Living Will FAQ

What is a Living Will?

A Living Will is a legal document that explains your wishes for your medical care in extreme and specific circumstances. Though it is called a “will,” it is only similar to a standard will in that it explains what you want to happen while you are unable to explain your own wishes. However, a Living Will can still be used while you are alive – hence the name – but will be employed only when you are mentally/physically incapable of expressing your wishes yourself.

Essentially, a Living Will is a legal document that tells your doctors and family how to handle your medical care in situations where you cannot express those wishes yourself. It is separate from a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care in that it lays out your wishes and a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care appoints someone to make your medical decisions on your behalf.

Why would I need a Living Will?

A Living Will is crucial to use if you have specific wishes on how you want to be treated in certain situations – for example, if you are mentally incapacitated in an accident. If you want to continue to receive life-saving treatment, you can establish this in your Living Will and ensure that this is the treatment you receive. Without a Living Will, the decision may pass to someone else,and they may make the decision you did not want to have made.

What kind of information can I put in a Living Will?

Generally, the Living Will will address life-prolonging health care you receive while you’re incapacitated. You are known as the “declarant,” which means you’re simply declaring your wishes regarding this type of medical care. You will typically need to address what you want in the cases of highly specific issues; this means you’ll likely go through a few of these issues hypothetically and write down your wishes should these scenarios ever arise. Information such as who you want to make decision for you are left to other documents and can be handled with a comprehensive Advance Health Care Directive (see next question).

What is an Advance Health Care Directive?

An Advance Health Care Directive is essentially a comprehensive plan you have for situations that would call for Living Wills, but is slightly more comprehensive than a Living Will because it will also include the naming of a proxy that can make your decisions for you. In this situation, the Living Will is then used as a guideline for your wishes (to be carried out by the person granted your Health Care Power of Attorney), but not necessarily the final word in any particular decision made about your health care.

Technically, a Living Will is a type of Advance Health Care Directive, which simply refers to any arrangements you make in advance of health care issues like those presented here.

If I have a Living Will, do I still need a Will?

Yes, because a Will addresses completely separate issues from that of a Living Will. While both documents address difficult scenarios to think about, they are completely separate scenarios as well. In the Will, you make arrangements for what will happen to your property after your passing. In the Living Will, you make arrangements for how you want your body cared for while you’re still alive – with the possibility of recovering or not.

Is a Living Will similar to a Living Trust?

Though they might sound the same, in reality the two different arrangements have little to do with each other. A Living Trust is an arrangement that you can set up in order to transfer property upon your death while a Living Will is an arrangement in which you address your medical issues while still alive.

What kind of events might necessitate reviewing my Living Will?

Though the Living Will generally won’t require many changes over the years (except the changes you personally want to make), it’s important to remember that an Advance Health Care Directive such as a Living Will might depend on a durable power of attorney for health care that you wanted to appoint to a spouse that you are no longer married to. This is why it’s important to review these documents after a divorce, as well as regularly revisit them from time to time to ensure that they match your wishes.

What’s the difference between a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care?

The Living Will establishes your wishes; the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care establishes who will make the decisions on your behalf while you’re still alive, albeit incapacitated. In essence, the Living Will allows you to make your own decisions and the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care appoints someone else to make them for you. Both can be useful to have, however, simply because you may not have thought of every possible scenario in your Living Will.

When is a Living Will enforceable?

A Living Will is enforceable only when it is legally crafted (according to the laws in your state), signed, and when the circumstances that the Living Will describes actually come to pass. Otherwise, your medical decisions will all be handled normally. Also, it is important to remember that if you appoint someone with Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, they may be able to make the final decisions about your health care.

What are the requirements for a Living Will to be valid?

The Living Will should conform to all local and state laws and should address issues that will actually arise in the event of a medical emergency or specific condition.

When is a Living Will effective?

A Living Will’s effectiveness depends on whether or not it is valid (see question above) and whether the situations described in the Living Will actually come to pass. If not, you will simply continue to live your life the way you usually have, making your own medical decisions along the way.