Estate and Financial Planning for those Living with Chronic Illness or Disability pt3

By Martin Shenkman, CPA, BMA, JD







  1. Beneficiary
    Designations
    .
    1. Beneficiary designations should be
      reviewed and confirmed to be appropriate.
    2. If the person living with a chronic
      illness is a beneficiary, consider whether a trust for them would be a
      better approach.
  2. Powers of Attorney.
    1. It’s not just about the documents,
      consolidate and automate. Use direct deposit, automatic payments, etc. so
      that financial matters are simpler.
    2. Set up a separate account and provide
      check writing privileges without giving total control to an agent over
      all assets.
    3. Consider creative uses of limited
      and general powers of attorney so that you can preserve more control over
      your financial matters.
    4. Carefully consider who should be the
      agent.
  3. Living
    Wills and Health Care Proxies
    .
    1. Address your specific illness.
    2. Do you want to authorize organ or
      tissue donations specifically for research to cure the disease you were
      living with.


What about experimental treatments?