No matter how orderly we believe our affairs are, most people who have experienced the enormous life upheaval of a spouse passing say they were not as prepared as they thought.

Having updated our trust today, I hope to convey the importance of meeting with your trust attorney, legal and financial advisors to review what you may have in place and what needs to be added. I am not a lawyer, CPA, social worker or a qualified professional who deals regularly with these important matters. The reassurance I felt after ensuring that our wishes and documents were on file and more importantly, that I understood how they work and their validity, gave me great reassurance. I want that for you.

Do you have a trust or will? Is it updated to reflect your current wishes? Do you have power of attorney for both health and financial matters? If a loved one becomes incapable of making health care decisions, power of attorney for health is essential to have in place. If you are enrolling that person in a health plan, you will need power of attorney for financial matters in place, as well as a HIPAA agreement that will allow you to handle matters after a spouse passes.

In matters of Medicare and health insurance, when a death occurs, it is usually hospice or a funeral home that tells Social Security of the passing. Social Security then alerts Medicare who provides information that allows the carrier to end the person’s insurance coverage. There are many matters that will require you to have proper documentation prepared. Acting now will make all the difference should you be put in a position of responsibility for someone else.

I have worked with people who were not on the house deed, did not have power of attorney for health or finances and felt that as a spouse such documents were not necessary. There are several steps one can take to put documents in place that will facilitate handling matters when a loved one passes.

As residents of SaddleBrooke, we are privileged to have Senior Village, an organization whose members have access to services and help that makes a difference. Those services include assistance with the very documents discussed in this article. Contact Senior Village at (520) 314-1042 or visit svsb.org for more information.

The Office of the Attorney General of Arizona offers a Life Care Planning packet to complete your advance directives for making your healthcare decisions. Access this at azhdr.org, follow the simple directions and return the packet, either notarized or witnessed to documents@azhdr.org. Your wishes will then be entered into the Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry.

Acting now will provide great peace of mind when it is needed most—when a loved one passes.


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Leah Kari, AMR, FHIAS, specializes in showing Medicare eligible people their insurance options. Reach Leah for comments at (520) 484-3807 or email leah@leahkarisolutions.com. (TTY users dial 711.)

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