The impact of ensuring your clients’ kids have powers of attorney

By James J. Silbernagel, LUTCF, CFP

We had a client whose kid was going to school in Colorado and got in a car accident. The friend that was with him called the parents and said, “I thought you should know: Your son and I were in a car accident together, and they’re taking him to the hospital.”

“What hospital?”

“I don’t know.”

Based on where the accident was, they figured out it was one of two hospitals and started calling. “Is my son there?” The hospital’s response was, “We can’t tell you.” Imagine having an 18-year-old who just moved out of the house, and now you find out that your child might be dead or in a coma or maybe just fine, but you don’t know and he’s a thousand miles away. And you don’t even know where he is. It’s one of the scariest things that could happen.

Why you have to ask

As a result of that, I ask a lot of people to make sure their kids have power of attorney. One client said, “Our son is going to South Africa as an exchange student in a couple of weeks. Do you think they should have it?” I said, “Absolutely. There’s no doubt about it in my mind.” They responded, “Well, we’re so busy, I’m not sure we can get him in.” I said, “I don’t know what your list of priorities is, but this is the first thing you do. Before you pack his clothes, you get him in the office. We’ll have the attorney draft powers of attorney, health care and financial.”

The kid got sick over there. They would not have been able to bring him back if it weren’t for this document.

Now every time this client runs into me, he brings everybody over. “You’ve got to talk to this guy. He saved our family.” Now do I get paid for doing that? Absolutely not. Not monetarily. But you can’t quantify the emotional payback on something like that, knowing you’ve touched a family.

Silbernagel is a 23-year MDRT member from Kewaskum, Wisconsin.

Hear more in the February episode of the MDRT Podcast:

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