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Power of Attorney for End of Life Medical Directives and Financial Decisions

Posted June 9, 2017

Estate planning is important to ensure that your final wishes are followed and that your family and finances are in the best hands possible following your death.  Powers of Attorney and Medical Directives are needed if you can no longer make decisions for yourself. Our experienced estate planning attorneys can offer tailored guidance for your specific needs. One important document you may need now during your lifetime is a power of attorney. By giving someone “power of attorney,” you are appointing that person or persons to make decisions on your behalf when necessary. A durable power of attorney lasts when you are incapacitated. For example, if you are rendered incapacitated by a mental disorder, serious injury, or deteriorating health such as a stroke or heart attack, the person you appoint as your attorney-in-fact under the power of attorney would be able to continue your financial affairs during that time or make health decisions for you.

A power of attorney is a written legal document that grants a person of your choosing, called an “agent,” power of attorney to make decisions on your behalf. The agent can be a family member, friend, attorney, business partner, or another person that you trust to make decisions that you would want to have made. Someone with integrity and some financial acumen should be appointed your agent.

Medical Decisions

The important decisions that the agent will be able to make include both healthcare and financial, or one or the other. Some of the most common healthcare or end-of-life directives, according to the Mayo Clinic, include decisions regarding:

  • Resuscitation
  • Organ and tissue donation
  • Mechanical ventilation
  • Comfort care or palliative care
  • Tube feeding
  • Antibiotics or antiviral medication to treat infections
  • Dialysis

These decisions can be left up to your agent through power of attorney, or you can create a written legal document called an advanced healthcare directive, which lays out what you want to have happened given scenarios.

Call an Experienced New Jersey Attorney Today

To create a power of attorney today, contact the New Jersey will and estate planning attorneys of Foss, San Filippo & Milne, LLC. today at 732-741-2525.