A Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA)

This document enables a trusted individual to act in your stead. How much authority that person (called your Attorney-in-Fact or Agent) has depends on the terms of the DPOA. A DPOA is considered the lynch pin of an estate plan because should you lose the ability to make decisions on your own behalf, your appointed Attorney-in-Fact can act for you. This document that may eliminate the need for your family to get a guardianship or conservatorship over you in case you lose competency.

Living Will

A living will in Massachusetts is a document that informs your family and physician about what kinds of end-of-life treatments you are willing to have, and comes into play if you are no longer able to take part in this decision. For example, in this document you can state that you do not want to be kept alive by extreme measures, or, in the alternative, that you want every measure possible taken to prolong your life. It is a very personal document and important as a way to educate your Health Care Proxy on how to make those decisions on your behalf.

Health Care Proxy

This is the document in which you name the person(s) who you will entrust with making health care decisions on your behalf in case you are not competent to do so. Massachusetts law provides for only one health care proxy at a time, but this document enables you to also nominate alternates in the event that the first proxy selected is not able to act.

Last Will and Testament

The Will is probably the most familiar estate planning document. In it, you can dispose of your personal property, real estate, intangible property, appoint a Personal Representative, and put forward for consideration a guardian for children, among many other things. When contemplating putting together an estate plan, consider who you would designate as your Personal Representative, that is, the person who gathers together your assets, pays your last bills, and disburses your property according to your final wishes.

HIPAA Authorization and Release

With this document, you appoint people who are allowed to receive medical information about you and ask questions about your treatment,

Note: this would be a good document for a son or daughter 18 or over, as would a Health Care Proxy and a Durable Power of Attorney.

TRUSTS

Typical reasons for creating a trust are to minimize your Massachusetts estate tax liability, privacy (because unlike a Will, a Trust is not filed in probate court),and to ease the transition of your estate to your beneficiaries by avoiding or limiting probate, to name a few of the benefits. There are several kinds of trusts, including revocable, irrevocable, testamentary, special needs, and charitable. All of these can be part of an estate planning discussion.