The Personal Care POA.
Originally posted in allaboutestates.ca on October 22, 2013
I had the pleasure of attending an excellent presentation on The Other Side of the Coin: Personal Care and the Estate Lawyer.
A number of esteemed lawyers presented on some of the challenges they experience and recent court decisions on power of attorney related matters.
While it seems that much more attention is given to financial matters and requirements of the POA for property, it is my belief that greater attention needs to focus on the POA for personal care. Sometimes there are better safeguards for the protection of one’s money than there is on safeguarding one’s own care. Financial institutions are often very well equipped to handle the fiscal responsibility when named as a POA for property however there are limited choices when family is not available to assist/take over one’s personal care decisions.
I had previously blogged on the importance of making a good choice when deciding on who to name as POA for Care.
I have seen friends rise to the occasion and I invite you to read this earlier POA blog as well.
While it may be a tremendous honour, it is also a tremendous responsibility. Sharing one’s hopes, dreams , wishes and fears, is part of the process. Borrowing from Mark Handelman’s presentation, it is a ‘philosophy of life’ that needs to be shared rather than listing specific situations. Advanced Directives and this philosophy of life and death, should be part of the POA for personal care discussion. It also needs to be written down and these documents need to be in a place that can easily be found and accessed. Mr. Handelman likes the freezer.
Leave a reply
