No headline

The Inter Lake ran a feature titled “Estate and Pre-Planning Guide” on April 28. The feature laudably encouraged people of all ages to create a will, living will, and/or durable power of attorney. The feature was divided into two parts, e.g., Inventory Your Belongings and Health-Care Directives.

The section on health-care directives contains a number of incompetent and misleading statements that could result in irreparable harm to a sick or dying person or [politically correctly trigger warning, I am about to use the masculine pronoun] his surviving family.

Start out with the leading sentence of the health-care section: “when preparing your final will, an important section will cover health-care directives.” No it won’t. A will only comes into effect when you are dead. Emphasis on the word, DEAD. Unless your name is Lazarus, you don’t need any health-care directives in your will. You need health-care directives in a living declaration, a.k.a. a living will, or a durable power of attorney. It is guaranteed that if you arrive at the hospital with Aunt Maude’s will, containing Maude’s health-care directives, you will be shown the door as regards Aunt Maude’s dying health care.

The section on health-care directives contains this sentence, “[b]e as thorough as possible to take some of the weight off your power of attorney’s shoulders.” No you shouldn’t. There is no entity known as a “power of attorney.” A power of attorney is created when one person (the principal) appoints another person (the agent or attorney-in-fact) to act in the principal’s stead while the person is living. Please don’t confuse your readers into thinking there is a “reputable power of attorney” or “trustworthy power of attorney.”

There are three basic powers of attorney, i.e., general power of attorney, special power of attorney or durable power of attorney, which can be either special or general. Getting confused? Here is the point: Go to an attorney. He will be able to help you prepare the documents you need. Gentle reader, please don’t pull a form off the internet. Or if you do, please have your attorney review it before you sign it and put it in your sock drawer. Don’t be a cheapskate. You could literally be making a life or death decision.

Finally, don’t wait. Prepare that will, living declaration, and power of attorney today. —Scott Hamilton, Esq., Kalispell