period of time, or for a longer period of death leading to death. Without a durable power of attorney your loved ones have no mechanism for managing your personal affairs.

Most, but not all, people can benefit from a durable power of attorney for finances.

Almost everyone with property or an income can benefit from a durable power of attorney for finances. It's particularly important, however, to have a durable power of attorney if you fear that health problems may make it impossible for you to handle your financial matters.

Making a durable power of attorney ensures that someone you trust will be on hand to manage the many practical, financial tasks that will arise if you become incapacitated. For example, bills must be paid, bank deposits must be made and insurance and benefits paperwork must be handled. Many other matters may need attention as well, from property repairs to managing investments or a small business. In most cases, a durable power of attorney for finances is the best way to handle tasks like these

For more information on this topic, see generally, Durable Powers of Attorney.

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Q. What happens if I die without a will?

A. If you die without a will:

• Your estate will be managed by the court and the court will appoint an administrator who will distribute your assets according to the state where you resident. The administrator will charge your estate a fee for this work.
• State law will govern how your estate is distributed - not you.
• When there is no will, state law will dictate that a portion of your estate will go to your spouse, and the reminder to your children. If you have grand children they will not be able to participate in your estate and if you have stepchildren they will get nothing.
• You will not be able to name a guardian for your minor children. If both parents are dead, the court will decide who will be the guardian of your minor children.
• You will not be able to make any charitable contributions or leave any of your assets to charity.

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A. A living will, known in most states as a Directive to Physicians or Healthcare Directive, sets out your wishes about what extended medical treatment should be withheld or provided if you become unable to communicate those wishes. The directive creates a contract with the attending doctor. Once the doctor receives a properly signed and witnessed directive, he or she is under a duty either to honor its instructions or to make sure you are transferred to the care of another doctor who will.

Many people mistakenly believe that healthcare directives are used only to instruct doctors to withhold life prolonging treatments. In fact, some people want to reinforce that they would like to receive all medical treatment that is available -- and a healthcare directive is the proper place to say so.

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A. A durable power of attorney for healthcare -- called a healthcare proxy in some states -- gives another person authority to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make them for yourself. Unlike a healthcare directive, this document doesn't necessarily state what type of treatment you want to receive. You can leave those decisions to your proxy if you feel comfortable doing so. Ideally, however, the two documents will work together. For example, your healthcare directive may contain a clause appointing a proxy (sometimes called an attorney-in-fact, agent or representative) to be certain your wishes are carried out as you've directed. Or you may create two separate documents, a directive explaining the treatment you wish to receive and a durable power of attorney appointing someone to oversee your directive.

If you do not know anyone you trust to name as your healthcare proxy, it is still important to complete and finalize a healthcare directive recording your wishes. That way, your doctors will still be obligated to give you the medical care you want.

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A. If you have not completed either a formal document such as a healthcare directive to express your wishes, or a durable power of attorney to appoint someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf, the doctors who attend you will use their own discretion in deciding what kind of medical care you will receive.

When a question arises about whether surgery or some other serious procedure is authorized, doctors may turn for consent to a close relative -- spouse, parent or adult child. Friends and unmarried partners, although they may be most familiar with your wishes for your medical treatment, are rarely consulted, or are purposefully left out of the decision-making process.

Problems arise where partners and family members disagree about what treatment is proper. In the most complicated scenarios, these battles over medical care wind up in court, where a judge, who usually has little medical knowledge and no familiarity with you, is called upon to decide the future of your treatment. Such legal battles -- which are costly, time-consuming and usually painful to those involved -- are unnecessary if you have the care and foresight to use a formal document to express your wishes for your healthcare.

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