Sometimes the best decision by a legislature is not to pass a bill. Among the bills that did not pass the Florida Legislature in 2017 was Senate Bill 228, which would have made POLST a law in Florida. It died in the Senate Judiciary Committee. About twenty states have enacted POLST legislation.
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If you were in an accident today or became suddenly sick and couldn’t speak for yourself, would your family know your healthcare wishes? Would they know for certain what you would want the hospital and doctors to do? And would they be able to make decisions for you—or even talk to your healthcare providers on your behalf?
Continue Reading...Available on Netflix, “Lullaby” is a movie by Andrew Levitas about a dysfunctional family that is reunited by end-of-life issues. Jonathan is a young man living on the opposite coast from his wealthy New York family. Although they have been estranged for years, Jonathan agrees to visit his terminally ill father when he learns that he wishes to be taken off life support within 48 hours.
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Now that graduation season is behind us, we have some important information for parents of young adults who are going off to college or starting their first job. Once your child turns 18, he or she is automatically an “adult” in the eyes of the law, no matter how immature or inexperienced. Being an adult comes with the right to manage your assets (including opening credit cards and taking out loans) and make decisions about your life (such as where to live, who to socialize with, and whether you want medical treatment). As you might imagine, this silent leap into full adulthood can cause some nasty surprises down the road.
Continue Reading...The movie “The Descendants”, which was nominated for five Academy Awards and won the award for best writing-adapted screenplay, is one of the best movies to tackle estate planning issues in quite some time. The movie contains a thorough discussion of advance healthcare directives, living wills, and their real life application. The movie’s lead character, Matt King, played by George Clooney, is the trustee of a trust which will soon come to an end because of an arcane rule of law known as “The Rule Against Perpetuities.” The movie generally is about the fracturing and healing which takes place within families. What is interesting to us is that the plot is wrapped around actual estate planning issues. [Spoiler alert, if you haven’t seen the film, you may to want to read the rest of the newsletter later.]
Continue Reading...The statistics speak volumes:
• More than 100,000 men, women and children currently require life-saving transplants
• Every 10 minutes, another name is added to the National Organ Transplant Waiting List
• On average, 18 people die each day due to the lack of organs available for transplant
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal discussed how and why doctors die differently than most of their patients. Although the article is generally interesting, there was one statistic that caught our attention: a survey of doctors showed that 64% of them had planned for potential incapacity by executing an advanced directive. This figure is remarkable because, in general, only 20% of Americans have advanced directives.
Continue Reading...Many people think that there is no need to make an estate plan until or unless they get married. However, our firm recently handled a case that illustrates why buying into this planning myth can be very stressful and expensive for your loved ones.
Continue Reading...Two of the statements I hear most frequently from seniors are “I don’t want to go into a nursing home” and “I don’t want to be put on machines”. However, without proper legal documents in place, your medical decisions may end up out of your hands. This delicate subject seems to be difficult for many families to even bring up. Although we know there is a need to prepare, we tend not to want to think about someone in the family becoming terminally ill or tragically injured. Sometimes a diagnosis comes that leaves a family time to prepare, but many times there is an unexpected crisis which can leave a family reeling to making decisions. Many people lack understanding or misunderstand advanced health care directives. We are happy to explain the designation of healthcare surrogate, living will, power of attorney or even how guardianship works.
Continue Reading...Families that have not done proper Estate Planning often end up in Guardianship Court. Without proper documents, when a loved one is no longer able to care for himself or herself, someone else must use the court system to become his or her legal Guardian in order to make medical and financial decisions for that incapacitated person. The Guardianship process itself is public, time-consuming, and expensive, even if matters are uncontested. However, if the court becomes a stage for a "family feud," both the emotional and financial costs can skyrocket.
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