The holidays are traditionally the time for multiple generations to come together, and they are also a great time for adult children to check on how their aging parents are managing. It’s the perfect opportunity to assess how they are doing health-wise as well as discuss any financial and medical planning issues.
The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance provides these tips:
Check your elderly relatives’ home for potential fall hazards. It may be time to make safety additions, like installing grab-bars to bathrooms or building an alternative to stairs.
If there is unopened mail and unpaid bills lying around, it may be a sign they are having difficulty coping with everyday living.
Check the pantry and refrigerator to ensure it is appropriately stocked. If a parent has lost weight or there is spoiled food around, this is a sign that they may need some additional help around the house.
Make a list of all your parents’ medications and get the phone numbers of their primary care physicians.
Be sure you have the license numbers of all vehicles in case one is stolen or your parent goes missing.
Talk to your parents about advance health care directives. If they don’t have one, help them find an experienced estate planning attorney to talk to about creating these and other important estate planning documents.
If you’d like to learn more about wills, living wills, advance health care directives, powers of attorney or any other aspects of estate planning, call our office at (612) 206-3701 or fill out our contact form today to schedule a time for us to sit down and talk.
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