We want to make sure that you and your loved ones are ready in the event of an illness, injury, or death. Generally, important legal documents should be reviewed and updated at least every 5 years or when you experience a major life event. These documents include Guardianship Documents, Health Care Power of Attorney, Financial Power of Attorney, Living Will, Last Will and Testament, and Revocable Living Trust.
At Barton Spector Wealth Strategies, our advisors will review and apply your financial power of attorney to your accounts, especially for your individual and retirement accounts, as applicable and discuss your options for “funding” your Trust. Please consult your legal counsel to ensure that you have these documents drafted by lawyers knowledgeable in taxation and estate planning law.*
We suggest that you review your beneficiary designations every year or when circumstances change. A few of the common life events warranting a beneficiary review would be a birth/adoption, marriage/divorce, or death of a beneficiary.
Planning properly for your incapacitation or death is a gift to your loved ones in such a traumatic time. The National Institute on Aging has valuable resources to answer your questions about “Getting Your Affairs in Order”. The NIH provides the following checklist to ensure health care and financial arrangements are in place before serious illness or a health care crisis.
Start discussions early with your loved one while everyone can still help make decisions.
Create documents that communicate health care, financial management, and end of life wishes for yourself and the people you care for, with legal advice as needed.
Review plans regularly, and update documents as circumstances change.
Put important papers in one place. Make sure a trusted family member or friend knows the location and any instructions.
Make copies of health care directives to be placed in all medical files, including information on every doctor seen.
Give permission in advance for a doctor or lawyer to talk directly with a caregiver as needed.
Reduce anxiety about funeral and burial arrangements by planning ahead.
Barton Spector Wealth Strategies advisors will work with you as part of our Estate Planning Services to help you and your loved ones be ready if the unexpected happens. Feel free to use the documents below to organize some of your important information. Be careful to keep all copies of these and other important documents in a locked location which is accessible only by people you fully trust and provide copies only to persons who you are confident can be trusted to maintain the privacy of your information.
Allergies/Immunizations/Surgeries Doctor List Prescription Medications Supplements
Auto Debit/Credit to Accounts Auto Deposits Debit to Credit/Debit Cards
Contact Numbers & Access Codes User IDs & Passwords
* Barton Spector Wealth Strategies advisors are not lawyers, nor do they serve as legal counsel. Please consult the appropriate lawyer/legal counsel to have your legal document(s) (Trust, Will, Powers of Attorney) drafted and reviewed.
Barton Spector Wealth Strategies is not affiliated with and does not endorse the National Institute on Aging. The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the websites mentioned, we make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of the information provided at these websites.