Maximize Asset Protection

Seed or Harvest

L.E.O.

Law Enforcement Officer

Independent Financial Education Podcast.

Episode 03

25th JULY

Officer Ty

Officer Ty

Podcast Guest

LEO PODCAST

Estate Planning Documents Explained

Maximize Asset Protection with Living Will, Trust vs Will, and Powers of Attorney

Arizona estate planning for law enforcement officers involves clear financial planning strategies that address trust vs will choices along with probate processes. By managing assets such as IRAs, 401(k)s, and real estate investments through trustees and personal representatives, officers can reduce tax consequences and protect their families from intestate probate and legal fees.

Why Estate Planning is Crucial for Law Enforcement Officers in Arizona

Estate planning matters a lot for law enforcement officers in Arizona. It helps protect your assets and makes sure they go where you want after you’re gone. Police work is tough and risky, so having a plan gives you peace of mind.

Here’s why estate planning helps:

  • Protect Assets: Keep what you earned safe.
  • Financial Security: Make sure your family has money when you’re not around.
  • Distribute Estate: Say exactly how to divide your stuff.
  • Peace of Mind: Feel calm knowing your loved ones are covered.

Working with trusted professionals who get police officer estate planning makes things easier and more effective. They know the challenges law enforcement folks face every day.

Get Custom Service Quote

Let's Get Connected!

Bring your health journey to life! Get a custom health plan consultation today. Let's connect and create a plan that fits your life perfectly.

Essential Estate Planning Documents

Understanding Wills: Distribution of Assets After Death

A will is a document that tells who gets your stuff after you die. There are two main kinds: legal wills and oral wills. Legal wills are written down, but oral wills are said out loud in front of witnesses. The last will and testament is the most common type.

You need to pick an executor. This person makes sure your wishes in the will happen. They handle things like the probate court process, where the court checks the will and manages estate settlement. Executors pay debts, give assets to beneficiaries, and follow state laws.

Sometimes probate takes a long time. To avoid problems, people use strategies like setting up trusts or giving gifts before they pass. A will can be invalid if it’s not done right or if you weren’t able to sign it properly. You can use will codicils to change a will without writing a whole new one.

  • A legal will directs how assets are shared.
  • Executors carry out the will’s instructions.
  • Probate can take time; planning helps speed things up.

Understanding Trusts: Asset Protection and Management During Life and After Death

Trusts help protect your stuff while you’re alive and after you die. They come in packages with different options, like revocable or irrevocable trusts.

A trust amendment lets you change a trust without making a new one. Recording a certificate of trust shows proof the trust exists but keeps details private.

Revocable trusts let you change or cancel them anytime while alive. Irrevocable trusts don’t allow changes once set up but protect assets better. Trustees manage trusts by following the rules set in them.

Living trusts help manage your stuff if you can’t do it yourself or after death. They also avoid probate court, which saves time compared to just using a will.

  • Trusts keep assets safe.
  • Revocable trusts are flexible.
  • Living trusts avoid probate court delays.

Types of Trusts

Two main types of trusts exist:

  1. Revocable Trust: You can change or cancel it anytime before death.
  2. Irrevocable Trust: Once made, it can’t be changed but offers tax perks and protects against creditors.

Knowing these helps pick what fits your money goals and family needs.

Trust Administration

Trust administration means running a trust from start until all assets are given out or the trust ends. Trustees must follow rules closely and act honestly for beneficiaries’ benefit.

Trustees keep records and talk with beneficiaries about money moves, taxes, and distributions inside the trust fund(s). This helps make sure everything goes smoothly.

Advantages of Trusts

The big plus for trusts is avoiding probate—a slow court process that checks wills after someone dies. Using living or testamentary trusts makes passing assets faster for heirs.

Other benefits include:

  • Privacy since trusts don’t become public record like probated estates
  • Possible tax savings based on how they’re set up
  • Control over money even after death

Good estate planning needs both wills and trusts to protect family futures well!

 

Financial Power of Attorney: Managing Financial Affairs

A financial power of attorney lets someone you trust handle your money matters. This document, often called a durable power of attorney for finances, gives your agent the right to pay bills, manage property, and do other financial transactions for you. You can also name a successor power of attorney to step in if your main agent can’t act.

Your agent has fiduciary duties. That means they must act honestly and in your best interest. They must avoid misuse or conflicts. A well-made financial POA keeps your property management smooth when you can’t handle it yourself.

When a Financial Power of Attorney Takes Effect

Financial powers of attorney usually start only when certain incapacitation criteria happen. This means the POA kicks in once you cannot make decisions due to injury or illness. Some let the POA begin right after signing but that risks misuse if your agent acts while you still can decide.

Many choose a “springing” power. It activates only after medical proof shows incapacity. This setup stops early use but makes sure help arrives when you really need it.

Granting Specific Financial Powers

You decide how much power your financial POA gives:

  • Broad authority: Your agent can do almost all financial acts like selling property, opening accounts, or filing taxes.
  • Narrow focus: You limit powers to tasks like paying bills or handling bank accounts only.

Picking the right range helps keep things flexible yet safe from unwanted actions by your agent.

Duties of a Financial Power of Attorney

Your agent must follow key fiduciary duties similar to an executor’s:

  • Act loyally and honestly
  • Manage money wisely
  • Keep clear records
  • Avoid personal conflicts with your interests

These duties protect your assets until you recover or pass away.

Healthcare Power of Attorney: Making Medical Decisions

A healthcare power of attorney form names someone to make medical decisions if you can’t speak for yourself. Also called medical power of attorney or health care proxy authority, it covers choices about treatments, surgeries, medications, and end-of-life care that match what you want.

Unlike living wills that give fixed instructions, this lets the healthcare agent make decisions as situations change.

Scope of Authority

Healthcare powers vary but usually give full legal authority over medical choices once incapacity is confirmed by advance directives. These documents often need renewal every few years so hospitals see they are current and valid under state law.

Healthcare agents use these directives along with doctor advice and respect patient wishes whenever possible.

Choosing a Healthcare Agent

Pick a healthcare agent carefully because they’ll speak for you when you’re vulnerable. Look for someone who is:

  • Trustworthy
  • Ready and able to help
  • Knows your values well

This surrogate decision-maker should get both the facts and feelings involved in tough health decisions.

Medical Decision-Making Process

When patients can’t decide on their own—especially about end-of-life choices—the healthcare agent talks with doctors using advance care planning papers like living wills if available. They turn general wishes into clear steps on life support, pain control, feeding tubes, or organ donation based on instructions given earlier.

For detailed estate planning help about trusts vs wills and how living wills differ from powers of attorney visit Maximize Asset Protection’s resources at mapfl.com. You can plan ahead so important decisions are in good hands before emergencies come up.

 

Living Will: Specifying End-of-Life Care

A living will is a legal paper that says what medical care you want if you can’t speak for yourself. It focuses on end-of-life decisions. This means it tells doctors and family how you want to be treated when things get really serious.

Living will instructions often include:

  • Whether to keep or stop life support
  • Agreeing to or refusing a feeding tube
  • Your choice about pain medication to ease discomfort
  • What you want done about CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
  • Whether you want hydration given or withheld

These advance directives help make sure your wishes count when you can’t talk. For example, if you are in a coma, the living will tells doctors if they should keep machines like ventilators or feeding tubes going.

Because it gives clear orders, a living will helps families avoid tough decisions without knowing what you want.

Comparing and Contrasting Documents: Who Decides What

Knowing the difference between a living will and powers of attorney matters a lot. Both are important but do different jobs.

Medical Power of Attorney vs. Living Will

A medical power of attorney picks someone to make health decisions for you when you can’t decide. This person has broad authority to choose your medical care unless laws or papers limit them.

On the other hand, a living will only covers certain end-of-life situations spelled out in the document. The medical power of attorney works for all other health decisions beyond that narrow focus.

Healthcare Power of Attorney Form

This form names someone as your healthcare proxy with legal authority over medical choices if you’re unable to decide. Unlike the detailed steps in a living will, this gives wide freedom to act based on what seems best at the moment.

Financial Decision Maker vs. Medical Decision Maker

Don’t mix up financial powers of attorney with healthcare ones:

  • A financial power of attorney lets someone handle money stuff like bills and property.
  • A healthcare power of attorney lets another person make health-related calls.

Both usually need renewal now and then because people change and forms must stay current.

Document TypeScopeAuthority LevelWhen It Starts
Living WillSpecific end-of-life careNarrow; set by documentWhen patient can’t communicate & meets conditions
Healthcare Power of AttorneyBroad medical decisionsBroad; flexibleWhen patient is incapacitated
Financial Power of AttorneyMoney and assetsBroadRight away or after incapacity

Picking who holds these powers needs trust and clear talks. Your agents should know what they must do since they get serious legal authority during hard times.

Using both documents together creates an estate plan that covers your money and your health wishes clearly, following state laws as needed.

 

Choosing the Right Documents for Your Needs

Trust vs. Will: Which is Right for You?

When you plan your estate, you have to pick between a trust and a will. Both are estate planning documents but work in different ways.

A will says who gets your stuff after you die. It names someone called an executor to handle your estate through probate. Probate is a court process that can take a long time and cost money. Wills don’t avoid probate, nor do they protect assets while you’re alive.

A trust holds your assets during your life and lets them pass without probate. For example, a revocable living trust lets you keep control while alive but moves assets faster when you pass.

Here’s why trusts can help:

  • Avoid probate and keep things private.
  • Protect assets from some creditors or lawsuits.
  • Help lower estate taxes with certain irrevocable trusts.

Different types of trusts exist:

  • A revocable trust can be changed anytime but won’t protect against creditors.
  • An irrevocable trust usually can’t be changed but offers stronger asset protection.
  • A testamentary trust starts after death by instructions in your will. It’s often for kids or others who need managing.

Also, you use beneficiary designations on things like life insurance or retirement accounts. These work with wills and trusts to make sure assets go where you want.

Your choice depends on how big your estate is, what kind of management you want, privacy needs, and tax matters. Talking to a lawyer can help you pick the right papers for good estate tax planning and asset protection.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Documents

Picking the right estate planning documents takes more than just legal steps. Think about what fits your personal situation.

Look at these points:

  • Family dynamics in estate planning: Complex families—like blended or distant relatives—may need special plans, like separate trusts or clear guardianship rules.
  • Blended family estate planning: When kids come from different marriages, it’s smart to say exactly who gets what. This stops fights later.
  • Estate size: Bigger estates often need both wills and various trusts to save on taxes and skip long probate waits.
  • Specific needs: If you own a business, care for someone with special needs, or want to give to charity, pick documents that cover these well.

Get legal advice so unique needs get handled right. Lawyers know state rules about how papers must be signed or notarized. They help make clear instructions that fit laws now.

Don’t forget to review these documents over time. Life changes like marriage, divorce, or new babies mean updates are needed so plans still match what you want.

By knowing the difference between wills and trusts—and thinking about your family plus goals—you can choose the best set of estate planning documents for you. This helps reduce stress on those you leave behind and keeps control over what happens with your legacy after you’re gone.

 

Legal Considerations and Document Execution in Arizona Estate Planning

Arizona State Laws Regarding Estate Planning Documents

Estate planning documents must follow Arizona’s specific estate laws to be valid. An estate planning attorney can help you understand the rules. In Arizona, many documents need notarization to be official. Having proper witnesses and notarization helps stop problems later. These steps make sure your will, trust, or power of attorney work under state law.

Requirements for Valid Documents

To make estate documents legal in Arizona, you need:

  • Witnesses Requirement: Usually, two adults who don’t benefit from your will must watch you sign.
  • Notary Public: Some papers, like durable powers of attorney or trusts, need a notary’s stamp.
  • Legal Authority: The signer must understand what they’re signing.
  • Living Will Legal Requirements: The will must clearly say your medical wishes and follow set rules.
  • Power of Attorney Limitations: Powers should be clear; some acts may need extra permission.

These points help show your wishes clearly and legally.

Specific Legal Requirements

Arizona law defines terms that affect your plan:

  • Legal Fiduciary: Someone trusted to act for you responsibly.
  • Incapacity Criteria & Incapacitation Triggers: These show when healthcare powers start—usually when a doctor says you’re unable to decide.
  • Court Supervision: Without a power of attorney, courts might pick guardians if you can’t act for yourself.

Knowing these helps you plan when others can step in.

Ensuring the Validity of Your Documents: Witnessing and Notarization

Here’s how to keep your documents solid:

StepWhat Happens
Witnesses RequirementTwo unbiased adults watch you sign; they can’t gain from it
Document NotarizationA notary checks your ID and that you signed willingly
Digital SignaturesNot common yet; most still need real signatures

These steps make your papers official in Arizona.

Witness Requirements

Witnesses must be grown-ups who aren’t related by blood or marriage. They confirm you signed without pressure. This lowers chances of fraud claims later on.

Notarization Process

A licensed notary public checks your ID like a driver’s license. Then they add their seal to prove the signature is real. This matters for big papers like financial powers of attorney or property deeds.

Updating Your Estate Planning Documents: Life Changes and Amendments

You should review your estate plan after big life events like marriage, divorce, or having kids. You can update it by:

  • Signing new versions
  • Adding amendments (like trust amendment)
  • Re-doing health care directives

Experts say check your papers every 3 to 5 years so they stay right for you.

Marriage: Blended Family Considerations

Blended families have special estate needs. Stepchildren and previous relationships can cause confusion. Talking openly about who gets what helps a lot. Some things to think about:

  • Naming stepkids as beneficiaries
  • Picking guardians carefully
  • Being fair about inheritance

Good family talks avoid fights down the road.

Divorce: Impact on Estate Plans

Divorce changes everything with medical or money decisions in plans. If you don’t update after divorce:

  • Ex-spouses might keep unwanted control
  • Medical care disputes can lead to court fights
  • Loved ones feel extra stress trying to figure out old wishes

Fixing powers of attorney and beneficiary info soon after divorce keeps things clear.

Birth of a Child: Guardianship Designation

Having a child means updating who cares for them if you can’t. You want to name guardians in wills or trusts right away. This stops courts from picking someone else if parents die or get sick. It protects minor kids best.

 

Protecting Your Family’s Future

Avoiding Probate and Simplifying Asset Transfer

Probate is the legal process to settle a person’s estate after they pass away. It goes through probate court, which can slow things down a lot. This delay makes estate settlement take months or even years. Your family might feel stressed and face extra costs during that time.

Many people want to skip probate. They do this by using trusts to move property smoothly. When you put assets like your home deed into a trust, those assets skip probate completely. You can record a certificate of trust with the county, showing proof without sharing private details.

You need proper legal documents for this to work right. Clear instructions on how to transfer property help avoid confusion. They make sure your wishes get followed fast after you die. By avoiding probate, families save time, money, and keep their privacy safe.

Minimizing Family Disputes with Clear Instructions

Family fights about medical care or who gets what can happen when instructions aren’t clear or missing. Writing detailed guidance in your estate plan helps stop problems before they start.

Give clear directions about healthcare choices—like what’s in your living will—and who has financial power of attorney. This reduces guesswork for your loved ones. Talking openly about these issues helps everyone understand and respect the tough ethical questions involved.

Setting expectations early with honest talks and written notes cuts down arguments later. That way, you avoid expensive court cases and hurt feelings inside your family.

The Importance of Open Communication with Your Designated Representatives

Picking trusted people to act for you is only one part of good estate planning; talking with them regularly matters just as much. Keeping communication open means they know your values, wishes, and any updates to your plans.

Talk about situations like medical emergencies or managing money so they’re ready both emotionally and practically. Check in often so you can change things if life shifts—for example, if relationships change or laws update how long documents last (often every five years).

Open family communication builds trust that those representatives will follow your wishes well and keeps surprises away when it counts most.

For more info on estate planning documents, including healthcare power of attorney forms and how living wills differ from powers of attorney, check out Maximize Asset Protection’s Seed or Harvest podcast at mapfl.com/podcast/seed-or-harvest-for-leo.

Officer Ty

Key Bullet Points:

  • Guardianship for Children: Legally names who cares for minors; prevents court-appointed guardianship.
  • Conservatorship: Court-appointed money manager for adults who can’t manage finances themselves.
  • Will Package & Trust Package: Bundled documents to cover all aspects of asset distribution and management.
  • Legal Documents Notarization: Mandatory step to validate wills, trusts, powers of attorney under state law.
  • Power of Attorney Abuse & Credit Card Misuse: Risks when agents act dishonestly; choose trustworthy agents only.
  • Fiduciary Income Tax Return: Trustee or executor must file taxes on behalf of the estate or trust properly.
  • Life Insurance Trust & Charitable Gifts: Tools to protect proceeds from taxes and support causes after death.
  • Court-Appointed Administrator & Bond Sureties: Backup if no will/executor; bond protects estate from mismanagement.
  • Buy-Sell Agreement: Business owners use this to plan ownership transfer upon death or disability.
  • Family Conflict Resolution: Open communication and clear documents reduce disputes over assets and care decisions.
  • Religious & Spiritual Beliefs in Medical Decisions: Include these wishes in advance directives to guide care teams.
  • Online Estate Planning Tools & Digital Signatures: Convenient but verify legality for your state before use.
  • Document Privacy: Trusts offer confidentiality compared to public probate records.
  • Emergency Preparedness: Have accessible copies of key documents for crises or sudden incapacity situations.
  • Minor & Disabled Beneficiaries Planning: Special trusts ensure long-term support without losing government benefits.
  • Incapacity Triggers: Define when powers activate based on medical evaluation to protect your interests properly.

Executor Compensation & Duties: Executors can receive fees; they handle legal, financial tasks until estate settles fully.

SEED OR HARVEST FOR LEO

FAQs on Estate Planning and Related Legal Documents

What is the role of a legal guardian for minors in estate planning?
A legal guardian cares for minor children if parents pass or become incapacitated. Guardianship ensures children’s welfare and daily needs.

How does conservatorship differ from guardianship?
Conservatorship manages finances and assets for incapacitated adults. Guardianship focuses on personal care decisions.

What is a successor agent in powers of attorney?
A successor agent takes over if the primary agent cannot serve. This avoids gaps in decision-making authority.

How often should you renew powers of attorney?
Renew every few years or after major life events. This keeps documents current and valid under state laws.

What are common limitations in power of attorney documents?
Limitations restrict specific acts like selling property or making gifts. Clear limits prevent misuse or abuse.

How does document notarization protect your estate plan?
Notarization confirms identity and voluntary signing. It reduces chances of fraud or challenges in court.

What is an advance healthcare directive?
It outlines your medical preferences and appoints a healthcare surrogate to decide if you are incapacitated.

How can blended family estate planning prevent disputes?
Clear instructions on asset division and guardianship help avoid conflicts among stepfamily members.

What steps reduce probate delay in asset transfer?
Using trusts, joint ownership, and beneficiary designations speeds up property transfer after death.

Why is periodic document review important in estate planning?
Life changes like marriage, divorce, or new children affect plans. Regular updates keep your wishes accurate.

Podcast Latest Episodes

Employee benefit Avoiding ERISA

Small employer? Reward key employees with exclusive retirement benefits using a 162(a) Executive Bonus Plan. Legally avoid ERISA and select who you reward. Learn how...

Estate Planning Documents

Protect your assets and healthcare wishes with essential estate planning documents. Learn the differences between living wills and healthcare power of attorney, and understand how trusts vs wills...

Pretax Life Insurance Option

Can business owners deduct life insurance premiums? Usually no — but a few entrepreneurs may qualify for powerful tax advantages through special strategies like Section 162 plans. Learn who qualifies...

Blog Transcript

We’re going to talk about. We’ve already talked about goals and trust, but today we’re going to talk about the other documents are really important to have in your state planning. and a living will and what the differences between a living will and a health care pro attorney. They are very different and very important to have both. Welcome to the Seed or Harvest Show, You’re going to welcome Cynthia Starkey. Good to see you again. You too. Always love having you on. So, we’re looking forward to another great episode. This will be a number of, I believe, three, three of this year. Okay. So, here we are. We’re going to continue on. Obviously, Our intention is to bring financial and legal professionals together Cindy, this is a big, massive topic that most people want to ignore, right? That’s correct. You do. I, I imagine that you tend to talk to a lot of people at later stages in life. I do. So are you is it what do you what percentage of people, just to start off the conversation of a percentage of people, would you say to you, talk to you that are under ? I’m also happy to introduce our special guest, very esteemed guest, In, in under , who has served her clients maybe %. Ten, under , under . So % of people wait till after they’re, you know. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The only younger people that I talk to typically I handle the estate for their parents, and then they realize their parents tell them how important it is to, you know, get documents in their estate planning in place. And typically they have children. And so they want to make sure that guardians are named for their children, and conservators are named for their children in case something happens to them. But that’s about the only time I ever hear from younger people. All right, so it’s what’s test your %? I am , and do you think I have my trust documents set up? I do not believe you. Do after time. No I don’t. So we, proved your case. That’s terrible. Right? Hopefully, nothing happens to us and everything’s okay. Otherwise, we’re going to probate in. It’s bad for our kids. Yeah, which that’s what this is about. Let’s avoid all that situation. And, let’s let’s talk about why we need to do this, and, so shed some light on us, for this next episode here, we’re going to be talking. I guess you said about the supplementary documents, is that correct? Documents that you need. So we talk about wills and trust in the last episode, two episodes, and talked about the difference between them in the pros and cons. But there are a couple other documents that are really important to have in your estate plan. And those are financial powers of attorney and healthcare, powers of attorney and a living will. And typically I include those. So when I do estate planning documents for people, I do them in packages. And it’s either a will package or a trust package typically. And there’s different charges for those. And then they always each package also comes with health care powers of attorney and financial powers of attorney. And what those are is the will and the trust mostly, deal with your property, after you die. Although trust actually deals with your property throughout your whole life. But the health care pa returning the durable power of attorney gives people the, authority to act on your behalf prior to your death. They’re actually not affected once you pass away. But if you’re incapacitated or you can’t make decisions for yourself because you can’t communicate those decisions, then you appoint somebody to make those decisions on your behalf. And that’s why. So the durable power of attorney actually allows somebody to make financial decisions for you so they can write checks. They can pay your mortgage, they can pay your bills, they can sell property, and you can have those, that power attorney can become effective immediately, which is kind of a dangerous thing to do or just once you’re incapacitated. But a lot of you might pause. And right there, I’m sorry you said that can be kind of a dangerous thing. What do you mean by that? What option do you have if it’s not immediate? Now, if you I’ve seen situations where, a to a spouse where you’ll give your spouse power of attorney, that’s effective immediately and then that spouse is maybe not trustworthy. Or maybe it’s a, maybe it’s a son or daughter and you’re an elderly person, and that person is untrustworthy. And they go and do things, you know, they buy property or they take out credit cards or they sell stuff, so property and you don’t know about it. So I typically don’t recommend that you give somebody that power that it’s effective immediately. I usually say, you know, it should only become, effective once you’re incapacitated. But you can make the choice under Arizona law for a financial power of attorney to be effective right away, the one time when you really would want it to be effective immediately is if you are maybe in the military and you’re being deployed, so that your spouse can carry on and, you know, buy property, or if you have a business together can do the things that need to be done to keep the business running. But, yeah. Sorry, I understand what you’re saying. I you’re just saying immediately, as an immediately, you are capacitated right now, but they still have the power of attorney to act on your behalf. Yeah, yeah. So the incapacitated. Yeah. So, okay, I was I was under the assumption that it only kicked in once you were incapacitated. So that’s, you know, you, you put in place. Gotcha. Sorry. Okay. Well, I’m glad to clarify that. I didn’t realize you had that distinction. No, I realize it either. You know, the other scenario where you might want to, appoint somebody before you’re incapacitated is. And this is more for the older day in the, in, you know, days before when there’s e filing and e signing and things like that. But if you’re going out of the country and maybe you had property that you were going to sell or, you know, a business that needed to be done, so you’d leave somebody in charge of that so that they could sign things on your behalf or, you know, sell property, especially if you’re in real estate and you’re are buying and selling property all the time. But now that you know, you have e signing and DocuSign and those kinds of things doesn’t really matter where you are in the world anymore, you can pretty much act from anywhere. But, yeah. So typically that’s when you’d want to you typically when you don’t want to give somebody control over your finances unless you’re incapacitated. And then the healthcare power of attorney is also if you’re incapacitated. And that allows somebody to make medical decisions for you and that person, you really have to give some thought to who you’re going to appoint for both, because the person that you point to act for you to make medical decisions might be somebody completely different than you would appoint to act for you financially. You know, when you’re doing a financial power of attorney, you got to think about, is that person a responsible person, or are they going to take out credit and loans and things like that behind my back? Or, you know, even if you’re not, if you’re incapacitated, are they going to take out loans and things like that? Are they going to misuse my funds? But then as far as health care power of attorney goes, that’s somebody who’s going to make medical decisions for you. So you really need to have a conversation with them and make sure that you’re both on the same page as far as you’d what you’d want done for you if you were, you know, in a vegetative state or a car accident or something like that. And you were on life support, you know, do you want life support to be continued for a long time, or do you not want to be on life support? So you have to have those decisions? I have a lot of clients who are Catholic and, a lot of the older Catholic people, you know, they believe in the sanctity of life and they would not, you know, pull the plug on their kid if they were in a car accident and in a vegetative state. And yet the kids maybe aren’t as devout Catholics as their parents are, and they wouldn’t want that. So it’s really important to have that conversation. So the person you’re appointing is on the same page. Is you as far as what you’d want done, because you don’t want to put somebody in the position where you want to be pulled off life support. And it’s a moral, you know, it’s something morally reprehensible to them and have them have to make that decision. Do you know what I’m saying? Oh, you know, I yeah, well, you know, I lived it. I mean, I was, I was my financial power returning from my father, but it was my uncle who was the medical power of attorney, right. Which I was so thankful for to take that off. Yeah, quite honestly, because I, you know, I it’d be emotional for me. And, you know, uncle, being a doctor, it just made sense. And I just think it just it just made sense in Iowa. Just it it’s a it’s very hard emotionally. I have a client now who, she was the power of attorney for her mom. I mean, yeah, she was a health care returnee for her mom, and she had to make the decision she COPD. She was young. She was in her, you know, s, s. And she had to make the decision when she couldn’t really breathe anymore to pull the plug on her mom. And, you know, her brother didn’t necessarily % agree. And so she’s very conflicted about, you know, afterwards you have a lot of did I do the right thing or not? So it’s a really it’s a really important decision who you pick and the, the there brings up one other topic, which is there’s something called the living will, which is completely different than a health care part returning. And the living will is something that so health care power of attorney is very broad, and it basically lets the person to a point do anything that you would do. They could step in your shoes and make any kind of medical decision for you. Whereas the living will is very specific that says if I’m in a vegetative state, this is what I want. Pull the plug. I’m your don’t pull the plug. If I’m in a locked in condition condition. This is what I want. Do the, you know, pull the plug or dog plug. I want a feeding tube or I don’t want a feeding tube, I want hydration or I don’t want hydration. I want, you know, drugs to keep me comfortable or not comfortable. I want cremation or not cremation. Very, very specific. Very narrow. But the great thing about a living well is it takes all the responsibility of the person who’s your medical power attorney, because you’re the one telling the doctor, if I’m in this situation, this, this is what you do. If I’m in this situation, this is what you do. So nobody has to make a decision for you. Even if you can’t make the decision for yourself, you’ve already made it and your medical provider is supposed to abide by your decision. Do you understand the distinction? Oh yeah. Big time. So it sounds like you mean. Well, I was it was kind of leading me to a question. So it’s kind of funny, the last time we had this talk about wills and trust, my aunt reached out to me. She’s been going through some medical issues with, It’s not a it’s a benign tumor, but she’s been dealing with issues with a tumor in her brain for time for as long as I’ve known. Probably some years. And she reached out to me with asking me to be the power of attorney for her and my uncle. Once they, you know, I think they’re still kind of going through this process. They don’t have a well or a trust or anything right now. So they’re still kind of going through that process. But that was leading me to a question. What you’re saying. So say that she has certain things she wants done. So how is that documented from like my standpoint? Like is it just, you know, like say something happens to her tomorrow? But she had told me, you know, I want you to I don’t want to. I don’t want you to pull the plug or, you know, whatever it is. So how is that document? How do you keep that? Like. And that’s, that’s why it’s so important that you actually have a conversation with the person that you’re, appointing because the document is written very broadly, like the health care power of attorney, the living will is very specific. If she has a living will, then you don’t make a decision at all. The doctor has that living will and knows what to do in those certain circumstances. If one of those circumstances doesn’t apply and she’s incapacitated and the uncle can’t make the decision, you’re the one who’s been appointed, then you it nothing is documented. You just make the decision. And so it’s important for you to have the conversation with her. What do you want? Yeah. At the mercy of you. Yeah, yeah. So it’s really. So that’s why it goes to your point that you want to trust the person that you’re having doing it. Because if you tell her you want and justice, you want them to do x, y and then they do something else. So okay. Yeah. Because they’re not bound, you know, they’re not bound by anything is because there’s nothing in writing except saying that you’re the person who’s going to make the decision. But, you know, it’s all based on conversation that you had and knew, knowing the person and understanding what they would or wouldn’t want. And a financial power of attorney is kind of the same way, except it’s a little my documents are different. I don’t know about anybody else’s documents but mine. My financial powers of attorney have probably, maybe different powers that you can have, you know, buy businesses, start a new business, open credit cards, pay taxes, you know, just a whole everything that you could possibly think, and you get to actually sign on the line, you have to initial each line to say, what if you give your financial power of attorney that power to make that decision for you? And so you could actually go through that and go and say, you know, I’m really comfortable with this person making all these decisions for me, but I really don’t want them to make X, Y, and Z. I don’t want them to be able to take out a credit card. So, so that’s, you know, my documents are different in that way. And then you could actually select certain things in the financial car of attorney. But the power of attorney wide open, they get they step into your shoes. They do. They can make any decision that you would be able to make. So that’s really important that you communicate with each other about what you’d actually want and make sure that they’re willing to take that responsibility on. It’s really a great thing that she reached out to you and said, I’m thinking about this because sometimes people just name somebody in a document and they don’t even talk to them, and that person doesn’t know until they’re in a crisis situation that they’ve been the one appointed to make a decision on their behalf. And some people don’t want that responsibility. It’s like humongous responsibility. Boy, I mean, I was actually a little surprised, but I mean, I think she trusts me and I, you know, whatever she has to do. But they said it was just funny because it came up after we had the initial talk with this and she was going through, she has some stuff. She goes to Mayo, so she lives in Nebraska, goes to Mayo to have the stuff done, and then life starts. She’s mortal. Yeah. So now they get. That’s when I realized. Right? And it was funny because it was probably about a week after we had the last, the last podcast about this. She she called me up and I was kind of take it back. At first. I’m like, oh, you know, we actually just talked about this. So yeah, I’m kind of surprised at it at the, you know, especially being in your position and your line of work being, you know, obviously more dangerous than most professions. I would think that that would be kind of part of the process, as they would have you set some of that stuff up. You know, I think it seems like that, wouldn’t you think, Cindy? I mean, that kind of crazy. It’s it seems like dangerous jobs. It would be proactive with that. You would think so. When you do go into the hospital, lots of times, if you’re going in for elective surgery or you mean maybe not even elective surgery, just surgery that you have to have, they will often ask you, do you have a power of attorney? And if you don’t, you can do it in the hospital. And it’s a very simple form, that they have in the hospital. But but, you know, if you’re in a car accident or you get hurt in the line of duty, you know, you need to have these documents in place so that you have somebody to act on your behalf if you can’t. But you know what? I’m sorry. No. I’m sorry. Go ahead. I mean, I take your point, Mario. You know, you said that for your dad. Your uncle was a was the power of attorney because he’s a doctor. And that makes a lot of sense. You know, you choose somebody that it takes that emotional, responsibility off of you. And it’s also a medical professional. So you think he’s probably going to know best what to do? Yeah. A situation that I would have just been mortified to have to make the decision. Right. I just would have been it just I was the wrong person. I would have consulted him regardless, you know? But you know, I have it. If I did have to make that call, I would have been in a really bad situation. So. And, so does it matter these, these all these documents that you’re referring to, are these just across the board, state to state, you know, it’s the same or does it or is it one of these things again, where it’s state by state, it’s different. It’s all state by state. What is that? So every state has different laws about what you can put in the documents. They’re all going to be pretty similar, where it seems to vary state to state is what you need to make it valid, you know, does it need to be witnessed by or people? Does it need to be notarized or not notarized? You know, can it be handwritten or not? Does it need to be, you know, typed out, what’s the, what the qualifications to be, validly sign? You know, some people this is really back in the old days, they couldn’t sign their name, you know, so they’d make an X. So there were requirements for people to be able to attest that it was the person who actually made the mark to sign the document. So but a lot of that has carried over and it’s still in the Arizona statutes. But so the, the documents typically, and I don’t practice anywhere but Arizona, but they’re similar and just really the execution of what needs to be done in order to make them valid under state law seems to vary state to state, but they are going to be very similar documents for the most part. So going back to your situation with Nebraska. Yeah. But so if, if, if you just have a family that lives in Nebraska, but they did documents in Arizona, but they live in Nebraska, how does they do documents in Arizona? No, no, no, she lives in Nebraska. Run. What if he would come and did that though? Oh, she was saying like if it was like flip flop, like maybe she lived here or what if you just signed them here in Arizona, but you moved Nebraska right now and then you passed. Yeah. Still, they’re still valid in the state where you did. So if you did them in Arizona en route to Nebraska, they’d still be valid in Nebraska as long as they were valid where you sign them. Under the law, where you sign them and like my documents, all say that they, are our, interpreted under Arizona law because I’m an Arizona attorney in anoa Arizona law is. But she even if she lives in Nebraska and she does all of her documents in Nebraska, she can appoint you even though you live in Arizona. It doesn’t matter. It just means that whatever actions you take, they’re going to be, bound by Nebraska law. So if Nebraska law was somehow different and it said you can’t pull her off life support, then you’d be bound by that, you know? But it crosses boundaries. You don’t have to name somebody in the same state, but you usually do do your documents in the state where that is your primary residency. So, so obviously life circumstances change, right? So it’s probably pretty common to kind of start up your initial set of documents. And just every so often periodically update the documents. It’s correct. So you should, update your documents whenever you have a major life event. A death of a spouse, a divorce, children, grandchildren, and for powers of attorney in particular, financial interest institutions don’t really like them to be more than five years old because relationships do change. And somebody that you trusted years ago may not be alive anymore, or you might not trust them. They not may not be in your life anymore. They may be having drug or alcohol problems. So financial institutions typically like you to redo your documents every five years, powers of attorney every five years. And medical professionals also prefer that they are within the last five years or so, so that they they’re sure that you’re, appointing somebody that you still want to act on your behalf. You know, even if you’re appointing family members, you, you know, family relationships go up and down. Sometimes you’re estranged and sometimes you get back together. So it’s really important to keep them up today. And it’s not hard or expensive to redo these documents. So what do you have to do if you had to redo it, like if you want to didn’t want to change anything and it was, is it just signing a new thing or addendum or something you would. So for health care powers of attorney, I just print off a new and, you know, a new document that would be exactly the same. It wouldn’t have changed at all. And you just take it in front of a notary and your witnesses and you just re sign it. As far as wills and trust go, you do a quarter soul to a will so that you’re only changing the one little, or little things that you need to change, like who you want to be your personal representative, or if you want to divide your property a little differently. And it basically just says, you know, my last will and testament, I want to keep everything the same, except I want to change paragraph, you know, article B that said this, I want it now to say this. And then the same thing with the trust is you just do an amendment to your trust and you just change the one provision or the two provision that you want to change, and then you just attach those amendments to the rest to your estate planning documents. You put them in the same place, so they can just refer to that, and they all refer to each other. And you always have to report is that a separate recording? You don’t typically record your trust or your will. You record your certificate of trust so that there’s proof that you actually have a trust. And it has very limited information so that people don’t know what your whole trust says in the property that you’re having, who’s going to get what you get. But it’s enough to give people the knowledge, do you what the name of the trust is when it was formed, who’s authorized to act on your behalf and what their powers are? And that’s all you’re supposed to have to turn over to somebody to prove that you have a trust. Although sometimes banks require you to give them the whole trust document. And not just a certificate of trust, but. And then so that’s really the only thing that you record and it’s like two pages, you know, it’s just a portion of your trust. And then the other thing that you typically record is your, your, warranty that transfers your home, your real property into your trust that needs to be reported. So it’s a matter of public record that it’s now in the name of your trust. But otherwise everything else is pretty private. Then the living well and all that stuff. Yeah. So so we’re looking to getting back to that because that’s really intriguing to me. Right. You know, especially to avoid it seems like anybody anytime there’s siblings you should definitely. It’s a responsible parent thing to have that living living will there. So that way you don’t have, bickering amongst you know, I have two girls and I’d hate to see them get sideways with each other because they felt differently on how to handle a situation with me. Right. Yeah. I mean, so it sounds like it’s really kind of irresponsible of me as a parent to not have that living well in place of, hey, this is what I want. Pull the plug at this stage, don’t pull the plug, whatever that may be. And sounds like that can easily be avoided. That that bickering, internal bickering, even if they disagree. Either way, these are dad’s wishes, right? Yeah. I just creating that document. So that’s that. That’s interesting. I didn’t really I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t think about it for myself. You know, that’s exactly right. And that, you know, you do have especially with siblings, especially if there’s, I mean, your girls go on. Great. But a lot of families, they don’t get along and the siblings don’t get along. And so if you don’t have it documented that this person makes the decisions for me, then you really do have a lot of animosity and a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of, you know, you could end up in court, you know, because somebody’s one, one of your children wants to do one thing and the other is fighting, you know, not to do not to do that. And you would end up in court. And that’s a terrible situation for everybody and so avoidable. Yeah. And so what is it kind of mentioned it then the last one that kind of happened with my family, they they got you know, I don’t know how much my grandpa had documented with their kind of stuff, but there was a lot of like bickering about who could make this decision, who can do this. Like and there was a lot of they had a lot of tension for a while. I think there’s still a little bit of it going on, but yeah, it’s definitely up until then, didn’t exist. And then after there’s been a lot of like animosity and they’re not talking to each other and like stuff like that. So it was tough at the time. Yeah. Sounds terrible fingers. I mean that could ruin their relationship for the rest of their lives because they disagree with how something was handled. And a lot of it is religious. So if you don’t, you know, have the same religious beliefs or siblings, you know, differ. Some leave the church and some, you know, go to a different church. So it’s really important that you especially if you have, you know, multiple children, who are not going to agree, it’s important to appoint somebody that to make that decision. Do you ever see people put that in their I want, you know, have my my wishes are to coincide with how the Catholic philosophy would handle the situation. Do you ever see something like that or is it more specific? Yeah, I don’t put that in my documents because I counsel my clients to talk to the person. But they’re, you know, that they’re appointing and typically and I use that I use that example because so many of my clients were Catholic. You know, that you really have to have a conversation with your kids. Are they still, you know, abiding by what your faith goes by? Or if they are, certainly have a difference of opinion or they’re not, you know, they’re not attending church as much as you are. Just have that conversation. Most kids will do whatever their parents want them to do. I think where you really see the disconnect is not when somebody, it’s more when somebody wants to be taken off life support, but the person that they’ve appointed is morally they find that morally reprehensible, that they can’t, you know, pull the plug. That’s where you have the disconnect. Ordinarily, if you’re saying you want to be kept on life support, nobody’s going to say, my mom wanted to be kept that life support. But I know because I’m pulling the plug, that typically doesn’t happen. It’s usually the other direction. And so some of the living, the living will and but that trumps the power of attorney. It sure does. Sure. The living will is, you know, it’s black and white. If it’s a situation, this is what I want done. And nobody makes that decision for you. You’ve made that decision. It’s clear, and nobody has to feel bad about it. You know, nobody has to feel like they had to make a decision because you made it. And the, the, the medical providers just, you know, obey your wishes so that. Yeah, that’s a most important one, I would say. Yeah, it is to stop the bickering and fighting, and to have your, your children and loved ones not, you know, sit there and second guess their decision. Right. Because that’s the hardest thing. And a did you do the right thing? Yeah. And you’ll never know. Right. That is the hardest thing, especially if you don’t really know. You know, it’s sometimes it’s not % clear that the person will never get better, but they might be suffering. So, you know, it’s it’s a tough position to be in. It was tough. I mean, with my dad, I mean, it’s it’s bad. There’s a bad situation, you know, I was in there or what? We ultimately had to make that decision. It was it came down to that. And, and, fortunately, everybody was on the same page. And so my uncle didn’t have to, go over anybody’s head. Right. So that was nice. And I think, you know, that made him feel a lot better. But heaven forbid he had to go over, but, you know, had to make a decision that disagreed with one of his siblings. Yeah. Right. From for his brother then that would have created a lot of problems. So, it sounds like the living will is super critical to avoid Supreme Court. So the only just any kind of inner bickering and fighting and. Oh, I never really thought about it, but that’s really the whole purpose of estate planning documents. It’s just to it’s really it’s the most, the kindest thing you can do for the people that are left behind to have named the people that you want to act on your behalf so that they don’t have to go to court and figure it out, and to tell everybody how you want your property distributed and how you know, the decisions that you want to be made if you, you know, can’t make decisions on your own. It’s really, anybody who’s been an executor to a will or a personal representative or an administrator of a trust. It’s a thankless job. It’s a lot of work. It’s not fun. It takes a lot of time. But if you haven’t left directions and they have to start from scratch and they don’t know what you would have wanted, and they if there’s disagreement and they have to go to court and you fight about it and there’s money spent, it’s just really the most responsible thing you could do is to get your documents in place so that everybody knows, who’s supposed to be acting on your behalf and how you want things done. Well, this is, you’ve opened my mind a lot. There’s something I’ve got to get done. Not only the trust, but, I mean, it sounds like I need to get this living will want it out. Yes. The first. The first episode. Put that in my head. Like, man, I need to get this done. So especially the privacy sign, right? I mean, that was really eye opening. Yeah. So it sounds like again, Cindy, thank you so much. I think this was very informative. This is a great, you know, it’s a obviously, not a fun topic, but it’s an important topic. So as much, madam is really want to. Yeah. Stop and deal with it. It’s something we really just as a responsible aging parent, right? You know, I just had a best friend call me today. Was his sister, years old, you know, is just this is never know, you know, and, so, kind of it hits home, you know, until, until somebody close to you goes through it. You really just kind of, that’s down the road. Exactly. That’s down the road, how most people view it. So I played them for you, Officer Ty. I mean, it’s really important for you in your line of duty because you, you know, you never really know where you put your life on the line every day that you go to work. And so you need to have, you need to have your, your wishes known. It’s very important for first responders and officers and law enforcement and military. I’m really surprised that that’s just not part of the process. Yeah, I mean, it that’s really shocking. That probably should be a conversation that people have and like it needs to start, you know, it. There needs to be maybe more of an emphasis on getting getting guys to at least start thinking about it. Why? Don’t even know why they wouldn’t even have to do, basic some basic stuff even in the academy. Well, I think actually, I think I said in the last episode, like I think they do it a couple times a year, but they’ll do that. Wills for heroes, and it’s a free service and, you know, they’ll send it stuff out. And like, I don’t think that many people do it. But surprisingly, you know, I’ve had multiple times, like even when I was in law school, I didn’t, you know, I, I volunteered and did some of that stuff and I still they get it done. So I don’t know if it’s one of those things like we talked about last time or just you don’t want to feel like it. It makes things more real, like it makes you think like shit, like something could happen to me, like, you know, and I get to think about this stuff. So it’s almost like you’re tempting fate. Like, if you do do it, then it’s like, acknowledgment that, okay, now, now something could happen to me. Like you cheats on yourself. Didn’t you tell me, you, me, that you created an easy path for people to just online, go through an answer of various, you know, some tempo times questions to make the process a lot simpler for people. Could you tell me? Look, we’re in the period. We’re in the process of getting that up and running. Now, we could code it all the documents, we’ve got the website done, and we’re getting ready to plug it all in. And it’s really for because we asked me when, you know, the age limited the people that I, that I talk to my clients and that’s the one thing is, if they’re younger and they have younger kids and they’re going on a vacation, that’s when I often get the call from the younger people saying, we just realized, my wife and I are going on a plane trip, and we’re going to be away from our kids for the first time. And if the plane goes down, we need a guardian or conservator appointed for our kids. And that’s the only time I get a call, you know, call from younger people usually. But I’m putting these documents online so that if you, you know, if you’re thinking about it, you’re getting ready to leave town or there’s something happening, you and you don’t want to call an attorney, you don’t want to go to the expense, and you don’t want to talk to somebody. You can fill out a questionnaire, hey, you know, online. And then it’ll, you know, once you answer the questions at all, generate the document and then you just take them in front of a notary and in front of witnesses, and you sign in your Donny, and it’s hopefully going to be a very easy, painless process. So we’ll see. Is that and you say that’s almost up and running or is up. Yeah. It should be up and running in the next month or two. All right. They already have a with a website that people can look for. Can you do it. It’s going to be my Phoenix legal. Let’s see you my Phoenix legal team.com, I think not % sure. And, Yeah, make sure. All right, well, either way, we’ll make sure we get that, correctly across, or across somewhere in, in the comments to make sure people can find it on our city. Thank you very much for coming on board, taking the time and taking the time to educate us a little bit. I appreciate sounds like there’s, we could really spend some time probably deep diving a little bit on each of these documents, I imagine do’s and don’ts and are things to be aware, aware of, right? Maybe not. It probably isn’t a good do or don’t. It just depends on your situation, right? The ultimate word depends. It always depends. Yes, it definitely seems that there’s more more that we go into with this stuff. Well, and maybe next one, I think some I think one thing that’d be very interesting, especially in today’s environment, is some of the blended family challenges, right? I think that could be a really big topic. Yeah. I mean, right here, you know, we do them right here. Yeah. I mean, it’s just it’s just very common in today’s world. And so it’s not really I’d be really curious to have some conversations on. Yeah. And some struggles with that. You know, what people are trying to what they’re having to kind of address things to consider. Yeah. Right. I think that’d be a great topic for the next time, if that’s okay with you. We absolutely okay to. All right. Well awesome. Well, I think that’s probably a good jump off point. Yeah, I think so too. And, you have any other questions today? Just. No, I don’t think so. I think there’s, I think some of the broader topics maybe, but we can get into no time. But what we talked about today, I don’t have any other questions. Okay. Cool. This was this was great talent wise. I don’t run along. It was. But I’m sure it was longer than we realized. Yeah. Okay. Well cool. Thanks again. High five.