Health Care Decisions and Estate Planning in Connecticut
When most people think about estate planning, they think about making a will and deciding who will inherit their property. There is significantly more to estate planning than making a will, and there are many ways to leave assets to loved ones and charitable entities outside a will. In fact, many estate planning tools are often more beneficial than a will for leaving certain assets to beneficiaries. And it is also important to know that there is much more to estate planning than making decisions about the disposition of your assets after your death. Indeed, many estate planning necessities involve issues that can arise during your lifetime.
One essential component of estate planning involves health care decision-making. How are health care decisions part of estate planning? In short, there are documents known as advance directives that enable adults to make certain health care-related decisions in the event of future incapacity. Our Canton estate planning lawyer can explain in more detail below, and we can assist you with creating advance directives in addition to other essential estate plan components in Connecticut.
What Are Advance Directives?
The term “advance directive” refers to various types of legal documents through which a person can make decisions about their health care or provide instructions for their health care in the event of their incapacity. Advance directives only take effect when the person who created these documents become incapacitated and unable to communicate themselves.
Advance directives are created based on requirements in the particular state you are living in, and different states may have distinct names for certain types of advance directives.
Generally speaking, according to the National Institute on Aging, the two most common types of advance directives are a living will (through which you can provide instructions to your health care team about emergency treatment or treatments that you want to decline) and a durable health care power of attorney (through which you can name a person you trust to make health care decisions on your behalf in the event that you become unable to indicate your decisions yourself.
Types of Advance Directives in Connecticut
Connecticut has four documents that it considers to be part of a person’s advance directives. You can create one, multiple, or all of these documents. These include:
- Living will or health care instructions;
- Appointment of a health care representative (another term for a durable health care power of attorney);
- Document of anatomical gift (indicating whether you want to make an anatomical gift); and
- Designation of conservator of the person for future incapacity (through which you can name a person to serve as your conservator if you become incapacitated in the future).
Contact a Connecticut Estate Planning Attorney Today for Assistance with Your Advance Directives and Other Estate Plan Components
Are you ready to create advance directives as part of your estate plan, or do you want to learn more about advance directives and how beneficial they can be? You should reach out to an experienced Connecticut estate planning lawyer at the Law Office of Brian S. Karpe today. We can provide you with more information about advance directives and other critical estate plan components, and we can begin working with you on all of your estate planning documents and tools once you are ready. Contact our firm to learn about the services we provide and how we can help you.
Sources:
nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care
portal.ct.gov/dmhas/programs-and-services/advocacy/advance-directives
