At the beginning of an Estate Planning file, the team at LK Law will send an intake questionnaire to our clients for completion. The last two pages of this questionnaire focuses on incapacity planning including Advance Directives.
What is an Advance Directive?
An Advance Directive sets out your wishes for health care in the event that you are incapable of expressing these yourself. The Advance Directive is governed by the Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act, and can be fairly general or contain specific provisions regarding the type of health care you will consent or refuse. For some, their desired wishes may relate to certain strongly held preferences or beliefs. For others, they may be seeking peace of mind. Regardless, preparing an Advance Directive is an important step to consider when developing an estate plan.
I am moved to do this short post after reading a recent news story that described a classic dispute between family members who earnestly believed that a relative, who was in a vegetative state, was still capable of recovery even though the treating medical staff were giving contrary advice.
By thinking about incapacity planning well ahead of time, you can spare your loved ones the anguish of trying to keep pushing for treatment when the medical advice is that the time for treatment has passed. With an Advance Directive your family will know your wishes and what you want to do.
About Mackrell International – Canada - Lindsay Kenney LLP is a full service business law firm with offices in Vancouver and Langley, BC and a member of Mackrell International. Mackrell International – Canada is comprised of four independent law firms in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Each firm is regionally based and well-connected in our communities, an advantage shared with our clients. With close relations amongst our Canadian member firms, we are committed to working with clients who have legal needs in multiple jurisdictions within Canada.
This article is intended to be an overview and is for informational purposes only.