What Is a Health Care Directive, and Why You Need One

Why Do You Need One?

There could come a time where you are either injured or otherwise incapacitated. When that time comes, you may not be able to make your own medical-related decisions and need someone trustworthy to make those decisions on your behalf.

That is what a directive can do. It can ensure that the people that you trust are in the position to make those important decisions should incapacitation happen. It can also ensure that the people in your life, like children or other loved ones, get the assets that you wish them to have without any dispute.

Thinking about these situations is not the easiest but a little bit of planning can oftentimes go a long way. With the proper directives in place, it can ensure that the people that you trust most are put into a position to receive assets or make the important decisions for you should that not be possible to do on your own.

Living Will and Last Will and Testament

There can be some confusing aspects about a living will and last will and testament. The latter is a directive that dictates who gets things like property and assets when you pass away. Most of the time, these things are passed down to children or other loved ones.

With a living will, you are able to outline the specific preferences that you may have when it comes to receiving health care treatments in the event that you are unable to communicate those wishes to the medical staff themselves.

Each one of these manages a different part of your life and both have majorly different impacts in the long-term. It is not uncommon to have both of these directives in place at one time.

Living Trust

A living trust is the documentation that allows an individual to transfer the overseeing  assets in the event of your passing. Though it is similar to a last will and testament in some ways, there is a slight difference.

The latter specifically states which assets and property than an individual laid out in the will is to receive. But a living trust means that there is a grantor of the trust. This is the person that is designated to distribute all of the assets of the trust in the wake of your passing. This is the successor trustee. They can be the person to receive all of the assets or simply someone who is trusted to pass those assets to family members, more often than not children.

Oftentimes, a living trust and a will can go together, with the trustee being tasked with the responsibility of distributing those assets. More often than not, that trustee is an attorney who has experience dealing with estates and distributing said assets.

Power of Attorney

Assigning a power of attorney can be another solution, though there are definitely pros and cons to having a POA. The power of attorney gives the person specified within the power to make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so. Most of the time, it is a spouse or other trusted loved one.

There have been instances in which the power of attorney has not been the most ideal. For one, if the powers are too general, there is the chance that the agent could wind up abusing them or could be untrustworthy. Though we tend to trust our loved ones, sometimes they don’t make the best decisions for the well-being of the person with the POA.

There is also the chance that the competence of the loved one assigned the power of attorney could be called into question. When there are comprehensive assets involved, it can mean having to undergo court proceedings even with the POA in place.

That said, most of the time it can be a beneficial thing to have. We trust our loved ones and want them to be in charge when we are unable to make those decisions for ourselves any longer.

Final Thoughts about the Health Care Directive

No matter what your current situation may be, thinking about the future is necessary. The better prepared you are, the less chance you have of being taken by surprise and leaving your family with the tough decisions.

Talking to a lawyer is the best course of action for determining what directive is most suitable for your needs. There is no such thing as being too prepared for the future.

Make sure to call a professional today to set up your health care directive. It doesn’t matter what that directive is, the proper professional can ensure that it meets all of your wishes when the time comes to call it to action. It can ensure that the process goes smoothly and that there is less of a chance of in-fighting when it comes to distributing assets after your passing.