Creating a caregiver’s legal checklist might be one of the most important things you can do to protect your loved one’s legal rights as well your own.
What is a Caregiver’s Legal Checklist?
Keeping account of your loved one’s legal affairs may become one of your responsibilities as a caregiver. This is a huge responsibility, and should be accepted with great care and good intent. The overall objective is to ensure that you, as the caregiver, have all the necessary documents in place to reside over your loved one’s legal business. Here are six tips to help you protect your loved one’s legal rights, your own legal rights, and to create your caregiver’s legal checklist.
- Always have the right documents. A health care proxy and a financial power of attorney document are important documents to have in order to facilitate legal matters at hand. These documents will enable someone to act on behalf of your loved one and offer protection to them when they are incapable of making decisions on their own behalf.
- Design a family plan. This is a document that defines roles and responsibilities with all aspects of caregiving. Have all the parties sign the document so that everyone is clear on each role that family members are playing in caregiving.
- Keep important papers organized. All of the important documents like birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, powers of attorney, deeds to cemetery plots, and insurance policies should be kept in a safe and secure location that is easy to access.
- Investigate financial assistance. These resources include Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, disability programs, veteran programs, and a variety of other supplemental income government sources.
- Are there other dependents? In this scenario, think beyond your loved one and consider those individuals that may have depended on your loved one. You may need to consider caregiving practices for these individuals as well. Attorney Beauvais just finished an estate plan for a couple who have a disabled adult son. They were doing their Wills and other estate planning documents and needed to set up a Special Needs Trust for their son’s future inheritance. They didn’t realize that if their son inherited assets in the future, he could be disqualified from continuing to receive public benefits. Lisa included a Special Needs Trust with their estate planning documents and provided them with all the necessary information on the administration of the trust including advice on permissible distributions. They were so happy to have all this knowledge plus know that their son will be protected in the future.
- Insurance benefits and tax breaks. Retain all medical expense receipts as they may be used for tax breaks. In addition, some life insurance policies may make early death payments to assist with long term care.
- Lastly, remember that you should be protected as a caregiver. Lisa is also working with an elderly gentleman who has a disabled wife. She’s suffering with a degenerative disease and her health continues to decline. He knew he needed some legal help, but wasn’t even sure what he needed. Lisa started with some basic estate planning documents for him, began taking steps to preserve his assets in anticipation of nursing home care for his wife, and they are now starting a Medicaid application. He’s so grateful that the whole process was started early rather than too late.
As you care for them, let us help you to make sure all the loose ends are handled. You’re protecting them. Shouldn’t someone be protecting you?
