Crisis Planning: Before It's Too Late

What happens when disaster strikes without warning? A vacation accident, a sudden health diagnosis, or an unexpected incapacitation can leave you and your loved ones vulnerable if you haven't prepared properly. 

Throughout this eye-opening conversation, we explore the critical importance of crisis planning and what options exist when emergencies occur. While we stress that pre-planning is always the best approach, we also walk through realistic scenarios and solutions for those caught unprepared. For those who remain competent during a crisis, emergency powers of attorney can be established for both financial and healthcare decisions. When capacity is lost, family members must navigate the more complex process of guardianship—a route that becomes necessary when no advance directives exist.

We share real-world experiences with clients who wisely planned before adventure travel, those racing against time after receiving difficult health news, and families forced to pursue emergency guardianships for vulnerable loved ones. The contrast between pre-planned and crisis-driven solutions reveals just how much additional stress, expense, and complication can be avoided with some advance preparation. Simple measures like establishing beneficiaries on accounts, creating powers of attorney, and developing basic estate plans provide crucial protection when you need it most.

Don't leave your legacy and your loved ones' peace of mind to chance. Contact us to learn how straightforward planning can provide the protection and certainty your family deserves, no matter what unexpected challenges life may bring. We're committed to helping you protect what matters most, with convenient consultations available in Shelby, Charlotte, and Hendersonville.

Chapters

• 0:17 Introduction to Crisis Planning
• 1:10 Emergency Options When Competent
• 2:29 Real-World Crisis Planning Experiences
• 4:25 Peace of Mind Through Planning
• 4:57 Contact Information and Resources

Transcript

Haley Matson: 0:09

Good morning Jordan.

Jordan McIntyre: 0:11

Hey Haley, how are you doing?

Haley Matson: 0:12

I'm doing well. How are you?

Jordan McIntyre: 0:13

I'm doing pretty well.

Haley Matson: 0:16

Today, I think we're going to talk a little bit about why crisis planning is important and what we can do if you're in a crisis and haven't planned. So, to start off, I think there's a lot of cases where there could be potential crises happening. So say, you're on vacation and you get in an accident or something like that. You have small kids at home, you don't have a plan for them, or you end up in a really bad position and you don't have any of your powers of attorney in place either. If that happens, like what are we looking at here? What do you? What do you do?

Jordan McIntyre: 1:02

So we have plenty of options. I just want to absolutely stress that first option is to always pre-plan. I've done estate planning for people going out of the country. I did one estate plan for someone who was going to go do rock climbing in Right and I think she told me she was gonna skateboard, she was an adventurer, but she got her wills and powers of attorneys done prior to going because she was concerned about you know what if something happens on this trip. So I'll just tell you, your first step is to always pre-plan.

Jordan McIntyre: 1:29

However, if there's a crisis and you're still competent, or even if you're not, there's still options and I'll guide us through those and then you can give us your experience as well. But right, if you're competent and you have some type of medical emergency, we can do emergency powers of attorneys. So if things get worse, right, you'll have that general, durable power of attorney where someone can help you pay bills, and the healthcare power of attorney where someone can advocate for your healthcare decisions. If you lose capacity and competency Additionally worst case scenario you're in some type of coma, no longer have the capacity to make powers of attorneys we will pursue guardianship and have a family member appointed to assist you. So if you want to give us some of your guidance and experience Haley with those situations emergency guardianships, powers of attorneys we'd love to hear it.

Haley Matson: 2:21

Yeah, absolutely so. I mean I've also had those vacation clients before they come in and they're going to go somewhere and they want all their stuff done, which I think is a great, great plan. I've also had some clients who come in and they are looking to get their estate planning done as quickly as possible because they've just been diagnosed with a health condition and they had never pre-planned for that and in certain situations maybe time runs out before they even finish and that leaves their whole estate plan open. It leaves their family open to a lot of stress. So in that case pre-planning before they got that diagnosis would have been critical to them and their whole family.

Haley Matson: 3:05

I mean, we've also done a lot of emergency guardianships too. You know somebody's parent no longer competent emergency guardianship or maybe they're in a dangerous situation with a family member who's taking advantage of them and that person's not competent anymore. You know, the best we can do is file that emergency guardianship as soon as we can. We can get that over them. But again, most of these cases, like we were talking about earlier, they could have been mitigated with some pre-planning. It gets harder once you get into a crisis, right, it gets harder.

Jordan McIntyre: 3:39

And we can always assist you in those crises. But there are some simple tactics like having beneficiaries on accounts, right, having those powers of attorneys, doing some pre-planning to make sure you at least save the home right. Yeah, journeys, doing some pre-planning to make sure you at least save the home, right. Simple things to just you know. Face that reality that we never know what's going to happen. Everything's not certain. But then if you have, you know, you meet with us, do a consult, have these simple plans put in place.

Jordan McIntyre: 4:10

Then you can have that peace of mind, knowing that even if there is a crisis, I'm protected. So I think that's what we do here is give you that peace of mind and protect your legacy. So, heaven forbid, you don't pass. And then you know, maybe your wife's not on any of your accounts, or you know we haven't protected that home and you had some debt. Right, we've got plenty of options to help you out. You can meet with us at Shelby, charlotte or Hendersonville, visit the website at wwwmcouterlawcom, where you can find all types of articles and educational materials on estate planning, and then give us a call at 1-888-999-6600, and we'd love to meet you. All, right, thank you.

Haley Matson: 4:50

Thank you.