Elder Law
Incapacity Planning in Georgia
Without these documents, your family needs a court order to manage your finances or make medical decisions for you.
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How Georgia Incapacity Planning Keeps a Court Out of Your Family's Decisions
Incapacity from a stroke, accident, or cognitive decline can transfer control of your finances and medical decisions to a court-appointed guardian if you have no legal documents in place. Georgia incapacity planning puts your chosen people in charge with immediate legal authority. The Hive Law builds plans that cover both financial and medical decision-making before anything happens.
Here Is What Happens to Your Finances and Your Care When You Cannot Speak for Yourself
Incapacity is not just a concern for older adults. A stroke, a car accident, or a surgical complication can leave you temporarily or permanently unable to manage your affairs. Most people assume their spouse or family can simply step in. They cannot, unless you have the right documents in place before the crisis happens.
What “Incapacity” Means Legally
Legal incapacity means you are unable to make or communicate decisions about your finances or healthcare. It does not require a terminal diagnosis. Dementia, a severe brain injury, or even a medically induced coma can trigger it. The law does not automatically grant your family authority to act on your behalf.
What Your Family Has to Do Without Documents
Without a financial power of attorney, no one has legal authority to access your bank accounts, pay your bills, or manage your property. To get that authority, your family must file for conservatorship in Georgia Probate Court. The process requires an attorney, a court hearing, a physician’s evaluation, and a judge’s approval. Until the court acts, your finances are frozen.
Without a healthcare directive, your doctors cannot accept instructions from anyone about your care. If family members disagree about your treatment, there is no document to settle the dispute. Hospitals default to maximum intervention when no directive exists. Your preferences are not the deciding factor unless you have written them down.
How Long and How Much
Once a conservator is appointed, the conservator must file an annual accounting with the court. This process runs continuously until the incapacity ends or you die.
The HIPAA Problem
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act restricts who can receive your medical information. Without a HIPAA authorization form, your doctors may be legally barred from discussing your condition even with your spouse. Hospitals enforce these restrictions strictly. Family members are often kept in the dark at the moment they need information most.
What Incapacity Planning Does Not Cover
- A power of attorney becomes invalid at death. It does not replace a will or trust for asset distribution.
- A healthcare directive does not guarantee every medical wish will be honored. Physicians retain clinical judgment.
- These documents do not protect assets from Medicaid spend-down. A separate Medicaid planning strategy is needed.
- A power of attorney can only be granted while you have legal capacity. It cannot be created after incapacity begins.
Who This Is For
Every adult over 18 needs these documents. The urgency increases with age and with the complexity of your finances. If you own property, have a retirement account, or have health conditions that could progress, the time to create these documents is now. Do not wait until after something happens.
What an Incapacity Plan Includes, How It Works, and What It Gives Your Family
An incapacity plan from The Hive Law is three legal documents that work together. Each one covers a different gap. Together, they give your family legal authority to act the moment they need to. No court visit is required.
The Financial Power of Attorney
This document names an agent who can manage your finances if you cannot. Your agent can access bank accounts, pay bills, manage investments, file taxes, and handle real estate transactions. The power is durable, meaning it stays in effect even if you become incapacitated. Without it, every financial decision requires a court proceeding.
The Advance Healthcare Directive
This document does two things. First, it names a healthcare agent who can make medical decisions on your behalf. Second, it states your wishes for end-of-life care, life-sustaining treatment, and pain management. Your doctors and hospital are legally required to follow it. It removes the burden of those decisions from your family at the worst possible moment.
The HIPAA Authorization
This form lists the people who are authorized to receive your medical information. Without it, your doctors cannot legally share updates with your family, even in an emergency. This single page prevents your spouse or children from being shut out of your care.
How These Documents Work Together
Your financial agent handles the money. Your healthcare agent handles medical decisions. Your HIPAA authorization keeps your family informed. When all three are in place, your family does not need permission from a court to help you. They have the legal authority from the moment they need it.
See the Incapacity Document Package for the flat fee and what is included.
How to Get Started
The process starts with a Design Meeting with Melissa and Shawn. They review your assets, your family situation, and your wishes. You leave with a specific plan. The Design Meeting fee is credited toward your total if you move forward.
Incapacity planning documents at The Hive Law start at:
The Documents
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Healthcare Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
The Implementation
- Document Walk-Through Call
- Signing Instructions
- Executed Originals Package
The Included Services
- Successor Agent Orientation
- Digital Copy in Secure Client Portal
- Post-Signing Checklist
Most families complete the process in one to two weeks. Everything is handled over the phone. Documents are stored in a secure client portal.
*The fact that you read this far tells us something about you. You take this seriously. So do we.*
Without Documents
With an Incapacity Plan
How It Works
A 15-Minute Call With Shawn
Tell us what is going on with your family. Shawn walks you through your options and what each one costs. Free.
The Design Meeting With Shawn and Melissa
In a 60-minute meeting, Shawn and Melissa review your assets, your family, and your goals together and confirm your price. This meeting is credited toward your plan if you move forward.
Review Every Document With Melissa
Before you sign, Melissa walks through every document with you in plain language. No legal jargon. No confusion about what you are signing.
Your Plan Is Complete
Melissa delivers your completed documents and explains exactly what your family needs to do. You leave knowing your plan is in place and your family is protected.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs and drafts every plan at The Hive Law after the initial call. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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What Our Clients Say
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on my father's employer to navigate the estate. It was a disaster. After this experience, I knew I needed a plan. I turned to The Hive Law to set up a trust. I no longer have to worry about my wife and children going through a difficult process if something happens to me. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would have no idea how to navigate the estate and legal system. I reached out to The Hive Law and they put my mind at ease immediately. Their process is easy to follow and they took care of everything. The Hive Law is the best decision I've made for my family's future.
Working with Melissa Breyer to set up our Living Trust was a wonderful experience. She and her entire team were knowledgeable, professional, and made the whole process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law for all your estate planning needs!
We highly recommend Hive Law. They were extremely patient and responsive, answering our many rounds of questions regarding trusts and estate planning. Shawn consistently responded the same day we sent our questions, even while his family was on vacation, which we greatly appreciated. Shawn was also always available to discuss matters by phone whenever we needed additional clarification on the options we were considering. Both are very knowledgeable in estate planning, and we would confidently recommend Hive Law to friends and family.
The Hive Law made the entire estate planning and trust process easy to understand and stress-free. Melissa and Shawn walked us through every step and answered all of our questions. We feel confident that our family is protected. Highly recommend!
My mom chose The Hive firm to help with estate planning and developing a trust to protect her assets. I sat in on her meeting with Melissa, and Melissa did a great job of simplifying complex legalese into easily understood concepts. Shawn was very quick to get us our documents and all steps in the process were clear and easy. They make a great team and we are thankful for their help!
I used The Hive Law to help me create a trust for my family. The process was straightforward and Melissa and Shawn made sure I understood each step. They were responsive to all of my questions. I feel much more confident about my family's future now. Highly recommend!
Working with Shawn and Melissa at The Hive Law has been an excellent experience. They were one of three firms we contacted, but she made the strongest impression during our initial call. They asked great questions to understand our situation and clearly explained what we needed to put in place. We initially had some reservations about their fully virtual approach, but those concerns were quickly put to rest. After the first two calls, it was clear how easy they are to work with and how well connected we felt. Communication has been clear, organized, and reassuring throughout the process. Shawn and Melissa are professional, approachable, and thorough. We feel confident we're in good hands and highly recommend The Hive Law for estate planning.
The Hive Law Firm, and specifically Melissa, has been wonderful to work with during our estate planning process. She is knowledgeable, patient, and thorough. She answered all of our questions and made the process easy to understand. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
Shawn and Melissa were amazing to work with! My partner and I recently bought a house and wanted to get important things like wills, healthcare directives, etc. set up. They were incredible at answering all our questions and working with us to make sure we felt confident in all of the legal aspects. Having tried to do this online before with one of the DIY tools, it was just an amazing experience to get to talk through what we wanted with a knowledgeable human and have them take care of the details.
Hive Law was awesome to work with! Melissa and Shawn explained everything, kept things stress-free, and were always quick to respond to my questions. They made the whole process simple and smooth from start to finish. Highly recommend if you want a team that's knowledgeable but also easy to work with.
I lost my father in February of this year without any estate planning in place. The process of dealing with the probate court has been overwhelming and expensive. After this experience, I contacted The Hive Law to set up a trust so my children never have to go through what I've been through. Melissa and Shawn were compassionate, knowledgeable, and made the entire process simple. I highly recommend The Hive Law!
I used to know the bare minimum about probate and trust. I first encountered Shawn Breyer on Facebook. He was offering a webinar that I watched. That gave me a better understanding of probate versus trust. I was impressed enough to have him and his wife represent me. I had my initial one on one interview with Melissa Breyer, it went smoothly and she made everything clear. We are now proceeding with getting a revocable trust in place.
The Hive Law has been amazing throughout the process of setting up our trust. Every detail is considered and no stone is left unturned. They have been easy and enjoyable to work with. I would absolutely recommend them! Don't let your estate be turned over to Probate!!
The Hive Law helped us set up a revocable trust. Their webinar is great for answering any questions you may have, to clarify and avoid probate. Get in touch with them right away, you won't be disappointed.
Melissa was great! She gave me an honest review of my future plans that I already have in place. Turns out, I already had my ducks in a row!!! She was a pleasure to talk with!!
For several years now I have been thinking about having a will drawn up, but continued to procrastinate until an older sibling had a medical situation occur which none of the family was prepared for. This was the determining factor for me to get it done. We never know when an emergency medical situation could arise and I didn't want my other siblings to be scrambling around trying to figure things out in the event I couldn't make any decisions for myself, or God forbid I pass away. My attorney (Melissa), was very funny and made the whole experience quite entertaining. She listened to what I wanted and explained the type of plan I needed. Thanks Melissa & Shawn for making the process an enjoyable experience.
The Hive Law Firm did an excellent job helping my mother-in-law with her estate plan. The process felt overwhelming at first, but their team walked us through every step with compassion and professionalism. They listened to our concerns, explained things in simple terms, and made sure our mother's wishes were honored. We're very grateful for their guidance.
The Hive Law firm did an outstanding job helping my family members with their estate planning. They made the process clear, smooth and stress free. Truly professional and caring team, highly recommend!
The whole process of creating a family trust felt simple, clear, and stress-free. We really appreciated how patient, helpful, and easy to communicate with the team was throughout everything. Shawn and Melissa gave us great guidance and helped us feel confident every step of the way. We're grateful for their support and would definitely recommend them.
Frequently Asked Questions
A power of attorney is something you create while you still have legal capacity. You choose your agent and you set the limits of what they can do. Guardianship is the opposite: a court imposes it after capacity is already gone. The person a judge appoints may not be who you would have picked, and the process is slow and expensive. A power of attorney costs a fraction of what guardianship does and keeps the choice with you.
Marriage does not give your spouse authority over your money. Georgia does not let a spouse access bank accounts, manage investments, or handle real estate for an incapacitated spouse simply because they are married. Healthcare works differently. Georgia has a surrogate rule that lets a spouse make some medical decisions in limited situations, but a signed healthcare directive is far more reliable. Do not assume marriage creates legal authority, because it does not.
You can revoke and replace a power of attorney or a healthcare directive at any time while you have legal capacity. The process is simple. You sign a revocation, tell your agent in writing, and sign new documents naming someone else. This is one reason to review your documents every three to five years, and after any big change in your family.
A Georgia power of attorney signed on or after July 1, 2017 keeps working if you lose capacity. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6B-4 it is durable by default, and it only ends at incapacity if the document itself says it should. That is the reverse of the older rule, so a document signed before 2017 is worth having reviewed. Every power of attorney The Hive Law prepares is durable.
Your healthcare agent has broad authority, but not absolute authority. Doctors keep their clinical judgment and cannot be forced to give treatment they believe is medically wrong. A clearly written advance healthcare directive still carries real weight, and hospitals take them seriously. The more specific your directive is, the more likely your wishes are followed. A vague one leaves room for someone else to interpret it.
A Do Not Resuscitate order is a medical order signed by a doctor that tells staff not to perform CPR. An advance healthcare directive is a legal document you sign, and it covers far more: who speaks for you, which treatments you do and do not want, your wishes about life support, and how you want pain handled. A DNR can follow from what your directive says, but the two are not the same document.
Find Out Where You Stand
You’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. That’s normal. Most families wait until something happens, then wish they hadn’t.
A 15-minute call tells you exactly what you have, what’s missing, and what your family needs next. No paperwork, no obligation, just a straight answer.
- No sales pitch. Just a straight answer about where you stand.
- No confusing terms. We explain everything in plain English.
- A real next step. You’ll know exactly what to do when we hang up.
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Georgia Counties We Serve
We help families across Georgia protect their assets and avoid probate. Select your county to learn more about estate planning where you live.