Apparently I hit the wrong button on 12/15 that is why I missed that deadline sorry about that.
There will be another post relating to debtors then I will pick up with Living Wills
Monthly Archives: December 2013
Durable Power of Attorneys.
Hi there just so you know I am not a Lawyer I am a Paralegal. So this in no way to be considered as legal advice. Let’s not forget when a lawyer or a paralegal becomes involved your problem becomes an ISSUE.
Side-Note: The person you choose for your Power of Attorney is your agent. That is how they will be referred to in any other legal documents related to your power of attorney.
Okay, let’s talk about the Durable Power of Attorney or P.O.A. The deference between a durable power of attorney and the ones I talked about last week is fairly simple. Once a regular power of attorney has been ended its over you can never use it again. For example you have set up a Health Care Power of Attorney you appoint a special someone to look after you if something bad happens. Then something bad happens and your special someone does step in to look after you and you do get better great happy ending well done… However, 6 months later you are in an auto accident and if you haven’t created a new health care power of attorney. Sorry, your special friend can’t do a thing for you. You are on your own until blood relative gets there. With a durable power of attorney you can set things up so that your special friend can step in no matter how many times you get hurt or sick. But keep their limit their power to only to when you are sick and or injured.
Now, to cover the 2 types of a durable power of attorney. 1st is the medical durable power of attorney. This person is who y
you want making the medical decisions for you when you can’t. 2nd a fiscal durable power of attorney. This Solider handles your money and sees to it that your bills get paid while you are out of it. As I said before a person you give authority too in a power of attorney does not have to be a lawyer. It can be anyone you choose as long as they are of legal age.
Side-Note: Legal age means being old enough to vote, sign a contract and be responsible for you actions. In all the United States this means being at least 18 years old. Old enough to kill or be killed for your country but not old enough to drink.
Just so you know, you can choose just one person to be both your medical and a financial durable power of attorney agent at the same time. Most often though most people don’t.
The fact is a durable power of attorney is a major portion of a Living Will. I will be getting into what makes up a Living Will next week.
Affordable Care Act or Obama Care
I am going off topic this week. I did some checking and this is what I found out about the Obama Care that has got the Tea Party republicans so upset. I got this information from the US.Gov website.
After listening to the replicons. I would like to know the difference between an IRS agent making decisions about my health care versus a Corporation Accountant. The only difference I can think of is the IRS agent will decided if I live or die based on if I got the paperwork right. The corporate account will decide based on how much saving my life will cost the stock holders.
In Missouri, people with Medicare saved nearly $142 million on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act. In 2012 alone, 75,201 individuals in Missouri saved over $49 million, or an average of $650 per beneficiary. In 2012, people with Medicare in the “donut hole” received a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and 14 percent discount on generic drugs. And thanks to the health care law, coverage for both brand name and generic drugs will continue to increase over time until the coverage gap is closed. Nationally, over 6.6 million people with Medicare have saved over $7 billion on drugs since the law’s enactment.
The health care law extends the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by ten years. From 2010 to 2012, Medicare spending per beneficiary grew at 1.7 percent annually, substantially more slowly than the per capita rate of growth in the economy. And the health care law helps stop fraud with tougher screening procedures, stronger penalties, and new technology. Over the last four years, the administration’s fraud enforcement efforts have recovered $14.9 billion from fraudsters. For every dollar spent on health care-related fraud and abuse activities in the last three years the administration has returned $7.90.
The health care law increases the funding available to community health centers nationwide. In Montana, 17 health centers operate 89 sites, providing preventive and primary health care services to 101,406 people. Health Center grantees in Montana have received $36,081,463 under the health care law to support ongoing health center operations and to establish new health center sites, expand services, and/or support major capital improvement projects.
Community Health Centers in all 50 states have also received a total of $150 million in federal grants to help enroll uninsured Americans in the Health Insurance Marketplace, including $1,477,139 awarded to Montana health centers. With these funds, Montana health centers expect to hire 27 additional workers, who will assist 14,341 Montanans with enrollment into affordable health insurance coverage.
By the Numbers: Uninsured Montanans who are eligible for coverage through the Marketplace.
•185,904 (22%) are uninsured and eligible
•150,978 (81%) have a full-time worker in the family
•69,786 (38%) are 19-34 years old
•138,248 (74%) are White
•1,546 (1%) are African American
•7,439 (4%) are Latino/Hispanic
•1,673 (1%) are Asian American or Pacific Islander
•101,567 (55%) are male
Nest week I will talk about court costs and Probate
Probate 4
As I said before and I will say yet again. I am not a lawyer, I am a Paralegal. So this is in no way to be considered legal advice only legal information, let’s not forget when a lawyer of a paralegal becomes involved your problem becomes an ISSUE.
Just so you know are four major types of Guardianship. There is a personal guardian who is responsible for medical and or money decisions. . The Estate guardian which is needed to protect your stuff when you can’t. The Personal & Estate guardian which take care of both at the same time. Last is the temporary guardianship, this is usually an emergency court order given when someone’s loved one suddenly becomes unable to take care of themselves. However it will cost about $60, when the loved one gets better, for the Guardian or the Guarded One to cancel it. It also can have a limited life span.
However guardianship do need approval from probate judge especially under a Living Will or if three are children are involved. A guardianship can also be challenged by someone who wants to take over the assigned guardianship. If the Guardianship is not challenged it usually costs about $50 to get court approval.
Okay moving onto a Power of Attorney. 1st and foremost the person you choose to be power of attorney does not have to be a lawyer. It can be anyone you choose.
There are 5 major types of power attorney. 1st is the general power of attorney, which is mostly used when you have a business or assets you want someone to look after a while you are traveling for a couple of years. Or say you don’t want anyone bothering you while contemplating the universe at a monastery.
Next is a Limited Power of Attorney this is almost identical to a general. Reasons of giving someone power over your assets is pretty much the same except like the title says, the power is limited to only one thing. For example you’re traveling somewhere overseas and you are receiving benefit check from a court case you won. You can leave someone a Limited Power of Attorney so they can take the check get it cashed, pay a few bills like your rent and get the rest deposited into your bank account. That way you can get your money and spend it while having fun in Ireland.
Then there is the Health Care Power of Attorney. Say you are not married and live a long way from anyone in your family. With a Heath Care Power of Attorney you can appoint a special friend to look after you. Your friend would be able to make the decisions’ a doctor needs to save your life after you have just been in a devastating auto accident. It is used a lot in states that can’t seem to see same-sex couples. You need to make sure your health insurance company has a copy as well as your friend.
Next week I will cover the Springing and Durable Power of Attorney.
Explanations-Legal 