Planning Your Estate? 3 Things You Need To Know About Your Living Will

Posted on: 5 April 2019

If you've started working on your estate planning and you've already completed your living trust, you might still have work to do. This is particularly true if you haven't added a living will to your estate plan. You might think that since you have a living trust, you don't need a living will. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Your living estate only covers the financial aspects of your estate. It's the living will that covers the medical aspects of your estate plan. Here are three things you need to know when adding a living will to your plans.

Provides Medical Direction

You never know what medical issues you'll face in your life, especially where catastrophic injuries and emergencies are concerned. If you don't have a living will, doctors won't know what your wishes are regarding life-saving techniques. One of the benefits of a living will is that this document provides doctors with a medical direction. Once you have a living will in place, your doctors will know exactly what treatment you'd agree to and which ones you'd refuse.

Keeps You in Control

If you have a life-threatening illness and you want to maintain control over your treatment, even when you're not able to speak for yourself, you need a living will. You may have been very vocal about the type of treatment you want, but those wishes might not be followed in the end, especially when loved ones aren't ready to give up hope. When you have a living will in place, you'll be able to maintain control of your medical treatment even when you're no longer able to communicate your wishes.

Should Be Updated

Once you have your living will in place, you'll need to make sure that it's updated from time to time. This is particularly important if your health has changed or you've had a change of heart about the direction you want your treatment to go. You should also update your living will if you didn't have an attorney handle the initial documentation. When you use standardized forms to complete your own living will, you may miss out on vital details that should be included. Sitting down with an attorney from a firm like Wright Law Offices, PLLC to update your living will ensures that your wishes will be followed should the need arise.

Don't shortchange yourself on your estate planning. In addition to your living trust, include a living will to ensure that your medical wishes are followed.

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