Taking Care of My Stuff

Today I had a client ask me, “If I become incapacitated, who’s going to be able to take care of my stuff?” This is an excellent question, so let’s explore the answer.

If you have assets that are jointly owned, the non-incapacitated joint owner will be able to take care of that stuff, but if you have assets that are individually owned the answer is that no one will be able to take care of that stuff.

Most people assume that their husband or wife will take care of their stuff, and then assume that their children will take care of their stuff once their spouse passes away. But, there’s a problem with this assumption, the problem is that neither your spouse or your children have the legal right to take care of your stuff. Thus, upon your incapacity, if your spouse goes to the bank to withdraw money from your bank account, the bank is not going to let them. Or if upon your incapacity, your child calls your cable company to cancel your cable, the cable company will not let your child do this. Why? Because they legally don’t have any interest or rights over your assets and accounts. This can create a huge problem. Often times the incapacitated individual is left paying for things they don’t use.

The good news is there’s a couple of ways to tackle this problem. The first and most simple way is by executing a General Durable Power of Attorney. A General Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that allows another to make legal and financial decisions for you. You decide who you want these people to be and then sign the General Durable Power of Attorney while you mentally have the capacity to sign such a document. Then, when your spouse goes to the bank to withdraw on your account or your child calls the cable company to cancel your cable, they’ll be allowed to do that with your stuff. Ensuring that you have a properly executed General Durable Power of Attorney in place in essential for your family to be able to take care of you upon your incapacity.

So, what is the second way to take care of this problem? The second way involves courts, judges, and attorneys, and will be the topic of our next blog post.