According to statistics, nearly 46% of us will become severely incapacitated during some point in our lifetimes.  Most of us are not even aware when this happens and often family members may not realize until there is a catastrophic event or strange things such as dwindling bank accounts, piles of bills or increased creditor calls start happening.  When you start putting yourself in a financially vulnerable position - such as unreasonably giving away assets you may or may not have, or ignoring bills, it is important that you have nominated someone to step into manage your finances, your legal and tax matters and control, preserve and manage your digital assets.  

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Similarly, if catastrophic illness renders you incapacitated, having a person who is like-minded in how you would have made decisions regarding your medical, mental health care and final end-of-life matter is important.  

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Unfortunately, all too often people do not bother to nominate someone to make these all important decisions for them in case of their incapacity which means family members might need to ask the Court to step in to appoint someone (a Guardian or Conservator) to work with the family and medical teams.  Unfortunately, the court appointed professional must get paid by the incapacitated person's estate and very often might not have met the individual before the incapacity and might not make the same decisions that a trusted power of attorney may have made.  Before the 2015 passage of Obergefell v Hodges, many gay and lesbian couples had to make sure their incapacity documents were done so that their partners could speak for them rather than allowing a court to defer to other family members.