Whereas a will regulates how your assets and possibly specific possessions are to be distributed after you pass away, an advanced power of attorney is more like the opposite. An advanced power of attorney can only be activated while you are alive, and only if you are no longer conscious or if you are no longer able to make decisions. An activated advanced power of attorney is only valid as long as you are alive. It expires when you pass away, and then the will is found instead.
An advance directive, like a will, must be prepared while you are fully conscious and able to make decisions.
When you have your power of attorney drawn up, you can decide who will be your representative in the event that the power of attorney is to be activated one day. You can choose one person or you can choose several people.
You can choose whether the power of attorney should only concern your financial affairs. This could include decisions about selling real estate, changing or terminating loans, terminating leases, continuing your established traditions regarding gifts, donations, etc. Or whether the power of attorney should also concern your personal affairs, such as personal care in the hospital, placement in a nursing home, access to medical records, communication with the municipality and the ability to make decisions regarding the municipal and public authorities on your behalf. You can also choose for the power of attorney to apply to both financial and personal affairs, and you can also choose to include and exclude the items you want to include.
Once the power of attorney has been prepared, you must either go to the notary or the Family Court. Here, an employee will need to see photo identification and will ask about the power of attorney. This is to ensure that you are healthy and capable of making decisions to create the power of attorney. Once the power of attorney has been approved by the notary or the Family Court, it will then lie dormant.
If you have an accident where you do not die, but are no longer fully conscious, or suffer a head trauma that leaves you no longer able to make decisions, the power of attorney can be activated upon presentation of a medical certificate. The same applies if, due to old age, dementia or a similar illness, you are no longer mentally present to make decisions.
In a will, you decide what should happen when you pass away. A will can be drawn up as either a witnessed will or a notarized will. A witnessed will requires that two people who are not named in the will be present when you sign the will, and that these two people sign it. You then keep the will yourself, or give copies to your relatives.
With a notarized will, you bring 2 copies of the will to your meeting with the notary at your local courthouse. You only sign the will when you are sitting with the notary. The notary will need to see photo identification and make sure that you are aware of what is in the will. Afterwards, the notary keeps one copy, which is scanned and stored in the probate court's electronic archive, while you take the other copy home. On the day you pass away, your will is automatically retrieved from the probate court's electronic archive. With a notarized will, you are assured that your will will be found and handled on the day you pass away.
You can register where and how you want the funeral to take place, and what you want to happen to personal belongings, pets, etc.
If you have minor children when you make a will, you can have a children's will written, where you state your wishes for who should be the guardian of the children and provide for financial support for this from the inheritance.
In the form of a bond, you can decide that children/grandchildren should not receive their entire inheritance when they turn 18, but for example. divided into installments that are due for payment at 18 years, 21 years and 25 years. You also have the option of paying out certain amounts for specific purposes, such as a driver's license, study trip, etc. A will can be designed exactly according to your wishes, and the possibilities are many. Please contact us for a non-binding meeting about a will and/or a power of attorney.
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