It is never too early to proactively talk about estate planning. I have family meetings with my clients and their children while my clients are in their 50s, so they are young and healthy still. It is always hard to talk about these things when we are in a crisis mode and stress levels as high. If you have done some estate planning of your own, that is a great place to start to bring up the subject. 

Here are some topics to consider:

• Do they have a power of attorney
• Do they have an advance health care directive
• What are their wishes regarding end of life decisions 
• To they have a trust or will
• Are they willing to share a 'location list' of where they have accounts and/or important documents. 

This is a good start!

This is a great opportunity to be proactive. There are two essential documents anyone should have that relate to legal and medical issues if one becomes incapacitated:

• power of attorney for finance: this document names a person or persons to make financial decisions for you in the event you are unable.
• advance healthcare directive: names a person or agent to make medical decisions for you if you are unable. It can also address what kids of decision you want that person to make. In this way, the agent named has authority to make medical decisions AND knows what decisions to make. Along with the advance healthcare directive, one might consider having a Living Will, which addresses end of life decisions, specifically, if in an irreversible vegetative state, whether you would want to continue to be on live support or have it removed. Finally, there is one other medical document to consider called a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment or POLST, which used to be called a Do No Resuscitate Order or DNR. This document would address end of life questions as well. Your mom would discuss this particular document with her doctor.

I am so sorry to hear about your grandmother, but from  a legal standpoint, you would want to find out if your grandma has a Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD), which is a legal document that names an agent to make medical decisions on her behalf. You would want to discuss her wishes regarding life support and CPR. The documents that would memorialize her wishes regarding end of life decisions would be a DNR (now called POLST) and a Living Will. 

On the financial side, I'd consider whether she has a durable power of attorney nominating someone to manage her finances. However, because a durable Power of Attorney is null and void once someone passes away, she would also need to consider having a Will or a Trust. Depending on state laws a Will may not be sufficient to avoid a court process when she passes so you might want to consider speaking to an attorney near you about that.