California elder care attorneys are responsible for educating clients about the eventualities of aging. One issue that is important to understand is that of Alzheimer’s disease.
You would have to assume that just about everyone has heard of the disease, but some of the details probably will come as a surprise to many. This is not something that rarely strikes a small percentage of people.
If you’re interested in learning about Alzheimer’s disease in a good bit of detail, a valuable resource to visit would be the Alzheimer’s Association website. On the website there are some very telling statistics.
One out of every eight senior citizens is an Alzheimer’s victim. If you do the math, that’s 13% of people who are at least 65 years of age. This is a pretty significant percentage, and it is something that should get your attention if you are planning ahead for the future.
Drilling down further you see an even more compelling picture. Once you attain senior citizen status, your life expectancy is going to exceed 80 years of age. More than four out of every 10 people who are at least 85 are Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Alzheimer’s carries some very significant consequences. Believe it or not, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in America today.
Alzheimer’s is the root cause of much of the dementia that seniors experience. If you were to suffer from Alzheimer’s induced dementia late in your life, it is likely that you would become unable to make your own decisions and handle your own affairs.
When you consider the fact that the age group comprised of people between 85 and 94 is growing faster than any other ten-year grouping, you can see why incapacity planning is a must for serious minded individuals.
To a large extent incapacity planning revolves around the execution of legally binding devices called durable powers of attorney. A standard power of attorney would not remain in effect upon the incapacitation of the grantor of the power. Therefore, if you want to prepare for the possibility of incapacity, you should execute durable powers of attorney. These devices will indeed remain in effect if you become incapacitated.
The reason why we are mentioning powers of attorney in the plural is because there are different kinds of decisions that may become necessary. You can name a financial decision-maker by creating a durable power of attorney for financial matters. It is possible to execute another power of attorney that names an attorney-in-fact to make medical decisions on your behalf.
You are not compelled to name the same person as attorney-in-fact on each of these documents. You can name two different respective agents to make the different types of decisions if this is your choice.
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