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When it comes to estate planning, it can include a myriad of your different wishes for what should happen after you pass away. However, estate planning isn’t always for after death, in the case of an advance directive, it can be for decisions that happen when you are still alive but need medical care.

An advance directive can be drafted as part of the will or as a standalone document. In it, it can cover some crucial decisions for your healthcare, including:

• Medical Power of Attorney – If you are incapable of making your own medical decisions, it is important that you have another assigned to make those important decisions on your behalf. Within the advance directive, you can assign medical power of attorney to a specific loved one, but you should also talk over what you want with them as well.
• Living Will – The living will can include a number of specific instructions for your medical care. Most commonly, it indicates when you want life sustaining techniques to be employed or if you want a do not resuscitate order in place.
• Organ Donation – Inside an advance directive, you can also declare if you want any organs to be donated after death. You can also note that specific organs should not be donated.

By including an advance directive in with your other estate planning provisions, it can help ensure your wishes are followed and ease the decision-making burden on your loved ones. While you don’t necessarily need a lawyer to create an advance directive, it still benefits you to create one with their help so they can answer any questions you may have with its creation.

If you are looking to create an advance directive or even simply begin the estate planning process, contact us today to see what we can do to help.