I made a court appearance regarding a conservatorship matter earlier this week. We represent a conservator who is a friend of the conservatee. What happened to the conservatee -- she's a nice lady in her late 60s and lives alone. Her family lives in Europe. Her friends and acquaintances are modest here in California. So modest that many might not know something happened to her. She retired so she doesn't go to work everyday. A few months ago she suffered a stroke. The stroke didn't incapacitated her permanently. She will likely make a strong recovery and be able to enjoy her life again. Certainly not the same as before, but still have an enjoyable life nonetheless.
She lived in an apartment. She drove a nice car. So when she had the stroke, she called the ambulance and was immediately transported to the hospital where she stayed for at least a month. She was later moved to a rehab facility. Currently she resides in a less restrictive facility, but still has not returned to her apartment.
When she was admitted to the hospital, she could not communicate. She could not tell anyone who to call. So the authorities stepped in after some time to locate a family member or friend. In the meantime, her apartment rent went unpaid. Her car payment went unpaid. Her other bills piled up. After three months of unpaid rent, eviction proceedings were initated against her. Remember no one knew what happened to her or that she was in the hospital. Her family lives in Europe.
Finally a local contact was found and now steps are being taken to ensure her affairs are properly managed, but she had already lost her apartment and her belongings wound up in storage for only a short time before they would be auctioned off. The local contact was able to obtain court authority to manage her affairs temporarily until her family could be finally located and things done accordingly.
I could go on and on, but the morale of this lady's plight is simple -- even when you think you have nothing to leave to anyone or even anyone to leave your things to -- you still need to worry about what happens to you. Having a will, power of attorney and advance health care directive would have made all the difference in the world. Put these executed documents in a normal place -- your office or a post it on your bulletin board near your phone -- say all of my estate planning documents can be found here. Write down a list of contacts for an emergency and get an attorney on board. If something happens and the authorities wind up searching your home for who to contact, they will discover an attorney's card, the list by the phone, the binder on your bookshelf that says Estate Planning documents. Having these things in place for this lady could have greatly affected what happened to her affairs while she was incapacitated.
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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given. The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-434844/Missing-25-years-getting-wrong-bus.html
Here is why you need a living will/contact name/whatever. Unbelievable, isn't it?
Jim
Posted by: Jim Goettel | April 15, 2009 at 05:43 PM
Great advice! It's truly scary what can happen if you live alone. Being ill and hospitalized is stressful enough without having anyone who support you -- financially, legally, etc. Thanks for the food for thought
Posted by: Laura L. Thatcher | July 15, 2009 at 07:58 PM