It is important to keep in mind that when planning for the future, there are different scenarios to think about. One of the most imperative scenarios to think about is the unfortunate event that were to become incapacitated and unable to carry out decisions for yourself. By creating a will, you can easily settle many pertinent matters, including who can be appointed as your guardian to handle both financial and medical decisions for you. Let’s take a quick look at choosing a guardian in your estate plan.

Choosing a Power of Attorney

A power of attorney is actually a piece of paper. This document allows you to choose for yourself who you want your guardian to be in the event that you are unable to take care of yourself. It should be noted that various types of power of attorney can be assigned. For example, a health care power of attorney will indicate who can make your medical decisions for you. A financial power of attorney outlines who can make your financial choices for you. If you do not specify the exact type of power of attorney you are assigning someone to, this often means you have chosen a generalized power of attorney, meaning they can make all important decisions for you. With this in mind, if you have two or more people who you want to handle various aspects of your life, then you should make sure this is outlined in the power of attorney documents that you have drawn up.

When you choose a power of attorney, it is of the utmost importance that you put a lot of thought and consideration into who you choose. The first question you should be asking yourself is whether or not you can wholeheartedly trust this person. In addition, you need to answer for yourself whether or not the person is completely reliable and if they fully understand your wishes in regards to your estate and health. And lastly, if you are choosing more than one person to have power of attorney over you — such as one person to handle your financial choices and one person to handle your medical decisions — you will want to make sure that these two people can be civilized with one another and that there will likely not be any conflict between the two of them.

To learn more about choosing a guardian for your estate, contact a qualified estate lawyer today.

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