How a Living Will Benefits You and Your Family Members
By Barry Zimmer on April 14th, 2016 in Estate Planninng
A living will, or an advanced directive as it is also called, should be a part of your estate planning process. The creation of a comprehensive living will is going to provide many benefits to you and your family in case a tragedy ever strikes.
You must create a living will when you are of sound mind and body and you must ensure your family members and care providers are aware the living will has been created. It is very important your living will is comprehensive and addresses all of the issues that could become important in case of a medical emergency in the future.
A Montgomery estate planning lawyer can provide assistance with the creation of a living will. Call Zimmer Law Firm today to learn more about what a living will is, why you need one, how you and your family will benefit, and what you need to do to create a living will.
How a Living Will Can Benefit Your Family
Most people are familiar with the creation of a last will and testament and understand the importance of creating a last will as a part of their estate plan. The purpose of a last will and testament is to give instructions for what occurs after your die.
Your estate plan should not just be about your legacy left to heirs after death. Estate planning also involves taking steps to plan for an uncertain future while you are still alive. You want to have control of your destiny and you want to maintain your dignity, and a living will can help you to do that.
A living will is essentially a series of forms you complete and/or documents that you create specifying the types of medical care you wish to receive- and do not wish to receive- under certain circumstances.
Many people do not wish to be artificially kept alive by machines if they have sustained severe brain damage or if there are other conditions that would leave them with no quality of life if they survived. In these difficult situations, you are often unable to speak up on your own and to provide information about whether you want extraordinary measures to save your life.
Likewise, when people are sick with a serious and terminal illness, they may develop conditions like pneumonia which could result in a more timely death- if it is untreated. Again, when this type of situation arises, you may not be able to communicate your wishes at the time because you may no longer be of sound mind and body and able to make decisions or tell doctors and family what your choices are.
With a living will, you make the decisions in advance about how you want to be treated and when, or if, you want steps taken to save your life. This benefits you because you can ensure you don’t remain alive when you no longer have any quality of life left. It also is a tremendous benefit to your family because there is no uncertainty over who should make the decisions about your treatment or about what you would have wanted.
You don’t want to put your loved ones in the difficult decision of having to decide not to resuscitate you or having to decide to disconnect you from machines that are keeping you alive. A living will takes this terrible burden off your family members so they can grieve your death without the guilt of feeling they made the wrong choice on your medical care.
A living will needs to be comprehensive and you need to ensure that your wishes will be respected by following all appropriate steps in the creation of a living will. Estate planning lawyers can assist you with creating an advanced directive.
How Montgomery Ohio Estate Planning Lawyers Can Help
You owe it to yourself to ensure you are not forced to continue living with no quality of life as a result of medical interventions that you did not want. Don’t wait until it is too late to take action on your own behalf, as you never know when a tragedy could strike and leave you in the hospital and unable to communicate.
Being prepared with a living will is simple when you have the right legal advice and an attorney to guide you through making key decisions and taking the steps to create a living will.
Give the Montgomery, Ohio estate planning attorneys at Zimmer Law Firm a call today at 513.721.1513 to learn more about how we can help you create a living will. You can also find out more key information about what should be in your comprehensive estate plan by joining us for a free seminar.