While clients and advisers often plan for death, little is generally done to deal with incapacity. With people living much long due to advances in medical science, incapacity caused by physical and mental illness, injury or trauma is a much more likely event than premature death. A client’s incapacity may have a significant impact on various matters including control of their assets, and much closer to home, providing instructions to advisers and paying their costs.
This paper provides an overview of:
- the arrangements that can be put in place while a person has capacity
- the arrangements that can be put in place once a person becomes incapacitated
- the new Advance Care Directives Act 2013 (SA)
- advisers as attorneys.