Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Brea

Start with what you want the document to do

People may use an advance health care directive to address two related but distinct purposes: expressing health-care wishes and identifying someone to make health-care decisions. Consider which purpose matters most to you. If recording preferences is your priority, focus on the wishes you want communicated; if you also want someone to decide for you, consider that separate role as part of the planning conversation.

A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial matters, not health-care decisions. Keeping that distinction clear helps you choose a planning service based on the decisions you want addressed.

Make your preferences useful to the people who may need them

Before discussing a directive, think through the health-care preferences you want to communicate and the people who may need to locate them. You can make a short list of questions or topics to discuss, without trying to predict every possible medical situation. The purpose is to make your wishes understandable and to consider how they will be available to the people involved.

Preparing and keeping the relevant document accessible is a practical part of planning. A document that cannot be found when needed may be less useful for communicating your preferences. Consider where it will be kept and who should know how to locate it.

• Write down the preferences or questions you want to discuss.
• Think about who may need access to the document and how they can find it.
• Keep the directive distinct from documents that address financial decisions.

Understand what registration does—and does not replace

Preparing and keeping an advance health care directive accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration is not a substitute for preparing the document or making sure the people who may need it can locate it. Consider document preparation and access as practical planning steps, and registration as a separate consideration.

This distinction can help you decide what kind of help you are seeking. If your immediate concern is getting your treatment preferences into a document and making those preferences available, focus first on those goals rather than treating registration as the whole planning process.

Choose the scope that fits your planning question

This service is focused on advance health care directives and living wills: communicating health-care wishes and, where relevant to your plan, identifying someone to make health-care decisions. It is not the same as a financial power of attorney. If your question is only about who should make health-care decisions, keep that agent-selection question distinct from deciding what treatment preferences you want documented.

A useful next step is to gather the preferences and questions you want to discuss, then ask how the document can address your communication goals and how you can keep it accessible. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. serves clients virtually throughout California from its in-person office in Novato.