When people creating an incapacity plan in the state of Florida, they create a variety of tools that will address the practical and legal concerns that arise should they become unable to make decisions or express themselves. Incapacitation can arise because of any number of reasons, but regardless of how it occurs, your family will benefit if you take the time to create a plan beforehand. Incapacity plans will benefit you, but they will also help your family through what would be a very difficult time for them.
Incapacity planning will provide guidance.
Who do you want to manage your finances if you become ill? Should you be come involved in a car accident, what kind of health care or medical treatments do you want to receive? Will your answers change if you are suffering from a terminal medical condition and are in its final stages?
If you take the time to create an incapacity plan, you will be able to answer all of these types of questions. You can be as precise as you want as you think about the types of decisions you will have to make should you ever become incapacitated, and can express those choices explicitly.
As long as you ensure that the incapacity planning tools you create meet the legal requirements imposed under Florida law, you can rest assured that your choices will be honored should you become incapacitated. However, the benefit of being explicit about your choices will also be very helpful to your family.
Should you fail to create an incapacity plan, there will still be questions that must be answered. However, since you are no longer able to answer them, other people will have to answer them for you. What choices should they make? What would you have wanted?
If you don’t have an incapacity plan, your family will be left to face these decisions without guidance from you.
Incapacity planning prevents conflict.
Even though you can never create a plan that will guarantee that no conflicts will arise as a result of your incapacitation, you can create a plan that makes such conflicts much less likely.
When your family is asked to make decisions on your behalf, they will likely want to do what is in your best interests. They will also want to do what you would have wanted them to do. Unfortunately, without an incapacity plan, your family may not be clear about what those best interests are, or what your wishes would have been.
In the worst-case scenario, family members can disagree so vehemently about the appropriate choices to make when you are incapacitated that their disagreements can lead to damaged or broken relationships. In rare circumstances, these disagreements can even lead to lengthy and costly court battles.
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