Sheldon Lazarow

The call came in the middle of the night. Your parent, your spouse, your sibling — someone you love — is in the hospital. They can't speak. They can't make decisions. The doctors are asking questions, and nobody in your family has the legal authority to answer them.

This is not a hypothetical. It happens every day in hospitals throughout Tucson and Southern Arizona.

And it is entirely preventable.

The Problem: Good Intentions Are Not Enough

Many families assume that being a close family member automatically gives you the right to make decisions for someone who is incapacitated. A spouse. An adult child. A sibling.

It does not.

Under Arizona law, a spouse does not automatically have the legal authority to make medical decisions for an incapacitated spouse — or to access their financial accounts. An adult child does not automatically have authority over a parent's healthcare or finances. Good intentions and close relationships do not create legal authority.

The only thing that creates that authority is a properly executed legal document.

Without a durable power of attorney (for financial decisions) and a healthcare power of attorney (for medical decisions), your family faces a situation where nobody can legally act — at the exact moment when action is most needed.

What Happens Without These Documents

At the hospital: Without a healthcare power of attorney, medical staff are in a difficult position. They may allow family input informally, but they cannot rely on it legally. If family members disagree about treatment decisions — or if the hospital has any concern about liability — they may require a court order before proceeding with significant decisions.

With financial accounts: Without a durable power of attorney, nobody can access your bank accounts, pay your bills, manage your investments, or make financial decisions on your behalf. Even a spouse may be locked out of accounts held in the other's name alone.

With your home: If a property needs to be sold, refinanced, or otherwise managed during your incapacity — and there is no power of attorney — nobody has the legal authority to sign on your behalf.

The only alternative: Guardianship and Conservatorship To get the legal authority that a power of attorney would have provided, family members must petition the court for guardianship (authority over personal and medical decisions) and conservatorship (authority over financial decisions).

This is a formal court process. It requires attorneys, court filings, a judge's review, and ongoing court oversight. It takes weeks or months. It costs money. And it happens at the worst possible time — when a family is already dealing with a medical crisis.

Two documents, prepared in advance, eliminate the need for any of this.

What These Documents Actually Do

Durable Power of Attorney (Financial) This document names a person — your "agent" — to manage your financial affairs if you become incapacitated. Your agent can pay bills, manage investments, handle real estate transactions, deal with banks and creditors, and take care of financial matters on your behalf.

The word "durable" is critical. A regular power of attorney becomes invalid if you become incapacitated — the opposite of what you need. A durable power of attorney remains in effect specifically when you cannot act for yourself.

Healthcare Power of Attorney This document names a person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make them yourself. Your healthcare agent can communicate with doctors, make treatment decisions, authorize or decline procedures, and advocate for you in the medical system.

This is different from a living will. A healthcare power of attorney names a person to make decisions. A living will documents your wishes about specific end-of-life situations. Both are important. They work together.

Living Will / Advance Healthcare Directive This document expresses your wishes about end-of-life medical care — whether you want life-sustaining treatment continued in certain circumstances, your wishes about resuscitation, your preferences about pain management and comfort care.

Having this document in place removes an enormous burden from the people who love you. Without it, your family may be forced to make agonizing decisions without knowing what you would have wanted.

What to Take to the Hospital

One of the things Mr. Lazarow does that is genuinely unusual is prepare every client for the real-world use of their documents.

Because having a healthcare power of attorney is not enough if it's filed in a drawer at home when you need it.

Every client of the Lazarow Law Firm leaves with:

• A complete booklet of their estate planning documents — in plain English
• Everything on a thumb drive they can take anywhere
• Specific written instructions on what documents to take to the hospital, what to tell the medical staff, and how to use the healthcare power of attorney in an emergency

This preparation is the difference between a plan that exists on paper and a plan that actually works.

If You Are in This Situation Right Now

If a family member is in the hospital right now and there is no power of attorney in place, call us immediately.

Depending on the circumstances, it may still be possible to execute documents while your loved one is in the hospital — if they have sufficient mental capacity to do so. The window for this can be narrow and can close quickly. Every hour matters.

Call us today: (520) 623-5856

Prevention Is Far Easier Than the Alternative

The conversation about powers of attorney feels uncomfortable. Nobody likes to think about a time when they might be unable to make their own decisions.

But the families who have been through a hospitalization without these documents in place — who have stood in a hospital hallway without legal authority to help someone they love — understand the alternative in a way that is very hard to describe.

The discomfort of the conversation is small. The protection it provides is enormous.

Who Needs These Documents

Everyone over 18. The moment you become a legal adult, your parents lose automatic authority to make decisions for you. A college student hospitalized in a campus emergency is an adult in the eyes of the law — and without a healthcare power of attorney, parents may have no legal right to receive medical information or make decisions.

Married couples. A spouse does not automatically have legal authority over the other's medical decisions or financial accounts. Every married couple should have these documents in place.

Older adults. The need becomes more acute with age, but the time to create these documents is before they are needed — not after.

Anyone with a health condition. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with something that could affect cognitive capacity over time — dementia, Parkinson's, or any progressive condition — creating these documents now, while capacity is clear and unquestionable, is urgent.

Serving Tucson and All of Southern Arizona

Lazarow Law Firm, P.L.C. helps individuals and families throughout Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Green Valley, Sierra Vista, Bisbee, Benson, Douglas, Nogales, Florence, and all of Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pinal counties put the right documents in place — before they need them.

📞 (520) 623-5856 ✉ [email protected]m 

Don't wait for the call in the middle of the night.

Sheldon Lazarow is a Tucson estate planning attorney with 50 years of legal experience. Lazarow Law Firm, P.L.C. | 25 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85705.