Almost everyone loves a snow day. After all both work and school can be closed, resulting in sleeping late, or playing with your children outside. This can allow for the creation of some great memories. However, not everything that happens on a snow day is positive and if you are not legally prepared the results can be detrimental for both you and your family.
One of the things people often do not account for on a snow day is the physical toll the elements can have on someone. For example, for those people over a certain age (e.g., forty (40)), which I am one, shoveling snow can be detrimental if not deadly to your health. After all, how often do we (unfortunately) hear that someone’s family member or friend passed away shoveling snow and was only forty-five (45). While many people will respond that’s why I have a someone shovel or plow my property, but what happens if you have to clear the driveway before they come (i.e., an emergent situation where you need to leave home). Many people will begin shoveling the snow, which can possibly cause a heart attack.
If you do not have an estate plan in place (i.e., Will, Living Will, Health Care Proxy, Advanced Directive, Power of Attorney, etc), the consequences of what to do or what you would have wanted done can be a legal nightmare. For example, if you are incapacitated or on life support, the hospital will want to know what are your wishes. Without a living will, it will be very difficult to convey them to your medical provider. This will cause a significant amount of unnecessary stress on your loved ones.
The problem is most people do not want to think about their eventual demise, so they put off putting these documents in place. Unfortunately, the one (1) certainty in life is death, and without such documents, the physical, emotional, and financial strain on your loved ones can be unbearable. By having the requisite documents in place you, in the event you are incapacitated or deceased, you will be able to convey what you would have wanted to happen to you or your belongings; thus taking the necessary pressure off of loved-ones who have to speculate what you would have wanted. Although (understandably) having such documents done is not enjoyable, it will make your loved ones lives less stressful should something happen to you. As such, if you do not have such documents, we strongly recommend that you get them in place.
The information in this blog posting is for general information purposes only. Nothing in this blog or associated pages, documents, comments, answers, emails, or other communications should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information in this blog is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing of this information does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.