If you find it increasingly difficult to manage your money, property or assets because of an illness or age-related health problem, you may want to have someone else do these things for you sometime in the future.
Although a family law judge chooses someone to act as a conservator for your estate once you become too incapacitated or ill to make financial decisions on your own, you can speak to your estate planning attorney such as Donald B Linsky & Associate Pa about choosing a conservator yourself. However, there are things you should understand and know about appointing a conservator over your estate and why.
Conservatorship
A conservator is a type of legal guardian who specifically watches over and controls a disabled or elderly person's finances when he or she can't do so competently. This person makes decisions you can't make if you lose control over your body or mind due to dementia, stroke or some other life-changing condition.
Most states have two types of conservatorships: general and limited. A general conservatorship allows an individual to make decisions about your financial, health and personal needs. However, a limited conservatorship only help out with your finances. If you think that you'll require care for all of your needs, you may wish to choose a general conservatorship.
Choose the Right Conservator to Manage Your Expenses
A person who always makes payments on time to creditors, utility companies and other essential entities will most likely do so with your expenses. This is an important part of being a financial guardian because it protects you from being one of the elderly individuals who lose everything they own to creditors.
In addition, as long as you're able to communicate your needs about your finances, your conservator should discuss your expenses before he or she pays them. It keeps you on track of what you must pay each month and what you have left to live on afterward.
If you lose the ability to communicate, understand or participate in your financial decisions, the conservator should continue managing your monthly expenses correctly. Additionally, the conservator must make good decisions regarding other important financial responsibilities, such as any investments and stocks you have in your estate.
Select a Conservator to Manage Your Investments
If you previously made investments in stock or other money-making ventures, you may want your conservator to do the same once he or she takes over your finances. The conservator should be aware of unscrupulous investors who prey on the elderly and avoid them at all costs. Internet scammers and mail defrauders often convince vulnerable individuals into buying products, stocks or properties. The financial guardian may report the scams to your estate planning lawyer for your legal records.
Your attorney may assist you in choosing a conservator for your estate, but you must act quickly. If your health or mental state declines before you make a decision, family court may choose a financial guardian for you.
Share9 February 2015
When I started my first small business, I had no idea how much I really didn’t know. I was fully prepared to deal with customers, sell product and even handle complaints and returns. What I wasn’t aware of was that there is so much more to it. I was lacking the legal expertise to protect the company and myself. I wanted others to benefit from my experience, mistakes and lessons learned, so I started this blog. From employment law to the legal business contracts you’ll have to sign when you form partnerships, business law is complex. I hope that the information here will help you to be better prepared when you start your business so that you’ll know when you need to call an attorney and when you can handle things yourself.
