Getting affairs in order when seriously ill

Knowing that a parent is seriously ill is difficult enough. While helping your parent tend to legal and financial matters may not seem like the best use of the precious amount of time you have left together, doing so is a priceless gift you can give right now. Tending to legal and financial matters gives people who are seriously ill a sense of control at a time when almost everything else is beyond their control. This guide will help you give your parent the gift of control and get peace of mind.

An elder law guide for the seriously ill

The American Bar Association (ABA) publishes a “Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill: Seven Key Steps to Get Your Affairs in Order.” The publication was commissioned by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which found that during a crisis, family members and patients were at a loss about how to do everything including protecting assets, financing care and drafting a will. The guide provides practical tips to help patients and families navigate the most essential steps involved in end-of-life planning.

The seven steps in the guide show you how to:

• Pay for the health care you need
• Manage your health and personal decisions
• Manage your money and property
• Plan for the care of dependents
• Understand your rights as a patient and an employee
• Complete various legal documents

The 50-page guide describes each step and identifies related decision points you should consider. Alongside it is a list of resources and tips with direct links to websites to assist you with completing each action step. The guide is only available online.

Here are a few of the tips you’ll find in the guide:

• Consider hospice care. You’re eligible for hospice care if you have Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and your doctor certifies that you have a life-limiting illness that is expected to result in death in six months or less. Pain management and outpatient medications are covered under hospice care.

• Investigate the various ways – beyond Medicare and health insurance – to pay for care. Look into Veterans benefits, Social Security disability, Medicaid, Accelerated Death Benefits, reverse mortgages, tax deductions and credits and, in a worst-case scenario, bankruptcy. Beyond Medicare and health insurance, there are a number of ways to financially piece together paying for care.

• Review all your retirement accounts and annuities. Make sure whoever is identified as the beneficiary upon your death is still the person you want to receive the benefit.

• Consider estate planning strategies such as giving away property before your death, forgiving loans upon your death and creating joint ownership of bank accounts or other property with a “right of survivorship.”

• Go to your local bookstore and find one of the many how-to books on legal matters or get advice from a lawyer who specializes in elder law.

The bottom line

• You might feel like helping your parent with end-of-life planning is a waste of precious time together, but doing so is in fact a significant favor to him or her.
• Tending to legal and financial matters gives people who are seriously ill a sense of control at a time when almost everything else is beyond their control.
• The American Bar Association’s “Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill: Seven Key Steps to Get Your Affairs in Order” provides practical tips to help patients and families navigate issues related to finances, health insurance, wills and much more.