The day when you are caring for your parents comes quicker than any of us thinks it will. Elder care is a critical consideration for families with aging parents, as it plays a vital role in preserving dignity, health, and quality of life for older adults facing mobility challenges, cognitive decline, or chronic illnesses. We might take the title of caregiver without much thought, or start planning for their support beyond our abilities. No matter the situation, planning for aging parents is an event that many don’t want to touch on, but will inevitably face.
It is essential to start the planning process sooner rather than later. Having an open talk with your parents and family members before health declines is critical for addressing family dynamics, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding care preferences. It can be so easy to get distracted by the countless duties and responsibilities on your plate regarding your parents, but planning for them legally cannot go on the back burner.
Whether your aging parent needs support for the first time or you are getting ahead of things, there are a few key details you need to consider when planning for your aging parent.
Get Familiar With All Their Legal Documentation
It is essential that you are privy to the location and details of your parents’ legal documentation. In addition to physical paperwork, gathering all important documents, including digital assets, login credentials, and digital files, is crucial to ensure you or your loved ones can access necessary information after death. However, to go one step further, if you want to ensure the safety and support of those documents, you will need their written permission to speak on their behalf, both financially and medically. This will ensure you have access to those documents legally and can support your parents if it ever becomes necessary.
With the title of financial power of attorney and medical power of attorney, you will have access to your parents’ medical and financial wishes, or be the one to help enact those wishes. Additionally, you will want to get a hold of your parents’ will, living will, trusts, and other accounts to ensure that you have every piece of legal documentation surrounding their assets and distribution desires. Finding all of these documents will also show if they need to be created in the first place.
Consider How to Protect Their Financials
If you have the power to, it can be wise to connect to your parents’ financial accounts so you can view and secure them properly. Managing money and finances is crucial, including monitoring for risks such as fraud or identity theft. This gives you the opportunity to set up text or email notifications if there is anything strange happening in the accounts, allowing you to report immediately. Additionally, even if you are the financial power of attorney, it can be helpful to set up a secondary trusted contact for the banks and institutions to contact, just in case you or your parents are unable to respond.
Retirement accounts, Social Security, and other significant accounts would do well with beneficiaries in place. If there are none written, this is your chance to contact the institutions and work with your parents to set up the proper beneficiaries and terms, ensuring that there are plans in place for whatever could happen. Trusts can also be used to hold money and other assets, and property can be transferred outside of probate through legal tools such as joint ownership and beneficiary designations.
When it comes to finances, it could also be beneficial to freeze your parents’ credit. They are not likely to need their credit, and if they do, it is very simple to unfreeze it. Freezing your parents’ credit can help to prevent any possible identity theft that could occur, as older individuals are often a target for these types of problems. It is free and can be done easily through Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.
Discuss Possible Medical Support Needs
One of the most important aspects of planning for aging parents is discussing possible medical support needs. This can be a complicated and emotionally challenging conversation, but it is beneficial, ensuring you and your parents have a solid understanding of what they want and what to do if something were to happen.
To start, you want to discuss any current health needs, such as medications or a healthcare routine. This is the stage where you will want to acquire all provider information, such as which medical facilities your parents visit, who they see, and when they see them. From there, if you have the permission, you can create a connection with their primary care provider to ensure that they know who you are for the plans ahead.
This is also a chance to discuss any family medical history. Medical support needs don’t just cover the needs of right now, but the possibilities down the road. Respite care is another valuable service, offering temporary relief for family caregivers and helping to prevent burnout. Quality support in elder care minimizes health risks such as falls and ensures proper medication and nutritional management. It can be wise to understand any and all possibilities, what your parents wish to do if those circumstances happen, and plan for you and the rest of the family. This stage is where you and your parents should decide what happens if they become incapacitated.
Start the Conversation of Living Arrangements
The parallel conversation to medical support needs is the consideration of living arrangements down the road. Aging can raise safety concerns, and ensuring that wherever your parents are, they have a safe, supportive environment is essential. When evaluating living arrangements, it’s important to consider available community resources, such as community centers and local support networks, as well as personal interests that may influence the choice of location or type of care.
This might start with simple changes and adaptations around the current home environment, ensuring they can get from room to room, make food, and leave the house without an issue. However, the conversation should go a step further by asking about their preferences for senior living options.
Residential care options include assisted living facilities, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and memory care units. Assisted living provides help with daily activities and housekeeping, while nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities offer round-the-clock medical supervision and advanced therapies for frail individuals. Memory care units and facilities are secured environments with trained staff to support those with Alzheimer’s or dementia, focusing on safety and cognitive needs.
With the array of options when it comes to living arrangements, your parents can find an option that fits their interests and needs, and you can ensure that they get the medical and emotional support they need.
Continue to Have the Conversation
Planning for aging parents is not a one-and-done conversation. It is essential to regularly talk with family members to ensure everyone is informed, involved, and comfortable with the elder care plan. Open discussions help prevent misunderstandings and ensure that the wishes of all family members are respected.
Similar to the rest of estate planning, revisiting the plan can ensure that everything still aligns with your needs. If any major life changes occur, such as marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child, it’s important to update your estate plan so it accurately reflects your current wishes and family dynamics. Lives change, people may come into or leave our lives, and medical circumstances can shift. With all that said, the plan for the rest of their lives might need to change down the road. So, continue having these conversations and revisit them if there are significant life changes.
Develop a Professional and Personal Support Team
The most important part of this entire process is to remember that you are not doing it alone. The best way to ensure the support of your parents is to develop a professional and personal support team, including professionals such as lawyers, financial advisors, and geriatric care managers, to guide you through elder care planning.
This can start with friends and family, those close to you, and your parents who have their best interests at heart. However, it should extend to an accountant and financial manager who can be there for the financial side of elder care. Then, if necessary for your circumstances, you could connect with a geriatric care manager who could help make the home safe or find further living arrangements. Creating a structured form or process for assembling your support team ensures that every important person and role is considered.
One of the most important professionals to have in your support team is a lawyer specializing in elder law and estate planning. This lawyer can help ensure that all legal documentation, such as a will, trust, living will, power of attorney, and so on, complies with the relevant acts and legal requirements. They can also help with further estate planning, elder law, and Medicaid needs, ensuring that you and your parents are legally protected and prepared for the future. If there are minor children involved, guardianship arrangements should be included in the estate plan to protect their interests.
Planning for aging parents can be a challenging conversation to start, but it is one that is extremely essential in ensuring that your parent is supported financially, medically, legally, and emotionally as time goes on. If you are just starting the conversation or wish to ensure your plan is legally sound, contact the team at Janssen Estate Probate & Elder Law.