Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for San Pablo Residents

Start with the decisions the document needs to clarify

Before relying on a written directive, consider what you want it to communicate. For example, are there particular treatment preferences you want recorded? Is your main concern making sure a person who may be asked to make health-care decisions understands your wishes? These questions help separate the substance of your instructions from the question of who may make decisions.

An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. You can therefore think about its written instructions and the decision-making role separately, even when both are addressed in the same document. This page focuses on communicating treatment preferences, not on choosing or evaluating an agent.

• What preferences do you want the document to communicate?
• Who may need to locate or understand those instructions?
• Are you asking the document to convey your wishes, identify a decision-maker, or do both?

Keep health-care instructions separate from financial authority

A health-care directive is not the same thing as a financial power of attorney. The directive can address health-care wishes and decisions; a financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. If your planning includes both, clarify which document addresses each concern rather than assuming that one covers the other.

A practical way to prepare for a planning conversation is to write down the health-care questions you want the directive to answer and, separately, any financial matters you are considering. That list can help you identify when a question belongs to health-care planning rather than financial planning. It does not determine what language a document should contain.

Make the document findable, not just completed

A document can be difficult to rely on if the people who may need it do not know where to find it. As a practical preparation step, decide who should know where your health-care instructions are kept and how they can locate them. Consider whether the people you expect to consult the document can access the relevant information when it is needed.

Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. California provides an advance health care directive registry, but registration information and the work of preparing and keeping the document accessible are separate considerations. Treat them as separate steps when planning how your instructions will be found.

• Identify where the relevant document is kept.
• Consider who should know how to locate it.
• Ask whether registration information would be useful in addition to keeping the document accessible.

Plan around the people who may need to act

A family can reduce confusion by discussing what the document is meant to communicate and where it can be found. The useful question is not only whether a document exists, but whether the people who may need it know its purpose and can locate it. If you are unsure whether a concern belongs in health-care instructions or in another kind of planning document, make that distinction part of your planning discussion.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945, and provides virtual services throughout California, including San Pablo. A next step is to gather your questions about treatment preferences, document access, and the difference between health-care and financial planning for a focused conversation.