Living Wills – Are They Necessary?
That right there is a loaded question. I make my living making wills and powers of attorney, and charge a premium when my client wishes to prepare a living will along with these documents. It is therefore against my financial self interest to discourage people to make these documents. Yet I often, but not always do discourage people.
A Living Will, also known as an advance healthcare directive, is basically a set of specific instructions to be given to your caregiver, which outlines your binding wishes regarding specific types of treatment.
The discussion gets morbid, and not very pleasant,
But for some people it is necessary.
Some people wish to lay out exactly what they want for their care. They have very specific ideas about the type of care they want. They want to control their own ultimate care destiny. They want the final say. For these people (and no judgement is meant by my tone) – a Living will is very necessary.
Some people however, are more content to allow their loved ones make those decisions – after all, it is your loved ones that end up with the responsibility to living with the consenquences of those treatment decisions.
When you are planning your estate, and health care, it will be necessary for you to determine if you wish to take the responsibility out of the hands of your loved ones. You know you and your family better than anyone. Do you want to make it easier, by providing your input? Do you want to avoid difficulty when your wishes are different than your family wishes.
The choice is yours, but it is something that you should think about.