A serious medical diagnosis can bring a lot of stress and worry to you and your family. At a time like this, spending time on paperwork may not be uppermost in your mind.
However, updating your estate plan is often wise. Here are some examples of what you might need to do.
Ensure that all of your assets are included
If your diagnosis is not good, it is wise to review your estate plan to ensure that you have included all of the things you own. The more complete the plan is in its inclusion of assets, the less chance there is of delays or fallouts over who should get a particular item. Remember, too, to remove assets you no longer own, as their continued inclusion could also lead to delays and confusion.
Check those named in your estate plan
A thorough estate plan will name people to certain roles. For example, an estate executor, one or more people with powers of attorney (POA), and, if you have minor children, a guardian for them.
Double-checking to be sure that you have documented your choice of people for these roles and that those choices are still suitable can provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones. For example, perhaps you had previously named your sister to have POA, but she has started to show the first signs of dementia, so you need to replace her.
The same applies to your beneficiaries. Maybe you need to add a new grandchild into the asset split or remove someone who recently died.
Add any relevant directions on treatment decisions
Finally, if serious medical issues are a new reality, then you should consider adding notes to your advance health care directive on decisions that may need to be made concerning them.
For example, if there is a strong chance that a decision may need to be made as to whether to end life-prolonging measures when you’re not conscious, you can state under what circumstances you want that. This will save others from having to make that decision if you’re unable to.
Experienced legal guidance can help you to make sure that your estate plan is suitable for your new reality.