The Church Pension Group has provided a guide to planning for disability and death, written by Thomas K. Chu, Counselor at Law.
Here is a summary of the documents and their purposes:
1. Will: What happens with my stuff?
2. Power of attorney: Representing financial wishes in my lifetime
3. Advance Health Care Directive: Representing heath care wishes in my lifetime
4. HIPAA* Release Form: Giving your agents access to your health care records
5. Agent to control disposition of remains: What happens to my body?
* HIPAA is an acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.
To see the Guide, please click here.
To see the Illinois HIPAA Release Form, please click here.
After you have updated or created your documents:
1. Share these documents with your family, spouse, and beneficiaries.
2. Register your documents with the institutions or offices that will need them later.
3. Consider pre-arranging your funeral plans now. This includes prepaying expenses, pre-filing your wishes for liturgical observances, and providing liquidity for expenses. It will take a lot of guesswork out of the equation for survivors later.
4. Keep your documents in more than one location. In addition to your home, provide copies to family members, friends, or at your church.
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