I wanted to talk to people who are caregivers. Many of them are very concerned that if they get sick, they may not be able to help the person that they’re caring for. And so I just wanted to provide some insight.
Normally, I would say you should talk to an estate planning attorney. But given the Covid-19 lockdown, that’s not really possible right now.
Two important documents
So I just wanted to talk about two documents that are important. The forms for these documents can be found on the Texas Health and Human Services website. One is a medical power of attorney document. And the other one is a durable power of attorney.
Let me just briefly explain. A medical power of attorney is where one person designates another person to make medical decisions if the other person becomes incapacitated, is in a coma or, in some cases, has a traumatic brain injury. And that form is for medical decisions.
The second one is a durable power of attorney. And that’s different because that allows one person to pick another person to make decisions about the person’s property in case of incapacity. This is a concern that we’re hearing a lot about from group members and clients as well as family members.
What you should do
And so the good news is that given the situation, if you can’t get to an estate planning lawyer to create these forms, there are some generic forms that are available, again, on the Texas Health and Human Services website. And I think if you just Google, “Power of Attorney Texas Health and Human Services,” you’ll be able to find them.
And so you can print them out, fill them out, and designate somebody to make medical decisions as well as property decisions for you if you should become too sick to make those decisions. I hope that doesn’t happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I wish everybody health and safety during this very crazy time.
