Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for San Jose Residents

Use the consultation to clarify what you want written

A useful starting point is to put your own priorities into plain language. Consider what health-care wishes you want an advance health care directive to express, and what questions you have about communicating those wishes. You do not need to arrive with finished legal wording; notes can help make the conversation specific to what matters to you.

If a preference depends on a particular situation, you can note the circumstance and the concern you would want considered. Keep this as a description of your wishes, rather than trying to predict or decide a medical outcome in advance. The purpose of preparation is to identify what you want the document to communicate.

• Write a short list of preferences or concerns you want to discuss.
• Note any circumstances that you believe affect how you would want your wishes understood.
• Collect questions about how your preferences could be expressed in a directive.

Separate treatment preferences from the agent question

An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those functions are connected, but they address different things: the written instructions communicate your preferences, while the identified person is someone who may make health-care decisions. This page focuses on the instructions and the information you want them to convey.

You can keep the two questions distinct as you prepare: What do I want communicated about my health-care wishes? And, separately, who should be identified to make decisions? A discussion about written preferences does not itself settle the choice of a decision-maker.

A financial power of attorney serves a different role involving financial decisions. It is not a substitute for health-care preferences in an advance health care directive. If you have financial documents, you may bring them to the consultation for context, while keeping clear which questions concern health care and which concern finances.

Gather papers and questions for a remote consultation

Before meeting remotely, you may find it useful to collect any advance health care directive or other relevant planning document you already have. If you have a digital copy, make it available for discussion. If you cannot find a document or are unsure what it says, note that uncertainty instead of relying on memory.

Alongside any existing paperwork, prepare a concise account of what prompted you to revisit your instructions, what you want them to communicate, and what remains unclear. These are optional preparation steps, not prerequisites for a consultation. They can help keep the discussion focused on your goals and the documents or questions you want to address.

• Gather an existing directive, if you have one.
• Make a brief list of preferences, questions, and points you want clarified.
• Note where relevant documents are kept and who may need to know how to find them.

Consider document access as well as the instructions

Preparing an advance health care directive and making information about an executed directive available are separate considerations. California has a registry process for information about an executed directive. Registry information does not replace preparing the relevant document or keeping it accessible.

As you plan, consider how the people who may need to refer to your wishes would know where relevant documents can be found. That practical access question is distinct from deciding what the document should say. A focused next step is to bring your existing paperwork, if any, and your questions to a consultation about your written preferences.

Discuss your planning goals from San Jose

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. provides virtual services throughout California from its in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato. For a consultation from San Jose, you can use your notes and any existing directive to explain what you want your instructions to communicate and what you would like clarified.

To prepare, gather the documents you have, write down the wishes you want to discuss, and list any unresolved questions. This gives the conversation a practical starting point without requiring you to settle every planning question beforehand.