We’ve gathered answers to frequently asked questions about how the coronavirus disease affects your estate plan, and how to keep you and your family prepared while hospitalized.
In case you or a loved one needs to be hospitalized or becomes incapacitated because of COVID-19, it’s a good idea to have an undated estate plan and be prepared. A current estate plan helps to ease some worry by ensuring that important health and financial decisions don’t fall on unprepared family members.
Estate planning includes more than just a Will. Other important documents to comprise are a Living Trust, Durable Power of Attorney for Property, Advance Health Care Directive, Living Will and other related documents.
With the current COVID-19 pandemic, the two most important documents to have on hand are medical and financial powers of attorney. If you need help preparing or modifying these documents please book a phone or video meeting with one of our experienced attorneys here.
An Advance Health Care Directive gives authority to a trusted person to make medical decisions if you’re unable to do so. This includes the power to make medical decisions, consent to treatment or withhold treatment.
In thanks to our community heroes who are out on the front lines as essential workers, we’re providing these critical legal documents and video step-by-step instructions on how to complete them for free. Find out more here.
You should consider creating a HIPAA Authorization that gives authority to individuals to access your medical records and other sensitive health information. In a HIPAA Authorization, you name one or more individuals, each of whom will have access to your confidential medical information. Without a HIPAA Authorization, these individuals likely will not be able to access your medical records at a time when you need it.
Make sure you have your HIPAA Authorization and Advance Health Care Directive prepared now and if you have one already, make sure that they’re up to date and not expired. Some Advance Health Care Directives do expire.
If you don’t have these important legal documents prepared yet, or if you need to update them, we are here to help. Contact us now, before an emergency arises.
In the event of a death, a Will is a list of instructions to a Probate Court on how you would like your property distributed and who you would like to serve as Executor of your Probate Estate. Unfortunately a Will does not avoid the probate process, but requires your Executor to go through Probate in the Courts.
Trusts are similar to Wills but are different in that a Trust does not require a Probate if it is funded properly with assets. If you have a Trust in place, make sure that it’s also up to date.
Consider keeping your original estate planning documents in a safe place at home, or in a bank safe deposit box, and make sure that your successors know where these documents are. They need to have access to the original documents, not copies of them.
With the current COVID-19 situation you may not be able to physically meet with your estate planning attorney, but you can still do much of what’s required at home. Documents can be drafted, reviewed, and signed via email, or physically delivered in the mail.
At CunninghamLegal our staff is working remotely and we, like you, are figuring out what life (and meetings) look like in this new world. We are committed to continuing to serve you with remote legal services as we navigate this challenging time… together.
Under California law, notarization of Wills and/or Trusts are not necessarily required in order to be valid. While it’s a good idea to have a Will witnessed and a Trust notarized, for the time being you should consider signing the documents, and have them notarized later when it’s safe to do so.
Additionally the COVID-19 pandemic has caused tax deadlines to be extended, interest rates and asset values to drop to an all time low, and gift, estate, and generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions to also be affected.
In March 2020, the CARES Act was passed to help relieve the economic burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this new legislation, you can skip taking the required minimum distributions from your retirement accounts, even if you’re 72 or older for 2020. This includes RMDs from an IRA. This is also true if you have an inherited IRA in 2020.
Additionally, under the CARES Act, for 2020 you could take up to $100K from an IRA or 401(k) without paying the 10% penalty.
There are seven types of coronaviruses that are known to affect humans, all of which cause upper respiratory infections. These different types are categorized into two groups: those that cause mild symptoms and those which pose more serious risks.
The four common human coronavirus types that cause mild symptoms include 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1. Mild symptoms could include nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, headaches or fever.
Occasionally these common coronaviruses can cause complications in your lower respiratory tract, resulting in pneumonia. The risk of this is higher among infants, older adults and those with a weakened immune system.
There are three types of coronaviruses that pose more serious risks to humans including SARS-CoV, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), MERS-COV which causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19.
COVID-19 is the name of the disease caused by the more serious coronavirus SARS-COV-2.
Yes. Coughing could be a symptom of the coronavirus disease. You may also experience fever, tiredness and difficulty breathing. According to the CDC, these symptoms may appear 2 – 14 days after exposure to the coronavirus.
While the coronavirus is not new, the COVID-19 strain is. COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan, China in late December 2019 after health officials noticed a significant increase in pneumonia cases. COVID-19 has since spread worldwide.
You may contract COVID-19 if you touch a contaminated surface or object and then touch your eyes, nose or mouth. Studies show that it could also be an airborne disease. Scientists claim COVID-19 could be found in the air for up to three hours after a person with it has left and it could be found on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to three days.
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease and to keep you and your family healthy, it’s important to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, going to the bathroom and before you prepare or eat food. Also, it’s a good idea to frequently disinfect surfaces that people come in contact with.
Since COVID-19 has been shown to be an airborne disease and easily spread between people interacting in close proximity, the CDC recommends wearing a cloth mask over your mouth and nose if you go somewhere in public where you’re not able to stay at least six feet away from others, such as at the grocery store or pharmacy.
If you’ve been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, or have recently traveled overseas to an area with ongoing spread of COVID-19, it’s important to call ahead before you go to a doctor’s office or emergency room. Make sure to tell them about your recent travels and if you’re experiencing any potential COVID-19 symptoms.
If you feel sick stay home! Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue and immediately dispose of it in the trash.
If you’re caring for a family member with the coronavirus at home make sure you avoid sharing food, drinks and other personal items. Frequently disinfect surfaces and make sure everyone washes their hands often, especially after coming in contact with surfaces and items the sick person touched.
To avoid disease transmission, provide your family with clean face masks to wear at home. Prepare a room where the sick person can stay clear of others in the family and clean that room as needed.
CunninghamLegal remains committed to continuing to serve you during this unprecedented time in our history. While each location is now closed to the public and most of our staff are working remotely, we continue to work hard to provide the same level of service as before. See more about how CunninghamLegal has responded to the COVID-19 situation with a message from CEO, Jim Cunningham here.
If you’re in need of legal services in California relating to estate planning, trust administration or probate, book a phone or video consultation here now.
