Who Can Witness My Health Care Power of Attorney? (Episode #287)

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Well, good afternoon, Michiganders.
It is Tuesday, September five, twenty

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twenty three, and this is of
course Tuesday with Tom, Michigan's only weekly

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podcast where we do answer your questions
about a state planning in a state settlement

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in Michigan. I'm your host,
Tom Doyle, a state planning attorney,

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lifelong Michigan resident, an ambassador for
all things good in this great state of

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Michigan. Welcome, Welcome to today's
program. Well, last week's episode who

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Can Witness My Will? So,
if you're looking having a will prepared for

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are you, and you're looking at
having it executed, and you're wondering who

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can witness the will? I encourage
you listen to last week's episode in which

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I explain who can and cannot be
a witness to your will. Staying with

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that same theme, today, we're
going to talk about another common estate planning

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document. So today's show is who
can Witness My Healthcare? Power of Attorney?

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But please remember, as always,
what I'm about to discuss during their

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program is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be legal

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advice. You need to work with
your attorney to determine what as a apropriate

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for you and your estate plan.
Well, let's just start with what is

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a healthcare power attorney. Some attorney
such as our office calls and a healthcare

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power attorney. Other locations, maybe
your doctor's office or hospital that you're being

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admitted to, might call it a
designation of patient advocate. But in either

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event, it's the document in which
you name the person that you are authorizing

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to make medical decisions on your behalf
if you're not able to make them for

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yourself, and to have a legal
healthcare power attorney you the person making it

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has to be at least eighteen and
has to be of sound mind, and

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the person that you are naming to
make those healthcare decisions for you also has

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to be at least eighteen years of
age. But let's get to when you're

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executing the document who it is that
can be witnesses, because the statute also

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requires that the power of returning for
healthcare has to be executed in the presence

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of and signed by two witnesses.
Now in the presence of because of some

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changes with the statute, where we
can do remote witnessing, where we can

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do remote notarizing, it doesn't necessarily
mean in the physical presence of the person

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who signed it, if you otherwise
qualify under the statute for the remote witnessing

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provisions that are available to us now
post COVID, if you will. But

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essentially it has to be signed by
two witnesses. So who can't be the

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witnesses? Well, there are a
number of people laid out in the statute,

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and I know in our powers of
attorney for healthcare we in the witness

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provision indicate who those people are.
So these are the people who cannot be

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a witness to your power of attorney
for healthcare. One cannot be a spouse,

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that would be can't be a husband, can't be a wife, can't

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be a parent, can't be a
child, can't be a grandparent, or

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your brother or sister. So no
spouses, no parents, no children,

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no grandparents, no brothers or sisters. Also, the person witnessing cannot be

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a presumptive air. That would be
whom a person who under Michigan law would

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otherwise be in line to inherit your
estate if you didn't have a will,

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that would be a presumptive air.
So it can't be that. It can't

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be the known beneficiary of your will. So if you've named somebody under your

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will to receive a devise under your
will, that individual can't be a witness.

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Also, can't be your physician,
can't be a person named, can't

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be the person named as your patient
advocate, So the person you're naming obviously

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can't be witnessing it. And also
it cannot be an employee of a life

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or health insurance provider for you.
So if you have somebody who's providing with

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your health or life insurance, they
cannot be a witness it. They it

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cannot be an employee of a health
facility that's treating you, or an employee

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of a home for the aged where
you live. So there are a number

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of things again, let me just
go through them one more time. Cannot

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be your spouse, parent, child, grandparent, brother or sister, physician,

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patient advocate, employee of a life
or health insurance provider for you,

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employee of a health facility that's treating
you, or employee of a home for

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the aged where you're residing. Clearly, what the statute intends is to make

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sure that whoever it is that is
witnessing your power of attorney for healthcare doesn't

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have any sort of a vested interest, if you will, in the decisions

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that will be made by your health
care agent, or a vested interest in

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whether or not your document is appropriately
witnessed. Also, there's one other thing

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that the witness has to do,
essentially under Michigan law, is they have

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to designate and again we provide this
language in our document itself, though,

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but they have to indicate that the
person signing the power of fraternity for healthcare

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is of sound mind and is under
no dress fraud or undo influence. So

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they're not just merely signing a document. In signing that document, they're saying

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that they that it was signed in
their presence, and they're saying that the

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person who signed it appears to be
of sound mind and under no dress fraud

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or undo influence. So those are
the people who cannot be witnesses to your

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healthcare power of Returney. If you
have any questions further questions about it,

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though, you can certainly feel to
feel free to reach out to me for

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further explanation. As always, of
course, a man and I would be

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honored to have the opportunity to help
you protect your loved ones by putting together

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your state plan which would include a
power of attorney for healthcare and perhaps a

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trust will, general durable pour of
attorney, etc. Or amending an estate

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plan that you currently have. Maybe
all you need now is an updated power

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of attorney for healthcare or assisting you
in settling a loved one's estate. Simply

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head on over to our website that
would be Doyle LAWPC dot com. At

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the website, you're going to find
information on how to schedule and in person

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consultation at our East Lansing office,
or how to schedule a virtual consultation via

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zoom or a telephone, or if
all again you're looking for as an individual

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document, perhaps again you're simply looking
for that new power of attorney for healthcare.

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Check out the Legal Store, which
there's a menu item for the Legal

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Store on the homepage. There you
can order individual legal documents that can be

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repaired and emailed to you through the
Legal Store. Also, those legal documents

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can be ordered through our office Facebook
page. So again, please visit doile

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APC dot com for more information and
to schedule your consultation today. Well,

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I think that is going to be
it for today's show. I had a

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little technical glitch there with the music
this morn this afternoon. Sorry, but

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hopefully it all came through at your
end. Okay. But as always,

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if you have a comment about the
program, a topic that you'd like to

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have be discussed, or questions that
you'd like to have answered, please send

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me an email Tom at Tuesday with
Toom dot com. Also, we invite

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you follow us on Facebook and ask
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well. That, as always is
Tuesday with Tom, and of course the

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office is also available on our Facebook
page at Doyle Law PC. Remember too

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smart speaker to play Tuesday with Tom. Well, thank you again for spending

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some of your day with us today
on this Tuesday, and as always,

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I hope that you have an awesome
day and an awesome week in Michigan.

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Stay safe. Tuesday with Tom has
been brought to you by the estate planning

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attorneys at Doyle Law PC to learn
how we can help you with your estate

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plan or with settling a loved ones
estate. Please call us today at five

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