Living Wills

When you start planning for the future, you want to know that your loved ones will be provided for after you pass and that your assets are distributed the way you wanted. However, you shouldn’t only plan for how you want your affairs to be handled after you pass away. Your estate plans should also include a living will, which goes into effect while you’re still alive but incapacitated and unable to communicate your wishes for your treatment. Living wills state your wishes for your medical treatment, ensuring you have the care you would have wanted but will also help make things easier for your loved ones.

None of us want to think that we might not be able to have a say in what medical care we receive, but this can happen without a living will. Accidents and illnesses are part of life and could leave us unable to communicate one day. At Tressler & Associates, our estate planning attorneys can help ensure that you leave your loved ones with a plan in place should you become incapacitated. 

What are Living Wills?

A living will is a legally binding document that allows you to state the type of healthcare you want to receive if you’re unable to communicate these wishes for yourself. If you have a living will and require medical treatment, but are still able to communicate your wishes, the living will won’t go into effect. Generally, a living will ends when the creator passes away, although some provide instructions regarding organ donations. Even if you’re young and healthy with no reason to believe you’ll become incapacitated, you need a will.

What Should a Living Will Include?

You might have an idea of what type of medical treatment you want, and what types you would refuse. These are details you’ll need to include in your living will. While a living will can go into effect whenever you’re incapacitated, even if you may wake up, living wills often focus on your end-of-life treatment. Your wishes for the following should be discussed in your living will. 

• Life-Prolonging Treatment – There are various types of life-prolonging treatment you may be for or against receiving. This can include being put on a ventilator, tube feeding and IV treatment, and dialysis.
• Treatment of New Conditions – In some cases, you might experience an additional condition while incapacitated, such as an infection. You can state whether or not you want to receive treatment, such as antibiotics, for additional conditions when you’re near the end of your life.
• Pain Management – Pain management, or palliative care, doesn’t provide treatment that will prolong your life, but it could help keep you more comfortable. You may want to be as comfortable and pain-free as possible or avoid any additional treatments and medications.
• Resuscitation – In the event that your breathing or heart stops, your living will should include instructions on whether or not you wish to be resuscitated.

Contact Tressler & Associates to Create Your Living Will

Thinking about the treatment you want to receive while you’re seriously ill isn’t easy. While this can be unpleasant, you deserve to have the peace of mind in knowing that should this ever occur, your wishes will be respected. You also want to leave your loved ones with guidance so they can feel more at peace knowing that you had the care you would have chosen for yourself. To ensure that your living will contain everything you need for your wishes to be followed, you need assistance from an estate planning lawyer.

At Tressler & Associates, we’ll be there to guide you as you create your living will. Contact us today to learn more about creating a living will in Tennessee.