Part of creating a trust is determining who is best suited to handle different situations that could arise. During the trust design process, we will help you brainstorm who could make a good agent for your power of attorney, successor trustee, or member of your incapacity panel. The same person might not be the best fit for each role. Let’s take a look at each type of position and the responsibilities it encompasses:
Successor Trustees
Successor trustees manage your assets for you in the event that you are not able to do so yourself. This could be after your death, or in the event that you become incapacitated. You can choose to appoint a single successor trustee with backups, or multiple successors to make decisions together.
Incapacity Panel
This is a group of people who, together by majority or unanimous decision, have the ability to take the financial reigns from your hands. They would do so if they decide you are no longer making good choices, and that you need someone to manage your money for you.
Healthcare Agent
Your healthcare agent is the person who can make health decisions for you anytime you can’t make them for yourself. That could be an emergency situation (car crash, heart attack) or not (dementia). The doctors will talk to and rely on decisions made by your first choice. If that first choice can’t participate, the doctors will talk to your second choice, and so on.
Authorized HIPAA Recipients
This is an important step we include in all trust plans. We need to ensure that the people you care about have access to your medical information in the event that you are not in a position where you are able to share it yourself. We’ll get an idea of who should have access to information during your trust design process. And, as part of your plan, we’ll make sure that those people can contact the hospital or doctor on your behalf if the need arises.
So that’s it! Estate planning is more than just appointing a successor trustee to manage your assets after you pass. It may seem like a lot to think about, but we are here to help guide you through the process. We want to make sure that you have a team of people who know what you want and are ready to help when the time comes. And we want to make it all convenient and easy for them when that time arrives.