WHY SHOULD A YOUNG ADULT HAVE A HEALTH CARE POWER OF ATTORNEY?

Young adults often feel that they are “invincible”. This feeling gives them the courage to take on challenges and adventures that a more experienced adult may find daunting. The sense of invincibility can cause young people to not consider giving a parent or other older adult power of attorney to make medical decisions on their behalf in the event they are unable to do so. There are a number of reasons why a young adult should have a health care power of attorney.

1. They Really Are Not Invincible. We would love it if bad things never happened to our adult children. Unfortunately, there are times when they are injured or become ill. If the injury or illness is so severe that they are not able to make informed medical decisions they will need someone to make those decisions on their behalf. The primary purpose of a power of attorney for health care is to allow an adult child to designate someone to make medical decisions for him or her in the event, and at such time as he or she is unable to do so. If there is no power of attorney for health care certain treatments may be denied or delayed.

2. Organ Donation. A health care power of attorney allows the person giving the power of attorney (the “principal”) the opportunity to state his or her preferences in regard to organ donation including whether any, and which organs or tissues should be donated. Without a health care power of attorney we may not know our children’s position on organ donation.

3. Medical Information. A health care power of attorney authorizes the person to whom power of attorney is given (the “agent”) access to medical records. Young adults sometimes need guidance in important areas such as health care. Full access to medical information, that might otherwise be denied because of HIPPA, equips the agent to offer such guidance.

4. End of Life. A health care power of attorney allows the principal the opportunity to state his or her preferences in regard to life sustaining treatments in the event of a terminal situation. It is unlikely that a young adult would have formally expressed those preferences in any other document. Under such dire circumstances the family may have some comfort knowing that they were following the wishes of the person in the terminal condition.

Prepared by: David A. Semmelman, JD, CPA

 Read More >

What are they and do I need them?

 Read More >

You may recall seeing our November, 2014 article about a custody battle over frozen embryos. At the time of the article the case had gone up to the Illinois appellate court for a second time. The appellate court recently found in favor of Karla, the woman seeking to use the frozen embryos to have a child over the objection of her former boyfriend, Jacob. Read More >

New Rules Affecting Buyers and Sellers of Real Estate

Are you currently selling your home or shopping for a new one? If so, you should be aware that the CFPB (Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau) has new rules that go into effect on August 1, 2015! These rules apply to all “closed- end consumer credit transactions secured by real property”, meaning purchase money mortgages, refinances, timeshares, construction only loans and parcels 25 acres or less. The sale and purchase of vacant land, which was previously considered a commercial transaction, is also subject to the new rules. Home Equity Lines of Credit, reverse mortgages, mobile home loans, commercial transactions and private lenders originating less than 5 loans per year (e.g., Articles of Agreement) are exempt from the new rules and forms.  Read More >

If a trust is part of your estate plan, congratulations! You have taken a big step towards making sure that your assets will be managed and distributed in accordance with your wishes. But just having a trust agreement in place is not the end of the story. Once your trust has been established by executing the agreement ownership of your assets need to be transferred to the trustee. A trust without assets is like an empty treasure chest.  Read More >

Answer: The answer to that question is “yes”, which may be surprising to some tax practitioners. Cash basis taxpayers recognize income when payment is received. Payment does not include evidences of indebtedness, such as a note, of the person acquiring the property (IRC 456(f)(3)). A note is an evidence of indebtedness. Read More >

 The first of January seems like the right date to unveil a makeover. Even a legislative one! The Illinois Power of Attorney for Health Care statute has been amended effective January 1, 2015. The idea behind the changes was to make the power of attorney form more “user friendly” and understandable to the average person. The statutory form has been reformatted to follow a Q&A style and contain points for thought and discussion in the Notice section of the document. Other changes have been made which include additional witness restrictions, more limited life-sustaining treatment options available to the principal, and the elimination of organ donation options. Read More >

Click hereto see our holiday gathering event held on December 20th, 2014 Read More >

As we bring our 2014 season to a close, we'd like to take a moment to thank all of the incredible clients we've had the pleasure of working with over the years. From our family to yours, have a Happy Holidays and a Merry New Year.   Read More >

 To preserve the possibility of future progeny many couples are using in vitro fertilization to create embryos that are then frozen. Those frozen embryos can be implanted many years later. Freezing embryos is very popular. Those in the industry estimate that there are currently up to one million embryos in storage. Read More >