Estate Planning: Living Wills, Durable Power of Attorney for Heath and Finance
Estate planning frequently involves more than just having a Will. Living wills as well as durable powers of attorney for health care and finance protect your estate in case your are incapacitated, but not deceased.
A living will permits you to express your wishes regarding resuscitation and life maintaining measures in the event you later become incapable of communicating your desires. It can help you try to avoid what some believe to be an undignified existence by allowing you to decline medical treatment, food, and water if these things are “artificially” keeping you alive. The choice is yours to make and physicians will honor your wishes if the proper documents are submitted.
A durable power of attorney for health care, on the other hand, allows you to appoint another person to make decisions for you regarding your medical care in the event you cannot. This power is broader than the living will. It, too, covers situations where you may be terminally ill and need resuscitation or other life maintaining measures to stay alive. Your agent, or attorney-in-fact, can decline these treatments if you give them that power. It also applies to situations where a health care decision is required but you cannot make that decision yourself (i.e., you are unconscious as a result of injury). Your agent could authorize or decline medical treatment on your behalf.
A durable power of attorney for finance allows you to appoint another person to make decisions for you regarding your real and personal property. This power is broad and covers situations where you are terminally ill or unconscious as a result of injury, but still living. Your agent, or attorney-in-fact, can manage your financial affairs as you so wish.
If you decide to create either a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care and/or finance, you will need to consider several things before you complete the documents. You will have to provide the name and contact information for the individual(s) that you nominate to make decisions for you in the event that you cannot make them.
Be sure to inform the person you nominate of your wishes. You can permit or refuse to permit donation of your organs for transplant. You can also permit or refuse to permit donation of your body for scientific or educational purposes. Some people wish to spend their last days at home rather than in a hospital. Some people wish to nominate one person to act as their attorney-in-fact for health care and another for their finance. You can express your wishes regarding these issues in these documents. Finally, you can express your wishes about funeral arrangements.
Responsibilities of the Investment Manager for Pension Boards, Custody Issues, and Rebalancing
A person is an “Investment Manager” with respect to a retirement system or pension fund under the Illinois Pension Code if such person:
1. is a fiduciary appointed by the board of trustees of a retirement system or pension fund in accordance with Section 1-109.1;
2. has the power to manage, acquire or dispose of any asset of the retirement system or pension fund;
3. is either –
a. registered as an Investment Advisor under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940;
b. a bank, as defined by that Act, or
c. an insurance company; and
4. has acknowledged in writing that he is a fiduciary with respect to the retirement system or pension fund.
5. the terms “Investment Manager” and “Investment Advisor” are used interchangeably.
The Investment Manager/Advisor/Broker with discretion over buying or selling securities for the fund may not be the custodian of the investment instruments.
Pension boards should review percentages quarterly for compliance with the Investment Policy. Funds with assets under $2.5 million are allowed 10% in separate accounts and/or mutual funds, which may not grow in excess of 10% provided that the contract has not been changed.
If market values do not exceed the allowable percentage then no rebalancing is required. Investment Policies of each fund should stipulate the percentage allowable in the various types of authorized investments.
Pension funds invested in separate accounts, mutual funds and/or individual stocks should calculate the market value of those funds to determine the percentage held vs. the allowable percentage under the law. Use the expertise of the Investment Manager to assist with this task. If the percentage exceeds the allowable amount, the fund must reduce the allowable percentage and document the reduction. The reduction as to which investments are sold is at the discretion of the pension board and applies only to the aggregate percentage. Documentation of the percentage calculations should be maintained at the pension fund.