Choosing which child to handle your health care and finances

Choosing which child to handle your health care and finances.

Attorney Tom Olsen: A lot of people think, "Will or trust, we're only talking about what happens when I pass away." Well folks, remember that of the documents that we do for you, least half of them are about what happens while you're alive.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly.

Attorney Tom Olsen: We're doing a healthcare surrogate, where you're appointing somebody to make healthcare decisions for you, if you're not able to. If you're in a car wreck and you're comatose or you developed Alzheimer's, you might live for many years where you're not able to make your own healthcare decisions.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Correct.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Number two, we're doing a financial power of attorney for you so if you're not able to, car wreck, Alzheimer's, you're appointing somebody to step in and pay your bills and manage your financial affairs for you. That's just as important of the documents that talk about what happens when you pass away.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrissy, when we talk to our estate planning clients here at the Olsen Law Group in Orlando, right here on Edgewater Drive in College Park, people often, sometimes at least, have a hard time deciding which of their children are going to make healthcare decisions for them, which of their children are going to pay their bills and manage their financial affairs for them, and one of the things they often say is, "Well, my son lives here in Orlando. I got a son in California. He'd be a better choice but he's in California." I say, "Wait a minute, it doesn't matter where your kids live."