_{A Conservatorship isn’t something you can put in place ahead of time. In order to become the conservator of someone else, you must file a petition with the court and the court must decide that the individual in question is unable to care for themselves. The court also decides what types of decisions the conservator is allowed to make on the person’s behalf: medical, financial, and legal, to name a few. Conservatorships have no time limits and if the incapacitated person recovers, the court must decide that they are now able to care for themselves going forward.}

Short-term and long-term treatments: You may want short-term treatments when there is a good chance that you will get better. For example, you may want a feeding tube for a short time while you recover from surgery. You may not want a permanent feeding tube if you have a severe and long-term brain injury. You may want to have a limit on the amount of time you want to have other life-sustaining treatments.

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_{Find someone you trust. It is difficult to choose just anyone to act for you as your agent. With respect to your finances, you want to make sure that the person you choose is someone is responsible and disciplined enough to handle all matters related to your financial affairs. Likewise, with respect to healthcare decisions, you need to choose a person who is aware of your wishes concerning your healthcare and who will make the appropriate decisions based on those wishes if you are unable to do so.}
^{Fill out your forms. You will need to fill out your power of attorney forms completely. It is advised that you have your agent, or the person whom you are granting the powers, present when you decide to fill it out. You also can have your attorney draft the forms for you. If using the statutory form, you will need to affirmatively initial each of the individual powers that you wish your agent to have. Here is the other information that you will need to provide on the forms:}
Fill out your forms. You will need to fill out your power of attorney forms completely. It is advised that you have your agent, or the person whom you are granting the powers, present when you decide to fill it out. You also can have your attorney draft the forms for you. If using the statutory form, you will need to affirmatively initial each of the individual powers that you wish your agent to have. Here is the other information that you will need to provide on the forms:
I was fortunate to find Rania online. We worked with her on our estate planning, getting all our documents in order. She was extremely competent, responsive and professional. I wasn’t sure how I would like working with some strictly online but she scheduled conference calls, educated us and handled it beautifully, putting my mind at ease. She was personal and genuinely cared about getting this right for us. I would highly recommend her services!
*For complete information, see the offer terms and conditions on the issuer or partner's website. Once you click apply you will be directed to the issuer or partner's website where you may review the terms and conditions of the offer before applying. We show a summary, not the full legal terms – and before applying you should understand the full terms of the offer as stated by the issuer or partner itself. While Experian Consumer Services uses reasonable efforts to present the most accurate information, all offer information is presented without warranty.
Estate planning is an ongoing process and should be started as soon as an individual has any measurable asset base. As life progresses and goals shift, the estate plan should shift in line with new goals. Lack of adequate estate planning can cause undue financial burdens to loved ones (estate taxes can run as high as 40%), so at the very least a will should be set up—even if the taxable estate is not large.

Probate court is the section of the judicial system responsible for settling wills, trusts, conservatorships, and guardianships. After death, this court might examine your testamentary will, which is a legal document used to transfer your estate, appoint guardians for minor children, select will executors, and sometimes set up trusts for your survivors.

^{A living will only works while these two things are true: You must be unable to communicate but still be alive. For instance, if you were confused or in a coma because of a head injury, your doctors would want to look at your living will for direction. But the moment you’re able to communicate on your own, your living will becomes unneeded and has no authority.}
Account Takeover fraud is becoming increasingly common, particularly as traditional credit card fraud has become less prevalent due to the widespread adoption of EMV chipped credit cards. In an account takeover situation, a thief would log into the victim’s existing accounts, often using stolen credentials, and then add themselves as an authorized user. For example, the thief could log into your bank and then request a new credit card under your existing account. In this scenario, traditional credit monitoring would be unable to alert to this activity, because the thief is technically using an existing line of (your) credit.
There are several identify theft protection services that help people avoid and mitigate the effects of identity theft. Typically, such services provide information helping people to safeguard their personal information; monitor public records, as well as private records such as credit reports, to alert their clients of certain transactions and status changes; and provide assistance to victims to help them resolve problems associated with identity theft.
_{A Notary is an official public officer that can legally attest a signature to a document giving it the utmost authenticity. By having a signature from a notary, your Living Will will not be questioned in the event there is conflict. In most states, a signature from a notary public is required in order for your Living Will to be valid. It is not difficult nor expensive to obtain a signature from a notary public, as most banks will do it for free. Be sure to have signatures from all parties including yourself before bringing it to a notary public.}
Sweden has had relatively few problems with identity theft. This is because only Swedish identity documents have been accepted for identity verification. Stolen documents are traceable by banks and some other institutions. The banks have the duty to check the identity of people withdrawing money or getting loans. If a bank gives money to someone using an identity document reported as stolen, the bank must take the loss. Since 2008, any EU passport is valid in Sweden for identity check, and Swedish passports are valid all over the EU. This makes it harder to detect stolen documents, but still banks in Sweden must ensure that stolen documents are not accepted.
^{There was until 2016 no legal ban specifically against using someone's identity, only on the indirect damage caused. To impersonate someone else for financial gain is a kind of fraud, which is described in the Criminal Code (Swedish: brottsbalken). To impersonate someone else to discredit someone by breaking into social media accounts and provoke, is libel, but that is hard to sentence someone for. A new law was introduced late 2016 which partially banned undetermined identity usage.[48]}
In Australia, each state has enacted laws that deal with different aspects of identity or fraud issues. Some states have now amended relevant criminal laws to reflect crimes of identity theft, such as the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA), Crimes Amendment (Fraud, Identity and Forgery Offences) Act 2009 and also in Queensland under the Criminal Code 1899 (QLD). Other states and territories are in states of development in respect of regulatory frameworks relating to identity theft such as Western Australia in respect of Criminal Code Amendment (Identity Crime) Bill 2009.

For instance, if you own a variety of valuable items and assets, after you're gone, your will would designate who would receive your house, furniture and artwork collection. However, if you're in a coma, a living trust will assign somebody to make these choices for you. This person would be able to use your bank account to pay your bills and make financial decisions, including whether or not to sell your home. Without a living trust, those types of decisions can be made by a court.

Many states have forms for advance directives, allowing residents to state their wishes in as much or as little detail as they’d like. For example, it’s common to direct that “palliative care”—that is, care to decrease pain and suffering—always be administered, but that certain “extraordinary measures,” like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) not be used in certain circumstances.
Estate planning is an ongoing process and should be started as soon as an individual has any measurable asset base. As life progresses and goals shift, the estate plan should shift in line with new goals. Lack of adequate estate planning can cause undue financial burdens to loved ones (estate taxes can run as high as 40%), so at the very least a will should be set up—even if the taxable estate is not large.
           None of these situations are guaranteed to occur, but they are also not utterly improbable either. Once anticipated as a possible future situation, there are actions I can take such as changing beneficiary designations, providing that assets are protected for children or grandchildren who need that protection and to getting, or replacing, the value of my practice to my wife and children at my death with insurance. Some of these actions are documents, but some are not. In either event, for my clients in similar situations, using a basic will may save them some money today, but will not prompt them to anticipate the future. By not planning, they cannot avoid risking the loss of their assets during the administration of their estates.
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