Living Wills
What is a Living Will?
A Living Will is a document that states your wishes for “end of life” medical treatment. It allows you to express your personal wishes regarding life support. This document is good to have in addition to, but not in place of, your Medical Power of Attorney. There are numerous healthcare decisions to be made for someone that do not involve life support. That’s why it’s a good idea to have both of these documents.
In Kentucky, a Living Will is a statutory form contained in Kentucky Revised Statutes § 311.625. You can also add to this form if you want to express additional wishes to your family. In your Living Will, you can name someone to make “end of life” decisions for you. However, most people prefer to make their own decisions about life support as part of their Living Will. This means that, should you end up on life support, your family and friends won’t have to make the decision for you. This is a good way to relieve your loved ones of that burden in case you ever go on life support.
Why do I need a Living Will now?
Hopefully your Living Will never needs to be used. However, you could possibly end up on life support at some point. Unfortunately, we simply don’t know when or if that time will come. This may happen suddenly (a car crash, for example), so you should not wait to have a Living Will in place. Once it’s too late, your loved ones will be faced with making decisions about your life support in what will likely be a very emotional time for them already. In addition, this decision may involve people that you don’t want deciding things for you.
Everyone over age 18 should have a Living Will, no matter your age or family situation. We have all heard about cases where someone goes on life support and their family ends up fighting about the decisions. This puts an unnecessary amount of stress on a family and can cause tension or even worse. Of course, most of that stress can be prevented by having a Living Will in place. Make things easier for your family and get this done today.
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, it has never been more obvious just how important it is to have a Living Will. At Bauman Estate Planning, we make this process very simple. Don’t put this off any longer. None of us knows what the future holds. I can meet you at either of my 2 Louisville locations. We can also handle the entire process remotely if you prefer.
Here are some links to other Kentucky estate planning documents I can help you with:
General Durable Power of Attorney
Call Bauman Estate Planning today at (502) 267-7967 or click on the link at the top of the page to schedule a phone call or in-person meeting with Jason.