Personal Finance & Estate › Wills, trusts & estate planning
Incapacity planning (if you can't decide for yourself)
· Concept or strategy
Standard practiceWhat most planners, CPAs and attorneys recommend.
Signing documents now that name who will handle your money, property and medical choices if illness or injury leaves you unable to.
See it on the Personal Finance & Estate map →How it works
The core California kit: a durable power of attorney for finances, an advance health care directive with a HIPAA release, and a revocable trust naming a successor trustee for trust assets. Documents must be signed while you still have capacity. Without them, family usually must ask a court for a conservatorship. About one in nine Americans 65 and older has Alzheimer's disease, so for many families this is a when-not-if question. Review documents every few years.
Why it matters for you
It keeps rent collected, bills paid and care decisions made by people you chose, quietly, instead of by court order.
Think of it like
Like naming a backup property manager with signed authority before the owner becomes unreachable.
Rules, limits and sources (2026)
California Probate Code Div. 4.5 (powers of attorney) and Div. 4.7 (health care decisions); the Alzheimer's Association's annual Facts and Figures report tracks dementia prevalence.
Watch out for
Capacity is not all-or-nothing; whether a parent with early dementia can still validly sign is a judgment call for the attorney and doctors.
Inside this (3)
Connections (3)
▸Durable power of attorney (finances) is a core document of Incapacity planning (if you can't decide for yourself)Standard practice
How they connect
The durable power of attorney covers the money side of incapacity: an agent you chose can pay bills, sign leases, manage accounts, file taxes and fund your trust. It pairs with the advance health care directive for medical decisions and the successor trustee for assets the trust owns.
When it applies
Signed while competent, ideally well before old age; used when illness, dementia or an accident strikes, often for aging parents.
How sure?
California Probate Code Div. 4.5 makes a power durable when it says so; banks and title companies rely on such powers every day.
Watch out for
How broadly to grant gifting or trust-amendment powers is debated: broad powers help planning but invite misuse; ask your attorney.
▸Advance health care directive & HIPAA release (California) is a core document of Incapacity planning (if you can't decide for yourself)Standard practice
How they connect
Incapacity planning rests on three documents: a durable power of attorney for money, a living trust for trust assets, and the advance health care directive for medical decisions. The directive names the health agent and states treatment wishes; its HIPAA release lets doctors confirm incapacity to the successor trustee.
When it applies
California's Health Care Decisions Law (2000) merged earlier durable powers of attorney for health care and 'living will' declarations into one statutory form.
How sure?
Probate Code Secs. 4600-4806 govern health care decisions; State Bar and estate-planning guides list the directive as a standard document.
Watch out for
How trusts define incapacity, often by one or two doctors' letters, varies by attorney and can cause delays when it matters.
▸Conservatorship (court control without a POA) is the court fallback in Incapacity planning (if you can't decide for yourself)Watch out
How they connect
Conservatorship is what happens when incapacity planning wasn't done or failed: family must go to court for authority they could have had by signature. It may also be needed if an agent abuses a power of attorney or the documents are too limited.
When it applies
Filed in county superior court, often by an adult child for a parent with dementia; court investigators and appointed attorneys take part.
How sure?
California Probate Code Sec. 1800.3 requires a finding that conservatorship is the least restrictive alternative before a court grants one.
Watch out for
How many conservatorships could have been avoided with documents isn't tracked statewide; court data on cases and costs are limited.