Protecting those you love is human nature. As a parent you educate yourself on how to best protect your children from putting them in the safest infant car seat to requiring them to wear a safety helmet when "it's not cool". You purchase life insurance, health insurance, car insurance, home owners's insurance.
Why do you do all those things? Because you love your family and you desire to protect them if possible. But, do you know about all of the practical protective tools necessary beyond creating a will? Have you thought about what happens to your family when you don't die, you are in a coma or you are incapacitated?
These "coma questions"are often not something people think about when they are thinking about estate planning.
If a couple has been married for a number of years, everything they own is joined together and the big items (house, cars, etc.) usually are titled to both of them. If a spouse becomes incapacitated, everything is in limbo. If the couple has not planned with the appropriate tools, they face unnecessary legal costs and unnecessary additional pain and strain.
In
Colorado, we have a number of estate planning tools to handle these "coma questions". We have a Durable Power of Attorney that gives a spouse power to transact business for an incapacitated party. We have a Medical Power of Attorney so someone can make medical decisions. We have a way to appoint a guardian for your kids if you become incapacitated, and finally, we have an Advance Declaration (usually called a Living Will) to avoid the
Terry Schiavo dilemma.
The whole idea about Estate Planning is to make decisions when you can. If you don't make plans, you will likely leave behind a mess for your loved ones to clean up. At our office we see the relief on people's faces after they have done this necessary thing.
Protecting those you love is a lot more than making a will.
Michael A. Robinson is an estate planning lawyer in Castle Rock. His office is at
900 W. Castleton Road #135, Castle Rock, CO 80109. Ph.
303-688-0944.