Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Montclair Residents

Keep treatment preferences distinct from decision-making

Written instructions can express your health-care wishes. Naming someone in a directive addresses a different question: who may make health-care decisions for you. A document may address both, but the instructions and the person’s role are not interchangeable.

Start by considering the preferences you want the document to communicate. Then consider whether the person you have in mind can take on the responsibility of making health-care decisions. The directive’s instructions provide your wishes; the named person’s role concerns making decisions. Choosing a person alone does not record all the treatment preferences you may want known.

• What health-care wishes do you want recorded in writing?
• Who should be identified to make health-care decisions?
• How can the document be made accessible to people who may need it?

Understand what the named person’s role does—and does not—cover

The person identified in an advance health care directive is connected to health-care decisions. That role is separate from managing finances. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role; it is not a substitute for health-care instructions or for identifying someone to make health-care decisions.

This distinction matters when you are deciding what responsibilities your planning should address. If you want someone to handle financial matters as well, consider that as a separate planning question rather than assuming the health-care directive gives that person financial authority. The documents have different purposes.

Make your wishes and document easier to find

A document can only help communicate your wishes if the people who may need it can locate the relevant information. As a practical preparation step, consider where you will keep the directive and how you will let the appropriate people know where it is. You can also make a short list of the preferences and questions you want to discuss while preparing your planning documents.

Preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration is about information concerning a directive that has already been executed; it is not a replacement for preparing the document or keeping it available to the people who may need it.

Plan around the decisions you want addressed

A useful starting point is to write down the health-care preferences you want conveyed, separately from the name of the person you want to make decisions. Consider whether you have questions about how your instructions and that person’s role fit together. If you also want financial decision-making addressed, identify that as a separate concern.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services throughout California, including for Montclair residents. A conversation about your priorities can help clarify which planning questions you want to address and what documents may be relevant to those goals.