Advance Health Care Directives in Fairfax, Kern County

Decide what you want the document to communicate

An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes as well as identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those functions are connected, but they are not interchangeable. Naming someone does not, by itself, tell that person what treatment preferences you want recorded.

Before discussing a document, consider which preferences you want written down and what you want the people who may need to consult it to understand. This page is about documenting preferences and making the document accessible, not choosing a particular treatment or recommending medical care.

• Write down the questions or preferences you want to address, in your own words.
• Consider whether the document communicates those preferences clearly to the people you expect may need it.
• Keep the question of what you want communicated distinct from the question of whom you want to make health-care decisions.

Check which authority question is actually at issue

The next step can depend on whether you are addressing treatment preferences, identifying someone to make health-care decisions, or dealing with financial matters. 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, so it is not a substitute for communicating health-care preferences.

When you review your planning documents, ask what decision or authority is involved. If the concern is what you want communicated about health care, focus on the directive’s written preferences. If the concern is who may make health-care decisions, consider that function separately. If the concern is financial authority, recognize that it belongs to a different type of document.

• For treatment preferences, identify what you want the health-care directive to express.
• For decision-making authority in health care, address the directive’s agent function separately.
• For financial matters, do not rely on a health-care directive as though it served the role of a financial power of attorney.

Make the document easy for the right people to find

Preparing and keeping an advance health care directive accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration information and the document itself are not the same thing. If you are considering registration, consult the California Secretary of State’s current registry information; do not treat registration as a replacement for making the document itself findable.

A practical way to prepare for a conversation is to note where you keep the directive and who knows how to locate it. You can also consider whether the people you expect to rely on it can access the relevant information. These are organizational questions, not additional legal requirements.

• Gather the directive you currently have, if any, and note where it is kept.
• Consider who may need to locate it and whether they know where to look.
• Keep separate notes about document access and any interest in registering information about an executed directive.

Discuss a Fairfax planning question remotely

Fairfax is an unincorporated community, not a location of a firm branch. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. is physically located at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and offers virtual services throughout California.

For a useful discussion, bring the directive you have, if any, and identify the question that is driving your next step: what preferences it expresses, whether you also need to address who may make health-care decisions, or how the relevant people can find the document. The firm can discuss those general planning questions remotely. This page does not provide individualized legal or medical advice.