section 1 - The American College Online Learning Center

f. It is appropriate to elect a successor agent (in case the first agent is unwilling orunable to act quickly).10. Enforcing the documentsa. Planning Point: The famous court cases involving prolonging life either involveno documentation to make appropriate health care decisions or a health careprovider that refused to remove life support.b. Share a copy of documents with primary care physician and discuss it with thedoctor.c. Share a copy of document with a close relative and discuss it with them.d. Retain the original that is accessible to the agent or other family member.e. A bank safe deposit box is only appropriate if the agent is a permissible signatoryand can access the safe deposit box.11. Other considerationsa. Can revoke or change at any time(1) Clients reluctant to provide advance medical directions or grant a powerof attorney can rest assured that they can be revoked or amended at anytime the client has capacity.(2) If the client has lost capacity, that is exactly the time the documents areessential.b. Advance planning is better than relying on guardianship(1) Guardian makes decisions under a principle called “substituted judgment”and the decisions of Guardian of the person can make will be interpretedby state law as applied by the court system.(2) This will provide a costly circumstance and an uncertain result.c. A statement of guardian preference perhaps should be incorporated.(1) Depending upon state law, it may not be binding in a court.(2) The court generally will give deference to a choice stated by the clientin advance.LO 4-3-2: Choosing the appropriate strategy for delegating financialdecisions1. Problems associated with diminished capacitya. Lack of planning with respect to financial decision-making could result in theproblem referred to as “living probate.”b. Formal guardianship requires that the individual who has lost capacity, known asthe “Ward,” will have to be proven to be incompetent in a court proceeding.c. This involves representation of the individual to protect his or her interest and is aprocedure most families would prefer to avoid.d. If something needs to be done more quickly, this will be difficult, but there areprocedures for emergency guardianship.e. In either event, significant cost could be incurred for legal and medical advice.f. Planning Point: Financial decisions often need to be made quickly and thismay not be the case since guardianship is court supervised and allows for littleflexibility. For example, the Guardian may not continue a gifting pattern that waspart of the Ward’s estate plan. If the appropriate prior planning had been done, the4.36