Life planning documents for people with a disablity.

 

So I went to the lawyers yesterday and it made me very aware that I am getting older but there were a few things because I got it out of the public trustee. After all, I personally have seen too much, around them because of a lack of funding and awareness of what they can do and some but not all staff’s lack of ethics, and let's be clear a lack of ethics could occur in any industry so I am not picking on the public trustee but these are the documents both official and unofficial that we should have as people with disabilities before moving into any sort of care home or employing a paid caregiver, or registering for government-run care programs, as again the ethics and awareness of limitations may not be there, as there can be a lack of training post-graduation in any industry.

 A will is the first document and having it drafted by a lawyer is the best idea but you can get one from the post office due to the complexity of the estate I find a lawyer the best option but there are other options out there.

Then there is an enduring power of attorney which is a document that states if you are incapable of making your own decisions what your wishes are and one thing is to make sure the person or persons you nominate are OK with being your nominee and you are ok as well as this can give them a lot of power over your life and people can think, they have decision-making power when they may not want the responsibility and  I find having a private lawyer draft them is the best idea as well. Also if you don’t want anyone to be involved in decision making you can state this as well.

The other legal document to have and this is important to make sure your health team knows about it is an advanced health directive as it is important to make sure that it's followed this is where if you are unable to advocate for yourself self your enduring power of attorney kicks in for decision making as unfortunately I have seen, heard and read that unfamiliar care teams may not follow it and this can cause you and your loved ones trauma and this is where having it in writing helps for advocacy, Also having relationships recognized it helps with information sharing as well,

So now we are moving on to other documents and these are informal but make caregivers and loved one's jobs a lot easier as well you need to be able to trust people with this information and not being able to trust paid caregivers is another topic we need to talk about in another post.

 My lawyer gave me a booklet that guides me through accounting for my assets and some that you don’t think about, in the modern age it doesn’t have to be a fancy one like the booklet I have but it could be a Word document or an exercise book, it starts off with the obvious ones like bank account details, shares or other investments like superannuation ( for my international readers a retirement account) mortgage assets, insurance policies, for both you and assets ( life, house or contents if you rent).

Then there are less obvious ones that unless it's obvious to jewellery, and China is valuable as well so this is where having it listed in the will creates less drama when you have passed away , then where to find electronic assets such as bitcoin, NFT, or other electronic legacies and to write down your passwords, but to keep them physically under lock and key.

Then some other things that they pointed out that I would have never thought about are sentimental items that may not have physical value but have emotional value for me such as guides badges, and clothes that you may want to be given to charities as well instead of dumped or sold and a will protects you and you can get the lawyer to help you to draft it in such a way that if you see someone may create drama that if they start drama they don’t get anything as well, then your able to work with people to let your wishes known so this is where family or someone you can trust needs to be involved.

It also helps me to document who my practical things are such as internet and utilities so when it comes time to close the account they have the authority to do so, and what procedures to follow, so the things that they mention are utilities and this would include gas, electricity, water ( if you have town water) internet and any streaming services or online services such as youtube or patron memberships and this has had the other unintended benefit of for me doing an unintentional budget of where my money is going into or other places I could save money.

It also guides me through where to find government documents including, tax information, and government ID if you engage with government services such as income support services or care services, then it goes to more information but just as important for this age such as electronic passwords to close down online accounts, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter ( now X) discord and any youtube,  podcast or rumble accounts and I know I haven’t mentioned them all, as well as any email or cloud-based storage accounts.  As well as distribution of craft or other hobby supplies that they may not know where to go.

It also forces me to confront my own mortality in looking at funeral planning and if you have the money to pre-pay and pre-plan your funeral or last wishes as well, they work with local ethical funeral homes to lay out costs and how to start the process as well.

The other thing they say is to start writing your memoirs as when you go your physical memory goes as well so start writing it down or recording it in another form it doesn’t have to be polished but it needs to be accurate as well.

Then other things don’t apply to me but may apply to other readers such as custody of children and pets as some pets may outlive you as well and this needs to be discussed before you pass.

But now let's go back to the land of the living and these are documents that if you losing capacity  to have in place and yes let's stop and be very real that doing this can be confronting, but other things to have in place are

Care plans both for paid and unpaid caregivers

Feeding plans or plans for hospice such as hospice at home

Hygiene plans such as showering or bathing

At-home nursing directives

Pain management plans and what medications you do or don’t want

It’s tough for me to sit and document these things on my own but I know they need to be done as the disabilities and health conditions I do live with and even COVID and associated lockdowns have brought out but it is one of the things that I need to do as a responsible adult trying to get some stability in my life and I have it but this brings an element of peace that I  have this done and breaking it put into chunks as it's confronting to have to do it all at once but it has made me very aware of what we need to do to make it easer when we pass away on our loved ones, and to have relationships recognised is critical if a person was to get sick and family members may not approve of the relationship or lifestyle.