Advance Health Care Directives in Bonadelle Ranchos, Madera County

Separate your instructions 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. Those functions can appear in the same directive, but they answer different questions: what preferences do you want recorded, and who may make decisions for you?

This page focuses on documenting treatment preferences and making those instructions accessible. Choosing an appropriate health-care agent is a separate planning question. You may want to consider that choice alongside the directive, while giving each responsibility its own attention.

• Written preferences communicate what matters to you about health care.
• The person identified in the directive has a health-care decision-making role.
• A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role; it is not a substitute for health-care instructions.

Put your preferences into words you can explain

Before preparing or revising a directive, think about the kinds of treatment choices you want your written instructions to address and the values behind those choices. A useful discussion can distinguish a preference you feel strongly about from an area where you would want the person making decisions to use judgment.

For example, you might want to discuss how to describe a preference that depends on the circumstances, rather than treating a short phrase as an answer to every possible situation. This is a preparation example, not a medical recommendation. A health-care professional can address medical questions; legal planning can address how your preferences and decision-making role are documented.

• What treatment preferences do you want recorded?
• Are there circumstances in which you would want the person making decisions to consider your stated values?
• What would help the people involved understand where to find your instructions?

Make the document findable and distinguish registration

Preparing a directive and keeping the relevant documents accessible are separate from registering information about an executed directive. The California Courts and the Secretary of State describe both the directive’s health-care purpose and the separate role of financial powers of attorney.

As a practical preparation step, decide where you will keep your health-care documents and how the people who may need them will know where to look. Consider telling the person identified in the directive and other appropriate people where the documents are kept. Registration is not the same thing as preparing or storing the directive; ask whether registry information would be useful for your circumstances rather than assuming it replaces the document.

• Identify a place to keep the relevant documents.
• Consider how the person named and other appropriate people can learn where to find them.
• Keep the distinction clear between the directive itself and information registered about an executed directive.

Know what this planning does—and does not—cover

An advance health care directive addresses health-care wishes and identifies someone to make health-care decisions. It does not perform the different financial role served by a financial power of attorney. If your planning question involves managing finances, ask about that separately rather than assuming health-care instructions grant financial authority.

The right document and wording depend on your circumstances. General information cannot determine what treatment is appropriate for you or resolve every question about how a document may apply. You can discuss your goals, the responsibilities you want assigned, and any uncertainty about the distinction between health-care and financial authority with a lawyer.

Planning help for Bonadelle Ranchos residents

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one physical office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, and offers virtual services throughout California, including for people in Bonadelle Ranchos. Bonadelle Ranchos is an unincorporated community in Madera County; service to the area does not mean the firm has a local branch.

A useful next step is to gather any existing health-care directive and note what you want to clarify: treatment preferences, who should make health-care decisions, where the document will be kept, or whether you have questions about registry information. The Madera County Superior Court provides a probate resource, but that general court resource is not guidance about preparing a routine health-care directive or proof of where any particular matter belongs.