Kate Ashford

If we had had to start from scratch, it would have been a big process in the middle of something that was already really stressful.

Yeah. I mean, it would have been a big sticky thing to try to broach that in the middle of the situation.

Yeah. I mean, it would have been a big sticky thing to try to broach that in the middle of the situation.

Yeah. I mean, it would have been a big sticky thing to try to broach that in the middle of the situation.

Yeah. So sometimes people can bring up something that's happened to a friend of theirs or something they've seen in the news. Make something up if you have to, where something happened to a parent and their adult children didn't know where to find all of their accounts, say, or their estate planning wasn't done at all.

Yeah. So sometimes people can bring up something that's happened to a friend of theirs or something they've seen in the news. Make something up if you have to, where something happened to a parent and their adult children didn't know where to find all of their accounts, say, or their estate planning wasn't done at all.

Yeah. So sometimes people can bring up something that's happened to a friend of theirs or something they've seen in the news. Make something up if you have to, where something happened to a parent and their adult children didn't know where to find all of their accounts, say, or their estate planning wasn't done at all.

It's a good way to find out how organized they are and to kind of subtly poke them on the things that they should be doing. Because ideally, they've got something like a will, a living will and powers of attorney in place. But this is a good chance to talk about that if they don't.

It's a good way to find out how organized they are and to kind of subtly poke them on the things that they should be doing. Because ideally, they've got something like a will, a living will and powers of attorney in place. But this is a good chance to talk about that if they don't.

It's a good way to find out how organized they are and to kind of subtly poke them on the things that they should be doing. Because ideally, they've got something like a will, a living will and powers of attorney in place. But this is a good chance to talk about that if they don't.

Absolutely. And again, the more you can do this in little doses, the less anxious everybody gets, I think.

Absolutely. And again, the more you can do this in little doses, the less anxious everybody gets, I think.

Absolutely. And again, the more you can do this in little doses, the less anxious everybody gets, I think.

Oh, for sure.

Oh, for sure.

Oh, for sure.

there are two kinds of powers of attorney generally, financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney, which is sometimes called a medical power of attorney or healthcare proxy. Having financial power of attorney means you can handle your loved one's finances. So you can sign checks, you can make payments, you can talk to the bank on their behalf.

there are two kinds of powers of attorney generally, financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney, which is sometimes called a medical power of attorney or healthcare proxy. Having financial power of attorney means you can handle your loved one's finances. So you can sign checks, you can make payments, you can talk to the bank on their behalf.

there are two kinds of powers of attorney generally, financial power of attorney and healthcare power of attorney, which is sometimes called a medical power of attorney or healthcare proxy. Having financial power of attorney means you can handle your loved one's finances. So you can sign checks, you can make payments, you can talk to the bank on their behalf.

And this can be super helpful if you're in the position of having to move money around or pay bills or pay caregivers. That said, even though I had power of attorney from my mom, sometimes I had to have her on the phone while I made calls to people so that she could verify that I had her permission to discuss things or to take actions. So it depends on the company.