A living will is an advance directive that ensures others will legally honor your wishes in a wide range of unexpected circumstances. People are most likely to be familiar with medical advance directives regarding end-of-life care. There are other issues to address, and there are also other kinds of medical directives. You should attempt to address as many of the following issues as possible with a living will.
Unconsciousness
One of the notable alternative medical scenarios is unconsciousness. This is a situation where a person might be unable to make decisions because of specific circumstances. Some folks write wills that include directives for what happens even if they're only going to be under sedation for a few hours. The argument is two-fold. First, they could be unconscious longer than expected and someone else may need to make decisions. Secondly, something could go wrong while they're sedated, and they want to empower someone to make decisions.
Disappearance or Kidnapping
Yes, it sounds a little exotic to address what happens if you disappear or someone kidnaps you. However, these events do happen. They have real-world implications that are just as bad as being medically unable to render legally-binding decisions.
A living will can outline the conditions for declaring a person missing. Likewise, it can determine who has powers over finances, business decisions, and other issues in the individual's absence. Especially if you travel to regions that have high rates of transportation accidents, ransoms, and kidnappings, you may want to address the possible consequence with a directive.
Limited Capacity
Even a partial incapacitation can create major legal, financial, and medical problems. Wills should address who has the power to address a person's possible incapacitation. Also, a living will should address the steps for reasserting power once the person has recovered. This will protect your rights in a potentially complex situation.
Caring for Someone Else
Many wills address the question of providing for someone else's care if the grantor passes. You should also consider the ramifications of the same problem if you suffered long- or medium-term incapacitation or disappeared. For example, you might set up a trust that kicks into action under those circumstances.
People often arrange terms in their wills to handle these questions if they're dealing with a spouse, parent, dependent adult child, or minor. Making resources available under these circumstances can make an already-difficult situation a little easier for others to handle if something unanticipated occurs.
For more information, visit a website such as https://www.wrightlawidaho.com/.
Share14 March 2023
Too many single people assume they don't need to plan their estate. My brother fell into this category, and his unexpected passing left our entire family struggling to deal with his home, belongings, and financial accounts. It took nearly three years for the courts to set up a deal because he left no paperwork detailing how he wanted his estate divided. The situation immediately convinced me to work on my own estate, even though I'm still in my early 30's and don't have children or a spouse to worry about. Since it's a little harder to pick beneficiaries and estate managers when you're single, I collected the resources I used for making my own decisions and decided to publish them here on my blog. Use these resources before talking to an estate planning attorney so you're prepared for making hard decisions.