CALIFORNIA PROBATE CENTER

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Nine Things Women Should Know – Estate Planning for Women

Posted on | June 30, 2010 | No Comments

“Women’s life expectancy, combined with their tendency to marry older mates and their lower lifetime earnings means they are far more likely to see their living standards compromised in retirement if proper estate planning isn’t done.” This statement begins a very savvy column in an article titled “Six Estate Planning Questions for Women” by Deborah Jacobs for Forbes Magazine. Generally, women enjoy a longer life expectancy than men, which leaves them vulnerable if they fail to make a plan. In my own practice, it is not uncommon to see many women alone in their final years. Beyond that harsh reality, even with supportive family members and friends, the issue becomes not what you want to do with your estate, but rather who will make decisions for you if you fall ill or are unable to make decisions on your own behalf because of an accident or progressive disease.

If you do not make your choice and formalize it via a medical power of attorney (called an advance health care directive in California – see “What is a Living Will? California’s Advance Health Care Directive”), then the government will make the decision through a long and protracted process called a conservatorship. Conservatorships are not fair to your friends and family because of the prohibitive cost and publicity that is attendant to them, and those same people will be placed in the position of having to guess what you would have wanted should you have made your wishes known. Furthermore, you may rebel at the very notion of a conservatorship and may have to hire a lawyer to defend you during the process.

On the other hand, an advance health care directive will only manage personal care decisions for you –leaving perhaps the most important choices regarding your money to your agent through a financial power of attorney. The issue can occur like this: you are involved in an accident and are hospitalized for a month, unable to make decisions on your behalf. Your mortgage or rent becomes due and you have no one authorized to pay it on your behalf. Now you become entangled in a messy legal scenario in which someone must first petition the government on your behalf – usually through an ex parte temporary conservatorship legal procedure – to pay your bills to avoid foreclosure or eviction. All of that is unneeded if you have someone selected as your financial power of attorney. If drafted the right way, that power of attorney will only become effective should you become incapacitated (called a “springing” power of attorney  – see “What is a Springing Power of Attorney?“). To learn more about who to select and other matters on this topic, the article has a nice section under the section “Whom can you trust?”  My thanks to Professor Beyer for bringing this article to my attention.

Category: Estate Planning - Generally
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