As you probably already know, estate planning is a very important process for everyone. Whether people have substantial assets or not, they still have wishes that should be recorded and documented.

Unfortunately, many forget or delay this crucial activity until it’s too late!

The final opportunity for many people to get estate planning handled is while they’re in hospice care. By the time people are in hospice care, they either have their affairs in order already, or they need to do so quickly!

Bedside Planner

Here at Morton Law, we handle bedside executions of wills for those who didn’t get it all prepared ahead of time. We’ve actually done some really good plans for hospice patients, but we want to remind everyone that it’s always better to get estate planning done ahead of time!

There are a few problems and challenges that we typically run into when we try to get estate planning done at a patient’s bedside.

Lack of Clarity and Attention

One problem with hospice patients doing planning is that they’re really just receiving palliative care at that point. The point of a hospice is to make patients feel as comfortable and pain-free as possible before they die, not to treat or cure any underlying affliction.

That bodes poorly, because the illness and pain medication can cause individuals in hospice care to be dazed or unresponsive. We had one patient who was too ill to stay awake long enough to sign the will. Situations like this make it very challenging to ascertain a patient’s true wishes.

Is the Will Valid?

That brings up the other main issue, which is the potential for challenges to a patient’s will and testament. Loved ones could call into question whether the hospice patient actually had testamentary capacity while doped up on pain medications or delirious from illness.

In the instance I just described, where a patient was too sick to sign the will, it hardly inspires confidence that the patient was truly able to communicate his or her wishes. By the time a loved one is in hospice care, you run the risk of not being able to capture a true will and testament—where just a few years earlier, this person might have still had the capacity to complete the estate planning.

The point we want to make is that it’s very important to get estate planning done while you’re healthy. If you have a loved one who’s getting older or who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, try to encourage estate planning sooner rather than later.

At Morton Law, we can help with estate planning at any stage of life, including during hospice care. If you or a loved one are interested in getting Mississippi estate planning done, contact us for more information.

~Ronald Morton