Captain America (or Cap to his mates) was frozen in the ice for nearly 70 years. Imagine if he hadn’t appointed Captain Marvel as his attorney to look after his affairs. Who would have paid his bills and looked after his property? Would your money and property look after itself for 7 days let alone 7 years or longer? Find out more here and how we can help…
You all know that you should have an up to date Will although only just over half of the Australian population do. An Enduring Power of Attorney (or EPA) is just as important as your Will. If you die, your Will looks after your property, your Executor gathers your assets and transfers them to your beneficiaries. If you lose your capacity then your attorneys (friends or relatives not lawyers) under your EPA look after your property and financial affairs for you. Keeping your financial affairs in order for when you recover or to keep you in comfort, we think, is as important as gifting your assets under your Will to your beneficiaries. Your attorneys also make important personal and health care decisions for you such as where and with whom you live, your diet, dress and living arrangements. Things that you do not even think about now however if you are in a coma in hospital someone needs to make these decisions for you.
By making an EPA you are choosing who you want to manage your financial affairs, if or when you lose capacity, rather than the court appointing someone that you may not agree with. You may need someone immediately to pay bills such as rent or rates and sell investments for you to free up funds to care for you and your family. A Court on an urgent application can have up to a 3 month wait list before any appointment of someone to act on your behalf is made.
Everyone over the age of 18 should make an EPA to ensure they protect their assets and financial affairs and those of their family.
You should carefully consider who you appoint to act as your Attorney as it can sometimes be an onerous position if the incapacity lasts for a long time such as in the case of our good mate Cap. It also involves some financial sense and as you cannot oversee what your attorneys are doing whilst incapacitated, a great deal of trust. We usually see spouses appoint each other with extra powers to engage in conflict and gifting transactions and then adult children or their siblings or trusted friends.
You can appoint attorneys for financial matters and different attorneys for personal/health matters depending on your circumstances however it is best that spouses appoint the same alternate attorneys for financial matters to ensure that there are no conflicts in decision making under different EPAs.
We can give you guidance on the best time practically for these important powers to commence.
To make sure that you have a valid and up to date EPA in place give us a call on 4758 5656 and we can help you put one in place or review your existing documents. Don’t leave it until it is too late. Have the peace of mind that Captain America had that things will be taken care of if you cannot look after them for you and your family.
