Holidays and Family Conversations

As I was getting ready to head to the office and my wife was getting ready to head out shopping for Black Friday in Metro Detroit, we had the television on.  On Good Morning America (or one of the morning talk shows, they all seem the same to me) there was a representative from the AARP talking with the hosts regarding just what I wrote about in my last post about end of life decisions and how to have the conversation with your parents.

With the holidays upon up, this is the time to have important family conversations with your parents.  There needs to be a discussion about handling aging with privacy and dignity.
As the AARP rep mentioned, this is best accomplished through creating advanced health care directives, including a living will, and creating a power of attorney to handle financial and business decisions.

The AARP representative also mentioned, which I wholeheartedly agree with as an estate planning lawyer, that these documents need to be executed early before there are any health of financial issues.

-Christopher J. Berry, Esq.