Personal Directives are crucial for outlining your preferences for medical and personal care in situations where you cannot make decisions yourself. Nigro Manucci’s expert legal team helps you draft clear and comprehensive Personal Directives, ensuring your wishes are respected and followed. Our personalized approach ensures that your directives reflect your unique preferences and needs.
Our team at Nigro Manucci provides comprehensive services for Personal Directives, including drafting and reviewing these critical documents. We work closely with you to ensure that your Personal Directives provide clear instructions for your designated representative and reflect your unique needs.
A Personal Directive is a document which allows you to appoint another person (referred to as an “Agent”) to make personal decisions for you when you lack the mental capacity to make your own decisions. It can also contain specific instructions for the matters you care most about to guide your Agent or professional service providers in making decisions on your behalf.
A Personal Directive is a relatively inexpensive way to plan for your own incapacity. Without a Personal Directive, if you become mentally incapacitated it may be necessary for your family to make an application under the Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship Act for an Order appointing a guardian to make personal decisions on your behalf. This application is costly and can take several months.
Your Agent must be eighteen years of age or older at the time the Personal Directive takes effect. Being an Agent can take a lot of time so you should discuss your decision with the person you wish to appoint as your Agent. You can appoint more than one Agent. You can give these Agents the authority in the same or different areas. If you appoint more than one Agent it is very important to clearly state when each is to act and how any disagreement should be resolved. You can also appoint an Agent and an alternate Agent, however, it is important to clearly specify the situations in which the alternate Agent would make decisions (i.e. the alternate may be asked to make decisions only if the Agent is out of the country, ill or deceased).
Unless you specify otherwise in your Personal Directive, your Agent will have the authority to make decisions with respect to any non-financial matters including:
The only exceptions to this rule are:
If you wish your Agent to make decisions related to these matters, you must specifically state this is your Personal Directive.
Additionally, your Personal Directive cannot include instructions relating to aided suicide, euthanasia or other instructions prohibited by law. If a Personal Directive contains an instruction that is prohibited by law, that instruction is void.
A Personal Directive comes into effect when an individual lacks the capacity to make decisions for themself. Mental capacity can be determined by either the person or persons named in the Personal Directive to assess capacity, after consulting with a physician or psychologist, or by two service providers, at least one of whom is a physician or psychologist.
When the determination of mental incapacity has been made the Agent must then notify the person’s nearest relative and their legal representative, if any. The maker of the Personal Directive can also specify other individuals who are to be notified, or not notified.
Unless you state otherwise in your Personal Directive, it remains in effect until you revoke it, the Court revokes it, or you die. You can revoke your Personal Directive only if you have the mental capacity to understand what you are doing.
It is a good idea to discuss your intentions with respect to your Personal Directive with those people closest to you. Your Agent should have a copy of your Personal Directive soon after you make it. This gives your agent a chance to review the Personal Directive periodically and raise questions about what your wishes would be in certain circumstances. If your Personal Directive is specific about a circumstance (i.e. a medical treatment) you may wish to leave a copy with your physician. You may also wish to leave copies with your family members.
Another idea is to keep a card in your wallet or purse which states that you have a Personal Directive, where it can be found, and how to contact your Agent.
Nigro Manucci has been a trusted partner for Wills and Estates legal services since 1972. Our commitment to quality work, integrity, and respect makes us the go-to choice for personal directive services. Our experienced team is dedicated to providing tailored solutions that ensure your wishes are honored.
Contact Nigro Manucci today to learn more about our Personal Directive services.
Contact
t: 780.467.9559
f: 780.467.0720
e: [email protected]
Quick Links
© Nigro Manucci. All rights reserved.