As 2010 rings in, for many the exer­cise of cre­at­ing goals and mak­ing res­o­lu­tions has begun. How­ever, what may be notably absent from many lists is the “prepar­ing for adver­sity” — some­thing that in our cul­ture is typ­i­cally not spo­ken about despite the per­va­sive image of Father Time at the New Year and what it implies.

We all seek “qual­ity of life” based on good health and opti­mal cir­cum­stances. How­ever, FB neigh­bor, Myrna Faw­cett, Esq., prin­ci­pal of Faw­cett and Faw­cett, informs us that there are three doc­u­ments every­one needs – a will, an “Advanced Med­ical Direc­tive”, and a power of attor­ney (POA) – should unfore­seen events or adver­sity deter us from opti­mal cir­cum­stances. The doc­u­ments will give you or your fam­ily mem­bers a voice that is heard, assure that your or your family’s assets are pro­tected, and that your chil­dren or par­ents are prop­erly cared for in wake of unfore­seen adver­sity or nat­ural aging.

Faw­cett notes that while every­one may be famil­iar with the con­cept of a will, not hav­ing one could result in a court appointed admin­is­tra­tor – and los­ing con­trol over the process with some­one not wanted.

The “Advanced Med­ical Direc­tive” is a doc­u­ment that out­lines a host of med­ical deci­sions should you become inca­pac­i­tated. These pref­er­ences can span the type of med­ical treat­ment to the type and dura­tion of med­ica­tions. Upon recov­ery, the decision-making returns to you.

The Durable “Power of Attor­ney” doc­u­ment also helps you man­age finan­cial mat­ters should you become inca­pac­i­tated. The doc­u­ment enables your trusted designee(s) to work with social ser­vice and gov­ern­ment agen­cies, includ­ing the IRS. You may choose to have one POA for med­ical mat­ters and another for finan­cial trans­ac­tions. Hav­ing a POA assures that finan­cial mat­ters can be imme­di­ately addressed. With­out one, no fam­ily or other advo­cate have the author­ity to rep­re­sent you or your affairs.

As Ms. Faw­cett points out, the POA may be not be on the radar screen for 20– or 30-year-old pro­fes­sion­als, yet one unfor­tu­nate auto– or sports-related acci­dent may bring tem­po­rary or long term impair­ment. Hav­ing a POA – pro­vides that there is a trusted per­son to nego­ti­ate on your behalf. That per­son can advo­cate for the best pos­si­ble ser­vices and even make pay­ments for those ser­vices, which for some, becomes fore­most in main­tain­ing qual­ity of life.

Accord­ing to Faw­cett, these doc­u­ments are essen­tial to main­tain­ing con­trol over your, your child’s, or parent’s life and assets. Says Ms. Faw­cett, “the goal is to take rea­son­able pre­cau­tion to avoid deci­sion mak­ing at a very dif­fi­cult time – so that you can take care of your­self and have peo­ple you trust to man­age your affairs to avoid court over­sight. As good as courts may be – with­out these doc­u­ments one loses con­trol over his or her life – and may result in a stranger admin­is­ter­ing your inter­ests and life.”

(Note: this arti­cle is not a sub­sti­tute for legal coun­sel, nor can all per­ti­nent mat­ters be cov­ered, e.g., what are the con­se­quences of not hav­ing the doc­u­ments, where do you keep the doc­u­ments, how often are they updated, etc.)

Myrna Faw­cett spe­cial­izes in Elder-law, rep­re­sen­ta­tion of fam­i­lies of spe­cial needs chil­dren, and rep­re­sen­ta­tion of per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties. Ms. Faw­cett grad­u­ated from Barnard Col­lege and George­town Uni­ver­sity Law Cen­ter and is a mem­ber of the D.C., MD, NY, and NJ bars and of the National Acad­emy of Elder Lawyers. She has par­tic­i­pated in pan­els on bioethics, elder abuse, and hoard­ing before pro­fes­sional groups and gov­ern­ment agen­cies. Ms.Fawcett lives as she works – giv­ing back to the com­mu­nity. Among her vol­un­teer and pro bono activ­i­ties are: Sub– Com­mit­tee Chair, Estates Trusts and Pro­bate Sec­tion, D.C. Bar; Wash­ing­ton Bioethics Net­work; Direc­tor, Wash­ing­ton, D.C. Jew­ish Com­mu­nity Cen­ter; The­ater J Coun­cil; Board of Trustees nom­i­nee of Barnard Col­lege, Colum­bia Uni­ver­sity; Board Mem­ber, Mitchell Gallery, St.Johns Col­lege, Annapo­lis, MD; Lead­er­ship Greater Wash­ing­ton; Wash­ing­ton Met­ro­pol­i­tan Dia­logue of Civic Lead­ers on Faith; Advi­sory Board of the Hurt Home; Board Mem­ber of her Coop serv­ing as Chair for the Legal and Well­ness and Sup­port Com­mit­tees; and mem­ber of Ethics Com­mit­tee of a local nurs­ing home.

Faw­cett & Faw­cett 730 24th St NW, Ste.15 Phone: 202–797-8852 Web: www.fawcettlaw.com