Sacramento Estate Planning Lawyers: Legal Planning After a Cancer Diagnosis

Our Sacramento estate planning lawyers are often asked what are the top legal steps that patients should take after they have been diagnosed with cancer. The answer that we give them really applies to anyone that is diagnosed with a serious illness or life-threatening condition. Essentially, there are four main areas of concern that patients should address when getting their affairs in order. They include:

1. Who will manage your finances?

When dealing with a serious illness like cancer, there may come a time where you are too sick to manage your financial affairs. This could be temporary, such as being unable to handle your bills following a particularly rough round of treatment, or long-term if your condition declines. In either scenario, you will want to legally appoint someone else that can speak for you and make decisions on your behalf if and when you are unable. A Sacramento estate planning lawyer can help you create a Power of Attorney that will give someone you trust the ability to handle a number of financial issues in your absence, including: 

• Bill Payments and Banking 
• Pension Issues
• Tax matters
• Real estate matters
• Government Benefit Claims (including Social Security Disability)
• Insurance Issues

        2. Who will Manage Your Medical Care? 

Just as you must name someone to oversee your financial affairs if you cannot speak for yourself, you will also need to legally appoint someone who can oversee your medical affairs as well. This person is known as the healthcare agent and may be the same or a different person than whom you’ve selected to act as your Power of Attorney.  When necessary, the healthcare agent will handle the day-to-day decision making regarding your medical care including (but not limited to): 

• Medication administration
• Blood and blood products
• Diagnostic tests
• Dialysis
• Surgery
• Long-term care (i.e., nursing home assistance, home health care)
• Hiring and firing medical personal
• Determining who can (and cannot) visit you during your hospital stay
• Getting court authorization to obtain or withhold treatment if your wishes are not honored by a doctor or other healthcare professionals

      3. Create Instructions to Manage Your End-of-Life Care

Creating an Advance Directive allows you to indicate the type of care you would like during the course of your treatments at the end of your life. The main point of this document is to guide your healthcare agent and loved ones through the tough decisions they may face as your condition progresses. By providing these instructions of what type of treatment you do or do not want in advance, you will take a great burden off the shoulders of your family.

       4. Get Your Estate Plan in Order

Even if your diagnosis is not terminal, it’s still a wise idea to take a fresh look at your estate planning documents (or create these documents if you do not have them). Cancer is unpredictable, and your health status can change rapidly. It’s important to ensure your legal affairs are in order to spare your family from additional burdens if your illness takes a turn for the worse and you ultimately pass away. When tackling your estate plan, there are a few key areas to pay close attention to:

1. Make sure your beneficiaries listed on accounts such as life insurance policies or 401(k)’s are still those you want to receive your property. 
2. Make sure the bequests are the correct amounts or percentages. 
3. Make sure the Executor of your estate is still the person you want to act for you. 
4. Make sure you have designated a Guardian for your minor children, if you have any. 
5. Make sure you have considered having a Special Needs Trust prepared if you have a child with disabilities.
6. If you have online accounts, you can include what you want to happen to those digital accounts as part of your estate plan.

Sacramento Estate Planning Lawyers
If you have received a diagnosis of cancer and have additional questions about how to get your legal affairs in order, please feel free to contact our Sacramento law firm or one of our other offices located throughout the state of California by calling (800) 244-8814.

If you have any further questions about asset protection planning and strategies to shield your wealth, or if you’d like to have your current asset protection plan reviewed to make sure it still meets your needs, please contact us at our California asset protection office at 800-244-8814 to set up a consultation.