Estate Plan Deep Dive: Healthcare Proxy and Living Wills

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Estate Plan Deep Dive: Healthcare Proxy and Living Wills

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Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:22:37 | Recorded on December 14, 2020

As we continue our deep dive series into critical areas of the estate plan, on this episode of podcast, lawyer Shannon McNulty covers the healthcare proxy and a related document, living wills. Choosing a healthcare proxy and helping that person understand your wishes is one of the most considerate things you can do for your loved ones, so we want to make sure you understand the details related to choosing a healthcare proxy and what a living will covers and what it doesn’t.

You are Granting Authority

A healthcare proxy is a document that authorizes someone to make healthcare decisions for you in the event that you cannot. A living will provides instructions for your doctor about how you’d like them to proceed under certain circumstances. Both of these documents ask you to consider literal life and death circumstances and it’s critical that parents not only have these forms, but take the appropriate time to consider who you choose and the instructions you provide.

How to Choose Your Healthcare Proxy Agent

As with all of these big decisions, you want to choose someone you can trust and who will respect your values and choices. In the event you don’t choose someone, healthcare decisions will fall to your next of kin. Though it is hard to consider the events that would require your healthcare proxy agent to step in, it’s important to make the loving choice and complete your healthcare proxy if you haven’t already.