Healthcare Directives and Powers of Attorney

Healthcare directives and powers of attorney are the least glamorous part of an estate plan. They’re also the ones families are most grateful for when the moment comes.

These documents do three different jobs, and most plans need all three.

A healthcare directive is the document that speaks for you when no one else can. It records what you want, and what you don’t, in the medical situations where you cannot tell the doctors yourself. Georgia has specific requirements for what makes one enforceable, and a directive that’s vague, outdated, or sitting in a drawer no one can find serves nobody.

A healthcare power of attorney names the person who speaks for you in real time, your healthcare agent, working with the medical team as situations evolve and decisions have to be made that the directive doesn’t specifically cover. The directive and the power of attorney work together. Neither one alone is enough.

A financial power of attorney names the person who can run your financial life if you become incapacitated. Without it, your family ends up in front of a Georgia court asking for a conservatorship before they can pay your bills or manage your accounts, at the worst possible moment to be working through a court process. With it, the transition is immediate, private, and on your terms.

These documents should be in place before they’re needed, and reviewed periodically, because the person you would have designated five years ago may not be the right choice today.