As a young adult, you feel your entire life is ahead of you. You don’t want to think about being in a terrible accident, but these things happen. Being prepared for an emergency will ensure you receive the medical care you want. And it will help your loved ones be able to make medical emergency decisions for you. Every person over the age of 18 should have a healthcare directive and a durable power of attorney.
Once you turn 18 years old, your parents cannot make legal decisions for you. This means they will not be able to sign legal documents, access your finances or make medical decisions on your behalf.
A healthcare directive, sometimes called a healthcare proxy, is a legal document that assigns someone to make medical decisions on your behalf when you cannot. If you are over the age of 18, your parents are not legally able to make decisions for you.
A healthcare directive also tells the provider of your medical wishes regarding issues such as:
If you are not married and do not have a healthcare directive, the healthcare provider will make all medical decisions. And your loved ones will be forced to stand by while someone else makes decisions regarding your care.
Another legal document you want is a durable power of attorney. If you are in the hospital, you’ll need someone to care for your finances. A durable power of attorney authorizes someone to access your bank accounts, pay bills and, to a degree, make other legal decisions for you.
This is an enormous responsibility for someone, but it’s better than not being done.
A healthcare directive and durable power of attorney are important documents that your Illinois estate planning attorney can help you write.
Knowing that you have a healthcare directive and power of attorney will ease your mind and help your loved ones. With expert guidance from the estate planning attorneys at Estate & Probate Legal Group in Illinois, we can help make this happen. Contact us today at 630-864-5835.
AREAS WE SERVE: DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties.
