Although many millennials have yet to acquire enough wealth for asset distribution to heirs to be an issue of concern, they may want to make a plan for how their affairs should be handled in the event of incapacitation. In this regard, millennials should ask themselves: If I am in a serious accident and become incapacitated, who will make decisions for my medical care and will that person make decisions that I would agree with?
Regardless how this questions is answered, millenials may want to set up an advanced health care directive. This is a legal document that designates an individual who will have the ability to make medical decisions on behalf of the person who sets it up. This kind of document is important for everyone to have in place, regardless the size and/or complexity of their personal estates. In fact, even for those who believe their relative will make good decisions on their behalf, there could exist the danger that relatives will disagree on matters of health care and this could result in family legal battles where relatives are pitted against one another.
There are two parts of an advance health-care directive: 1) a living will and 2) a health-care proxy. The living will explains how an individual wishes to be cared for in the event of incapacitation — such as, whether the individual shall be artificially supported through advanced medical technologies, feeding tubes and breathing tubes. The health-care proxy lets the person designate a specific individual who will have the ability to make health-related decisions for them. It is always a good idea to designate one or two alternate persons as well, just in case the original person is no longer able to fulfill the role.
Setting these two documents up is very easy to do with the assistance of a New York estate planning attorney. An estate planning attorney will know what issues need to be addressed given a person’s specific situation. He or she will also know how to create the documents in a cost effective fashion.
Source: Nasdaq, “2 Estate-Planning Documents Millennials Need,” Rachel Podnos, March 03, 2016
