Mainstreet Financial Education · Family & Legacy
Being married does not give you the legal right to manage your spouse's accounts. Here are the four documents that do, the account settings most couples never turn on, and what to do in the first weeks if it has already happened.
Most couples believe that if one of them has a stroke, the other can simply step in. For a joint checking account, that is true. For an IRA, a 401(k), a TSP account, a pension, Social Security, a life insurance policy, or a house titled in one name, it is not. Those belong to one person, and without the right paperwork the only way to manage them is a court-appointed guardianship or conservatorship, which in Georgia means a petition, a hearing, a bond, and annual reports to the probate court for as long as it lasts.
Retirement accounts are where this bites hardest, because they are always individually owned and they are usually the largest assets a couple has. The fix is a few documents signed while both of you are well.
Names the person who can manage money, sign tax returns, deal with the custodian, and sell property if you cannot. "Durable" means it stays in force after incapacity, which is the whole point. Georgia has a statutory form, and most custodians will also want their own version on file. Ask for the authority to make gifts and to handle retirement accounts specifically, since generic forms often leave those out.
Combines the health care agent appointment and the living will. The agent makes treatment decisions and, in practice, is the person doctors will talk to. Keep a copy with each of your physicians and one in the car.
Assets inside the trust are managed by the successor trustee the moment you cannot act, with no custodian form and no court. It is the cleanest tool for a spouse who owns real estate or a business, or for a couple who want to avoid probate as well. Retirement accounts cannot be retitled into the trust, so the power of attorney still matters.
Not an incapacity document, but it is the one most often wrong. An incapacitated spouse cannot update a beneficiary form, so a form that still names an ex-spouse or a deceased parent stays that way. Review them now while both of you can sign.
These cost nothing and take minutes. They are the difference between a smooth handoff and months of phone calls.
The first weeks are about keeping the household running and not making decisions that cannot be undone.
Deliver the power of attorney to each custodian, bank, and insurer. Each will have its own process, and some will take weeks. Start with wherever the money for bills comes from.
An agent under a power of attorney is a fiduciary. Your spouse's money pays your spouse's expenses, from your spouse's accounts, with a paper trail. Mixing it with your own, even with good intentions, creates problems with Medicaid, with the family, and with the court if anyone ever asks.
Withdrawing from an IRA to "simplify" creates taxable income and can wreck the plan. Required distributions still have to happen on schedule, and an agent with the right authority can take them.
A Georgia probate court can appoint a conservator. It takes time and money, and the court will supervise it, but it works. Talk to an elder law attorney before filing anything, because the way the petition is written affects what you can do later, including any Medicaid planning.
Sign the power of attorney and the advance directive this year, file the Social Security advance designation online, and add a trusted contact to every investment account. None of it costs much, and all of it is impossible to do after the fact. An elder law attorney drafts the documents; my part is making sure the accounts are set up so the documents actually work.
The documents only work if they are signed while you are well.
Free, professional education on family planning decisions for Atlanta households.
Browse free workshops