Advance Health Care Directives in Goodmanville, Kern County

Separate your treatment preferences from the decision-maker’s role

An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Written instructions communicate your preferences; naming a person identifies who may act as a health-care decision-maker when needed. These functions are related, but neither should be mistaken for the other.

A useful starting point is to consider whether the document should explain particular treatment preferences, identify a decision-maker, or do both. If you name someone, that designation does not by itself explain every choice you would want made. If you write instructions, they do not make the person reading them your financial agent.

• Consider what treatment preferences you want the document to communicate.
• Consider separately whether to identify someone to make health-care decisions.
• Discuss with your chosen person how you would like your wishes communicated.

Understand what the named person can—and cannot—do

The authority described here concerns health-care decisions. A health-care decision-maker is not, just by virtue of that role, authorized to manage your finances. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role, so arrangements for medical decisions and financial matters should be considered separately.

A practical question to discuss is whether the person you are considering understands the preferences you want communicated and the scope of the responsibility you are assigning. Do not assume that naming someone for health care gives them authority over financial accounts, or that a financial appointment communicates your treatment wishes.

• Ask whether the person understands the role you intend to assign.
• Identify any separate financial-planning question that may require a different document.
• For questions about your individual circumstances, seek legal advice rather than relying on general information.

Make your wishes findable when they may be needed

Preparing a directive and keeping the relevant documents accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. California provides an Advance Health Care Directive Registry with information about registration. A registry entry is not a substitute for deciding what your document should say or for making sure relevant people can locate the information they need.

As a practical preparation step, decide how the document and any registry information will be accessible to the people who may need them. You can discuss who should know where to look and how to communicate the location. This is a planning suggestion, not a legal requirement.

• Plan how the document will be kept accessible.
• Consider who may need to know where it is and how to find any registry information.
• Keep the distinction clear between preparing the directive and registering information about an executed directive.

Planning help for Goodmanville

Goodmanville is an unincorporated community in Kern County. The county’s Superior Court provides a general wills and estates self-help resource, but that resource is not proof of venue or direction for a particular case. Health-care planning documents address medical preferences and decision-making; court resources about wills and estates should not be treated as approval or instructions for routine health-care planning documents.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one physical office in Novato and offers virtual services throughout California, including Goodmanville. A planning discussion can help you distinguish written treatment preferences, a health-care decision-maker’s role, and any separate financial authority question.