Power of Attorney

When dealing with health and estate issues it is important to have paperwork that lets you talk to insurance company folks and sign papers. A common thing folks get shocked at when taking care of a patient is Social Security will not accept a power of attorney in Kentucky and probably most places. What you do is hand the patient the phone, let them authorize talking to them that day for that question and then do your SS business. If you the patient were to be unable to communicate or react to the questions over the phone from the SS office to let you talk, you have to get the doctor to fax to the SS office a guardian appointment for the POA person handling business and that SS activation is valid only so long as the doctor says they need a guardian looking out for them. It is wise before you get sick to: have your will signed and ready, a durable power of attorney covering the needs you have, and perhaps a living will on file ready in case you are unable to speak for yourself leaving out guesswork. It is also wise to review with your attorney if family conditions change to make sure its kept current. A good attorney like I have is a wonderful asset to your family's well being. I would not sign a lease without my attorney looking it over first. A fee to have it right the first time can save endless agony later. When handling the affairs of a sick relative or an estate, my best advice is to always strive to keep it moving forward in a smooth manner, use your outlook scheduler intensely for dates and deadlines, and always keep in the loop the case worker for Medicare you are dealing with in the hospital. Homework and doing communications so the case worker knows your situation and thinks of you as a person first and not a case number can make things move much more smoothly. My local attorney is Randy Teague and having someone like that in your corner made handling my estate issues so much easier and less stressful. I also recommend if you enter a hospice mode, go to the funeral home and pre-plan everything you can so its ready and at a most stressful time you do not have to deal with issues. If you can have the rock up already where only a death date has to be added it can help later, and if you have it down to the music and type of memory card you can think much more clearly when its not the day after being up all night in a hospice room. Most funeral homes now have a link that helps you preplan a funeral on line and you can use that as a guideline or outline of things to talk over when you meet in person. I did that with Barnett Strother funeral home and it helped me immensely, plus they were as good as gold to me. and made Mom look better than I dared hope after such a long illness. Power of Attorney