Merely having the proper legal documents is insufficient. To maintain your quality of life by assuring the continued control of your assets, it is necessary to make it possible for others to act in your stead.

Advance Directives are only half the equation. The other half is Planned Succession Management. That includes having both your financial management system and your legal empowerment documents accessible and understandable to those whom you choose to become successors. That, in turn, means they would not only have the power to do the job, but also would know what the job is and how to do it.

This Planned Succession Management Includes:

• A money management system that a successor could understand and assume
• Written financial and estate planning goals
• A defined investment and management policy
• Legally empowered successors
• A regularly scheduled progress review

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you have a comprehensive system for managing all of your personal and financial affairs?
2. Are all of your important legal and financial documents readily available and would your successor know where they are?
3. If you were temporarily unable to personally handle your financial matters, are you sure that someone else would be able to take over with ease? (That means they would know where everything is and they would have the legal capacity to transact all business matters.)
4. If you had a medical condition that required longer-term confinement and you were unable to make your own decisions, do you have someone legally empowered who would make those decisions as you would want?