Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Sonoma

Clarify what you want the document to do

An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. These are related, but distinct, purposes. Written preferences communicate what you want; identifying a decision-maker names someone for a health-care role. Before relying on a document, consider whether it addresses one purpose or both.

Start with the choices you want communicated, rather than relying on a document’s title to explain your intentions. If you use the term “living will” when discussing your plans, make sure the conversation focuses on the specific health-care wishes you want recorded and whether you also want to identify a decision-maker.

As an optional preparation step, write down the questions you want to resolve before discussing a document. For example: What preferences do I want to express? Do I intend to identify someone to make health-care decisions? Are those two intentions clear to the people who may need to understand the document?

• Identify the health-care wishes you want to communicate.
• Decide whether you also want the document to identify someone to make health-care decisions.
• Consider whether the document’s purpose will be clear to the people who may need it.

Make written preferences understandable

A useful planning conversation begins with what you want your written instructions to convey. Consider whether the preferences are expressed in terms that make sense to you and whether the people who may need to refer to them understand what you intended. If something feels unclear, note the issue for discussion rather than assuming that a document label will answer it.

Families may have questions about how to understand a person’s stated wishes. You can prepare for that conversation by identifying the preferences you want to discuss and noting any points that may be interpreted differently. These are optional preparation steps for explaining your intentions; they do not decide what care is right for you.

• List the preferences you want to communicate in your own words before discussing how to document them.
• Note any wording or points that you want to clarify with the people who may need to understand your wishes.
• Consider whether the written preferences still reflect what you want to communicate.

Keep health-care and financial roles distinct

An advance health care directive can address health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. A document directed to one role should not be treated as though it addresses the other.

When reviewing your planning documents, ask what each is intended to cover. If family members know that a health-care document addresses health-care matters and a financial power of attorney serves a financial role, they have a clearer starting point for locating the relevant document when a question arises.

• Which document is intended to communicate health-care wishes?
• Does the health-care document identify someone to make health-care decisions?
• Which separate document, if any, is intended to address financial matters?

Plan for people to find the document

Preparing a document and making it accessible are separate considerations. Think about who may need to know that it exists and how those people would learn where to find it. If the location is not known to them, the document may be harder to locate when relevant.

Registering information about an executed directive is distinct from preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible. Consider both questions separately: how the people who may need the document can find it, and whether registering information about an executed directive is useful for your circumstances. Registration and document access are not the same step.

• Choose a place for the relevant document and consider who should know its location.
• Consider separately whether registering information about an executed directive is useful to you.
• If your preferences or circumstances change, consider whether your document and access plan still reflect what you want.

Discuss your planning from Sonoma

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services throughout California. If you are in Sonoma, you can discuss what you want an advance health care directive to communicate, whether you intend to identify someone for health-care decisions, and how to make the relevant document accessible to the people who may need it.

For a focused conversation, you may wish to bring a list of questions about your written preferences, the decision-maker role, and where relevant documents can be found. You can also note whether a financial power of attorney is part of the planning you want to discuss, while keeping its separate financial role clear.