Advance directives and living wills reduce ambiguity about treatment preferences, provide legal authority to a designated agent, and help avoid contested family disputes over care. They can expedite decision-making in emergencies, ensure alignment with your values, and protect your autonomy when you cannot speak for yourself, giving both emotional relief and clear guidance to medical teams.
Designating a healthcare agent with a durable medical power of attorney ensures someone you trust has legal authority to act in line with your preferences. This clarity prevents disputes among family members and enables prompt communication with medical teams to implement care consistent with your goals.
We focus on creating clear, practical documents that reflect individual values and comply with state requirements. Clients receive personalized attention to ensure directives are legally valid, appropriately witnessed or notarized, and distributed to the right parties to be effective when needed.
We encourage review after major health events, family changes, or relocation. Amendments are common, and we assist with updates, revocations, or restatements to maintain legal validity and alignment with current wishes and circumstances.
A living will specifically sets out preferences for life-sustaining treatment and end-of-life care, describing when to withhold or withdraw interventions like mechanical ventilation or tube feeding. An advance directive is a broader term often combining a living will with a durable medical power of attorney, which appoints someone to make medical decisions on your behalf. Choosing the right combination depends on your goals. Many people use both documents so providers have clear treatment instructions and an authorized agent to interpret those wishes for unforeseen clinical scenarios, ensuring both directive clarity and practical decision-making support.
Select an agent who knows your values, can handle stressful conversations, and is willing to act when needed. Consider availability, geographic proximity, communication skills, and ability to advocate with medical teams. Naming alternates helps if your first choice is unavailable or incapacitated. Discuss your wishes in detail with the person you choose and provide them with copies of your documents. Preparing your agent reduces confusion during emergencies and helps ensure your decisions reflect your preferences rather than family assumptions.
Virginia has specific execution requirements for certain documents, which may include witnessing or notarization to ensure enforceability. Whether notarization is necessary depends on the document type and the circumstances, so following state formalities prevents challenges to validity in clinical settings. We guide clients through the proper execution steps, coordinate witnesses or notary services when required, and explain how to store executed originals and distribute copies to agents and healthcare providers to maximize compliance and accessibility.
Yes. You can revoke or amend a living will at any time while you have decision-making capacity. Common methods include destroying the document, creating a signed revocation, or executing a new directive that supersedes the prior one. Communicate changes to your agent and providers promptly to avoid confusion. If you no longer have capacity, revocation becomes more complicated, so plan ahead. We assist clients with clear procedures for amendment and revocation and help ensure updated documents are shared with relevant parties and recorded in medical files when appropriate.
Many states recognize valid advance directives from other states, but variations in formality and medical orders can affect enforceability. POLST forms and certain medical orders are particularly state-specific, so portability may be limited and additional documentation or forms might be advisable when traveling or relocating. We recommend clients who split time between states or travel frequently review directives for portability and consider adding clarifying language or executing state-specific forms to ensure their preferences are honored across jurisdictions and by different healthcare systems.
Include clear statements about comfort-focused care, pain control preferences, and limits on interventions that may prolong the dying process without meaningful recovery. Specify your priorities regarding symptom relief, hospice care, and the balance between life extension and quality of life to guide clinicians and agents in delivering compassionate care. Discuss these preferences with family and your agent so they understand the context behind decisions. We help translate general wishes into medically meaningful language that clinicians can follow while preserving flexibility for individualized symptom management.
A POLST form translates expressed wishes into portable medical orders for seriously ill patients, which can be useful if you have advanced illness and want immediate medical orders to follow across care settings. It complements an advance directive by providing actionable instructions for emergency and inpatient care. POLST is not appropriate for everyone. We evaluate health status and goals of care to determine whether a POLST is recommended and coordinate completion with your medical provider to ensure orders reflect current medical realities and your documented wishes.
Give copies of your executed advance directive to your healthcare agent, alternates, primary care physician, and any specialists involved in your care. Ask your medical providers to include the document in your electronic medical record and consider registering directives with state or regional registries where available. We can assist with distribution plans, provide copies suitable for medical records, and advise on steps to ensure visibility, such as wallet cards, digital copies, or notifying local hospitals and care facilities that you have an advance directive on file.
If family members object to an agent’s decisions, clear written directives and prior conversations usually resolve disputes by showing the patient’s own preferences. Courts can intervene if disagreements escalate, and medical providers often follow the agent’s legally granted authority when directives are valid and properly executed. Selecting a trusted agent, documenting your wishes precisely, and communicating with family in advance helps minimize conflict. If disputes arise, legal guidance can help clarify authority and, when necessary, pursue resolution through mediation or appropriate legal channels.
Review advance directives after major life events, such as diagnosis of a new health condition, marriage, divorce, birth of a child, changes in relationships, or relocation. Many people also revisit documents every few years to confirm they still reflect current wishes and legal changes. We offer periodic check-ins to update language, replace agents, or re-execute documents with current formalities. Staying proactive ensures directives remain enforceable and match your present values and medical circumstances.
