Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] A lot of people think of estate planning and they think of a will. They may think of a cremation directive or a funeral directive, and maybe they think of a revocable living trust or something like that. But there's a lot more to estate planning than just dealing with what happens after you're gone.
[00:00:27] Hey, everybody, this is Joe Siegel, your real estate asset protection and estate planning lawyer here in Florida for real estate entrepreneurs and other small business owners. I just want to talk to you today a little bit about estate planning because a lot of people don't think of estate planning necessarily the way that we do. They think of estate planning only as dealing with what's going to happen with your property after you die. And that's not a full estate plan. That's simply planning for about half of what you need. The other half is planning estate planning for while you're still alive. But what happens if you become incapacitated, whether physically or mentally? What happens with all of your property? What happens with your children? What happens with your own body while you are alive, but you cannot express what you want done?
[00:01:24] So in that case, a part of a comprehensive estate plan includes a durable power of attorney that will give someone else the authority to handle all of your financial affairs, everything dealing with all of your property, accounts, real estate, everything else you have. While you cannot take care of it on your own, you are going to pick a trusted person who can do that for you. They can sign on your behalf, you're going to have a health care surrogate, or in some states, it's also called a health care power of attorney. And this may be a different person who is given authority to make health care decisions on your behalf, even if that includes having to, you know, put you into a nursing home or a rehab center or other care that you may need. Also a living will that determines how far you want health care providers to go to keep you alive. Also a pre need guardianship. If you don't have a pre need guardianship, a court may assign a complete stranger to take care of you, your body as well as your property. So a pre need guardianship, you can name someone already who you trust to take care of your body and take care of your property, and it may be two different people so that if that time ever comes, unfortunately, then you would already have it on record as to this person that you want to serve in that role on your behalf, someone you know and trust to do that, rather than a complete stranger to come in and do that. Also a HIPAA designation, this is in addition to all the other healthcare documents that we may prepare for you. A HIPAA designation will determine who is allowed to see all of your health information.
[00:03:19] So of course it's going to be your healthcare surrogate, but it may be other family members who you know and trust, who you may not want them to be making the decisions on your behalf, but you at least want them to be able to talk to your healthcare providers freely and the healthcare providers can talk with them and happily do that. Another document that you may have is a trust. We may set up a revocable living trust, irrevocable trust, insurance, life insurance trust, different kinds of trust, and of course Florida land trust that will be able to continue operating your life, your financial property or your financial life while you are incapacitated, whether physically or mentally. And again, you would choose successor trustees who you trust who would have the authority to just continue your business on as if you are fully capable and able to handle it on your own. So again, a lot of people think of estate planning and they think of a will. They may think of a cremation directive or a funeral directive and maybe they think of a revocable living trust or something like that. But there's a lot more to estate planning than just dealing with what happens after you're gone. We need to deal with what happens while you're still here and alive, but simply unable to take care of things yourself. So if you ever need that, anything like that, please reach out to us. We're happy to help you in any way we can.
[00:04:45] Thanks for listening to this edition of Trust this. If you got something out of it, please press like and subscribe and give us a five star review to help us reach others who can benefit from this series. Until next time, keep aspiring to a better life.
