Estate Planning Tasks For Surviving Spouses

When a Louisiana spouse dies, the surviving spouse may be preoccupied with settling the decedent’s estate. However, there are several important steps they should take to get their own estates in order.

One reason for this is that in many estate planning documents, spouses may have named one another. For example, a power of attorney allows one person to take over financial affairs if the other person is incapacitated. If this is not updated and the surviving spouse becomes incapacitated, the family may have to go through a long and expensive process to appoint someone to manage finances. The surviving spouse may also want to update the health care proxy and HIPAA release forms. The former appoints someone to make medical decisions on the person’s behalf if the person is unable to do so while the latter allows someone to access the person’s medical information.