When you’re busy dealing with the day-to-day challenges of living with a disability or chronic illness, thinking about the long-term financial considerations of your situation can be easy to put off for another day… or week… or year. But this easy-to-understand, supportive guide from CPA/lawyer Martin M. Shenkman will help make your exploration as painless as possible, and help you undertake the steps you need to put your financial house in order.

Health Care Proxy, Revocable Living Trust, Special Needs Trust
Whether the disability or chronic illness is yours or a loved one’s, the goal of estate planning is protection and security. For example, parents of children with special needs are familiar with the protection offered by a special needs trust; but what about a single woman with MS, or a young father with Parkinson’s disease?

These are the types of circumstances Shenkman covers in depth. Leading off with estate-planning basics, including getting organized, the book walks readers through such disability-related issues as competency (and how to take legal actions to protect yourself), authorizing a power-of-attorney, ensuring access to your medical records, designating a health care proxy, creating a will, establishing a revocable living trust, and more.

A Practical and Actionable Resource
Although it’s not normally recommended to begin a book with the last chapter, readers should, in fact, first read Chapter 13, “Getting Started: How to Use This Book as a Workbook to Plan Your Estate and Documents.” As is evident from both the book itself and the accompanying downloadable forms, Estate Planning for People with a Chronic Condition or Disability has clearly been designed as a practical, actionable guide to help you navigate the complex space of finances, disability, and one’s future. It’s a valuable resource for every family or individual coping with chronic illness and/or disability.

Estate Planning for People with a Chronic Condition or Disability, by Martin M. Shenkman. Demos Health, 2009. 205p. ISBN 1932603668.