Can I Change Information In My Advance Directives?
Many Canton residents, and Connecticut residents more generally, avoid or delay creating essential estate plan documents because they are not entirely certain about what they want, or because they are under the misconception that they cannot change their mind later on. To be sure, it is a common misconception that once an estate plan is created and documents are signed and executed, they cannot be revised or amended, or changed altogether. In fact, the opposite is true. As long as you still meet the legal requirements for creating estate planning documents, you will always have the ability to change your mind in such a way that you can revise your will, your power of attorney agent, your executor, and the details in your advance directives.
Accordingly, if you are wondering if you can change the information that is currently contained in your advance directives, the answer is likely yes. Consider the following information.
Understand Advance Directives in Connecticut
Advance directives are documents that allow individuals to make important decisions about their future health care in the event that they become incapacitated and are not in a position to make those decisions for themselves or to communicate their decisions to their health care providers. Advance directives are in place to ensure that the individual’s wishes are followed.
There are several different types of advance directives that a person can make in Connecticut, including an appointment of a health care representative, a living will (or health care instructions), a document of anatomical gift, and a designation of a conservator in the event of future incapacity.
Appointing a health care representative involves naming a person you trust to be your agent, and to make health care decisions on your behalf only if you cannot do so yourself. In a living will, you can indicate your wishes for life-sustaining treatment or its withholding, as well as other important and specific health care decisions. The other two advance directives are what they sound like — a document of anatomical gift allows you to donate organs or other body parts, and a designation of conservator allows you to name a person you trust to handle your affairs if you become incapacitated.
Amending Advance Directives in Connecticut
To change any information in an advance directive, you will need to work with a lawyer to create a new advance directive in most cases. Like we noted, as long as you have legal capacity and meet legal requirements, you can do this.
There are many reasons you might want to change the details of your advance directives, from a divorce or family estrangement to a change of heart about your future health care.
Contact a Connecticut Estate Planning Lawyer for Assistance with Your Advance Directives and Amendments or Revisions to your Estate Plan
Whether you have advance directives already signed that you want to change, or you need to create advance directives and other crucial estate planning documents, it is important to seek legal advice. As we discussed above, you can always make changes to estate planning documents you execute, from information contained in your will to agents named in powers of attorney to wishes for health care in the future. As long as you have legal capacity and meet the requirements to create such documents in Connecticut, you are always able to change your mind. An experienced Connecticut estate planning attorney at the Law Office of Brian S. Karpe can speak with you today to learn more about your estate planning needs and to begin working with you on the components of your Connecticut estate plan.
Source:
portal.ct.gov/dmhas/programs-and-services/advocacy/advance-directives
