Richland Advance Directive / Healthcare Directive & Living Wills Lawyer
Advance Healthcare Directive (also known as Living Will) Attorney Serving Richland
A health emergency can happen at any time, leaving you unable to make or communicate decisions about your care. Developing an Advance Healthcare Directive can give you peace of mind, knowing you’ve put into writing your medical preferences. Combined with a Durable Power Of Attorney for healthcare, you can empower a trusted loved one to handle your medical affairs if you cannot. Contact ELG Estate Planning for a consultation with a Richland Advance Healthcare Directive Attorney to learn more about directives (Living Wills) and powers of attorney to develop the documents that provides your loved ones and healthcare providers clear instructions for carrying out your wishes and preferences regarding your medical or end-of-life care.
Why Choose an Advance Healthcare Directive Attorney from ELG Estate Planning?
Thinking about a future where you have a significant illness or medical condition that requires you to rely on your loved ones to manage your health affairs can feel stressful. Choosing a compassionate, experienced estate planning lawyer can provide the guidance and support you need to develop a comprehensive plan that gives your Richland family the tools to care for you should the worst happen. Let a Richland Advance Healthcare Directive lawyer at ELG Estate Planning help you develop a Healthcare Power Of Attorney, and Advance Healthcare Directive because:
- We are one of the top firms in the Tri-Cities for estate planning and elder law.
- Our firm focuses exclusively on estate planning and elder law, providing expertise in developing and implementing Advance Healthcare Directives and powers of attorney.
- Our team strives to offer every client the capable and compassionate legal advice and support they need when developing an Advance Healthcare Directive. Though thinking about future illness or incapacity may seem difficult, rest assured that we will support you at every step.
Understanding Advance Healthcare Directives
An Advance Healthcare Directive is an estate planning document that puts into writing your wishes concerning your medical care if you become incapacitated due to illness or injury and are unable to make or communicate decisions regarding treatment. Advance Healthcare Directives should be combined with a Durable Power Of Attorney for healthcare, through which an individual can appoint a trusted loved one, friend, or advisor to make medical and end-of-life care decisions on the individual’s behalf if they become incapacitated and unable to make treatment decisions or communicate them to healthcare providers.
When a person appoints a healthcare agent/proxy/attorney-in-fact through a Durable Power Of Attorney, it’s important to discuss preferences and wishes regarding medical or end-of-life care. An Advance Directive is also sometimes called a Living Will. This document helps ensure that one’s healthcare providers and family members, understand the individual’s wishes so no one has to wonder what the person “would have wanted,” thus helping avoid family disputes over medical decision-making for an incapacitated loved one.
An Advance Healthcare Directive is a legal document best created by an estate planning and elder law attorney. It does not take the place of a medical document, known as a POLST (Physician’s Order on Life Sustaining Treatment) through which an individual can communicate specific treatment preferences to emergency responders and healthcare providers in Richland, such as a DNR (do-not-resuscitate order) in which a person can decline resuscitation efforts if they go into respiratory or cardiac arrest.
How to Create an Advance Healthcare Directive
When creating an advance healthcare directive, you must have the legal capacity to make healthcare decisions. Any documents you sign while legally incapacitated from decision-making are invalid. However, if you possess the legal capacity to make healthcare decisions, you can create, revise, and revoke your healthcare directive documents.
Washington laws regarding witnessing and/or notarization for a Richland Healthcare Directive and Power Of Attorney must be met. Specific individuals, including people related to you by blood or marriage, beneficiaries of your estate plan, your attending physician, or an employee of your healthcare facility cannot serve as a witness.
Once you’ve created an advance healthcare directive, you should provide copies to your medical providers and keep the original document in a secure location.
Revising Your Advance Healthcare Directive
Once you’ve created an advance healthcare directive, it’s important to let your loved ones know you have it as a part of your estate plan. Review your advance healthcare directive and discuss your wishes with your health care agent. And it’s best to review and update it along with the rest of your estate planning documents every few years or after significant life events to be sure the documents continue to reflect your current wishes. Your preferences regarding medical treatment or end-of-life care may change as your preferences or medical/physical condition change.
Furthermore, you may want to change who you’ve appointed as your healthcare agent if you get married or divorced, or if you have an adult child you’ve begun to rely on. An estate planning lawyer serving Richland can help you revise your advance healthcare directive as needed to make sure it continues to express your wishes and preferences regarding your care and complies with current laws.
How Can Richland Advance Directive AttorneyS Help You?
Creating an advanced healthcare directive will involve careful consideration of your wishes and sensibilities. Furthermore, you must follow legal rules to maintain the enforceability of your directive document. Let a healthcare POA lawyer from ELG Estate Planning assist you with developing an advance healthcare directive tailored to your goals by:
- Sitting down with you to discuss your legal options and to walk through your wishes regarding medical treatment, end-of-life care, and other post-death arrangements
- Explaining the potential tools you can incorporate in your advance healthcare directive and the effects and consequences of each document to help you make informed decisions about how to structure your directive
- Assisting you with drafting and executing documents to make sure your directive reflects your wishes and can carry out your preferences if you become incapacitated and unable to make medical decisions
Contact Our Firm Today to Discuss Your Legal Options
Creating an Advance Healthcare Directive, combined with a Durable Power Of Attorney for healthcare, can give you peace of mind, knowing your loved ones can implement your wishes and preferences regarding medical and end-of-life care if you cannot communicate those decisions. Contact ELG Estate Planning today for a confidential consultation with a Richland estate planning attorney to learn more about the benefits of Advance Healthcare Directives.