The Living Will, or Advance Directive as it’s sometimes called, only comes into play in the rare circumstance when a person is on life support. This document is almost the opposite of a Power of Attorney because it takes all decision-making power away from any person, and puts the document itself in power as to whether the Principal wants to remain on life support or not.
This document is important because it takes the monkey off the back of loved ones, in that they don’t have to decide whether to unplug their stricken loved one.
The only thing to consider here is whether to use a boilerplate version available at any hospital, or a custom version. We draft a custom version that has the Principal initialing which events of conditions call for life support to continue, and which ones call for it to end. This makes the medical professionals more comfortable because it’s less likely that an angry relative would succeed in a lawsuit against them because the Living Will showed clear informed consent, meaning that the Principal’s intentions and desires were crystal clear.
The circumstances in which a Living Will are needed are not fun to think about, but having this document in place is a very kind gesture to loved ones and medical professionals alike.