How Easy Is It to Obtain a Living Will?
Living wills are legal documents in which people express their desires about end of life health care situations. You can obtain a living will fairly easily, though differences exist in how these documents are used from state to state. Talk to a lawyer if you need legal advice about using living wills in your state.
Other People Are Reading
-
State Requirements
-
What a person must do to create a valid living will depends upon the laws of the state in which the will is created. For example, Georgia requires that living wills be signed by two competent witnesses and living wills are not enforceable if the person making the will is a pregnant at the time the living will would ordinarily need to be put into action. Kansas, on the other hand, allows people to make living wills with either two witnesses or notarization, while New Mexico does not require witnesses at all.
General Requirements
-
Living wills are sometimes referred to as "do not resuscitate" orders, or DNRs, because they typically detail a person's desires about the kind of care desired in situations where life-sustaining or extraordinary measures are possible. A living will needs to make clear what the person wants in these situations, though this is not the only kind of situation that can be addressed.
In any regard, the living will must be made by a person who is of sound mind. A person who is unable to make coherent decisions, such as a person on mind-altering medication or who has a significant mental health condition, cannot create a valid living will.
-
Limitations
-
States allow people to use living wills to make specific kinds of decisions, though what is or isn't allowed can also differ between states. For example, a Kansas living will can only apply in the event of a terminal illness or when addressing issues of life-sustaining treatments. For example, Alzheimers is not considered a terminal illness, nor is a coma. Some states allow you to use living wills to direct care in these situations, while others, like Kansas, does not.
Other Advance Dirctives
-
Living wills are not the only advance directives available to people preparing for end of life scenarios. Durable powers of attorney for health care, sometimes known as health care proxies, are documents that appoints a person to act on your behalf if you get sick. This person makes health care decisions on your behalf, and you can use both a living will and a durable health care power of attorney in conjunction with one another.
-
References
- Photo Credit retirement fun image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
