What is an Advance Directive? The Best Way to Communicate Your End-0f-Life Wishes.

Many people avoid thinking about death and end-of-life medical care. It is a difficult topic to broach and even more difficult to actually make definitive plans regarding your end-of-life wishes. An Advance Directive is a legal document that can inform your loved ones and medical providers how you would want your end-of-life medical care to be handled if you were unable to communicate those preferences.  

What is an Advance Directive?
An Advance Directive is sometimes called or a “Living Will” or an “Advance Directive for Natural Death.” The purpose of an Advance Directive is to give your healthcare providers instructions regarding whether to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging measures in certain end-of-life situations. An Advance Directive is not a “DNR” or “Do Not Resuscitate” Order. An Advance Directive is one way to communicate your preferences in writing if you are not able to communicate at the time a decision must be made.
An Advance Directive dictates the following situations:

• Whether your healthcare providers may or must withhold or withdraw life-prolonging measures; and
• Whether you want to receive artificial hydration and/or artificial nutrition, even if other life-prolonging measures are withheld or withdrawn.

Do I need any other legal documents aside from the Advance Directive?
An Advance Directive is often executed in tandem with a Healthcare Power of Attorney. An Advance Directive can give your Healthcare Power of Attorney guidance on exactly what life-prolonging measures you would prefer in an end-of-life situation. You can indicate in your Advance Directive if you want your Healthcare Agent to be able to override your instructions on the Advance Directive or if they must follow your instructions given in the Advance Directive.
Many people execute an Advance Directive alongside the other three major estate planning documents (Will, Durable Power of Attorney, and Healthcare Power of Attorney) as an overall estate planning strategy.

​How do I get an Advance Directive?
It is best to have an attorney prepare an Advance Directive for you to sign.
For your Advance Directive to be valid, it must be signed before two witnesses and notarized by a notary public.  

What should I do with my Advance Directive once it is executed?
Provide signed copies to your medical providers, healthcare agent, and closest family members or friends. Provide a signed copy to your doctor to keep on file in your electronic medical record. In North Carolina, your Advance Directive can also be registered with the North Carolina Advance Health Care Directive Registry. You will receive a registration card with a QR Code on it that can be scanned to access your Advance Directive document quickly and easily, should the need arise.
While it is important to have an Advance Directive, it is even more important to have open and honest conversations with your loved ones about how you feel regarding receiving life-prolonging medical care and hypothetical end-of-life situations. Communicating your preferences can save a lot of heartache and conflict between family members trying to decide what is best for you if you are unable to communicate.

​Please click the button below to schedule a consultation or reach out to us by phone to discuss the preparation of your Advance Directive as an overall strategy for your estate planning needs. 

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