When it comes to completing your estate planning, it is important to think about both an Advance Directive and Lasting Powers of Attorney in Chelmsford and throughout Essex. With this in mind, in this article, Laura Richardson considers the importance of using both an Advance Directive and Lasting Powers of Attorney in Chelmsford to protect your personal interests . . .
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Essentially, making a Lasting Power of Attorney involves appointing a chosen representative who must legally act in your best interests and make decisions on your behalf should you be unable to do so. There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney, firstly a Property and Financial Affairs Lasting Power of Attorney and secondly a Personal Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney, which covers healthcare decisions. Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services recommend that all adults should consider setting up an Lasting Power of Attorney in order to allow you the peace of mind that your affairs will be cared for, should a serious injury or illness leave you unable to manage your affairs, or make decisions relating to your healthcare.
An Advance Directive is a legally binding record of your wishes for your healthcare and end of life care, which comes into effect should you be unable to voice these wishes due to reasons such as deteriorating health, or dementia.
It can be beneficial to use a Personal Welfare Lasting Power of Attorney alongside an Advance Directive. By legally recording your wishes within an Advance Directive, you are legally protecting your healthcare choices, and ensuring that those choices be fulfilled, but furthermore, the document can act as a guideline for your chosen Attorney. In this way, not only will your chosen Attorney be assured that when it comes to the most difficult decisions such as end of life care, they are following your exact wishes, they will also have a legally binding document upon which they can refer and use to help them to make the other decisions for your healthcare at a time when you are not able to make the decisions for yourself.
At the end of the day, none of us can predict exactly what healthcare we may or may not need in our lifetime. Whilst using an Advance Directive will legally protect your choices for the aspects of your healthcare that you feel most strongly about, and will cover many scenarios, there will always be more decisions that need to be made. By using an Lasting Power of Attorney alongside an Advance Directive, you can be assured that the remaining decisions that are made, are made in your best interests by your chosen representative whom you trust to be able to carry out this duty and do their upmost to reflect the choices that you would make should you be able.
Therefore, if you would like to arrange a free initial consultation to discuss arranging an Advance Directive alongside Lasting Powers of Attorney in Chelmsford, then please feel free to contact Andrew Douglas Wills and Legal Services today via www.andrewdouglaswills.co.uk to find out more.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
If you would like to keep up with our latest posts and advice about estate planning through the regular advice that we provide to our clients in this regard, then please also feel free to –
Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ADouglasWills.
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AndrewDouglasWills.
Follow us on Google+ at https://plus.google.com/b/117915389310253337582/+AndrewdouglaswillsCoUk/
