Need Advance Directives for Health Care?

Estate Planning Attorneys Draft Living Wills

Our estate lawyers have experience crafting health care proxies and living wills for individuals and couples alike. No matter the size of your estate, health care proxies and living wills (or, in New Jersey, a Combined Advance Health Care Directive and Health Care Proxy) are important parts of your estate plan.

What is an Advance Directive and Living Will?

At KGG, our estate attorneys realize that while we deal with these terms and documents on a daily basis, our clients do not. We want to be certain that you understand each of the items in your estate planning portfolio.

• Advance Health Care Directive is more than an expression of wishes – it sets forth a series of specific instructions regarding whether and when life extending treatments or procedures should be withheld or withdrawn, and your New Jersey Health Care Representative (named in a companion Health Care Proxy) is obliged to enforce your instructions, and your Health Care Representative may make decisions for you only if a situation should arise as to which you have given no instruction.
• Living Will is not a testamentary will, but a document that expresses your wishes regarding continuation or termination of life support in various circumstances.
• Health Care Proxy is another term for a Power of Attorney for Heath Care, a document that authorizes a chosen agent to make important medical decisions in the event you become incapacitated or otherwise unable to make those decisions for yourself.

A Health Care Agent (NY) or a Health Care Representative (NJ) may receive otherwise confidential information from doctors and hospitals regarding your health and the care you are receiving.

A Living Will provides guidance and comfort to the health care agent named in your New York Health Care Proxy. Hospitals can be legally obligated to maintain artificial life support in the absence of an Advance Health Care Directive (NJ) or instructions from your Health Care Agent (NY).

Have Questions About Advance Directives and Living Wills?

To arrange a consultation, call us in Rockland County, New York or Bergen County, New Jersey at (866) 971-0927 or contact us online. If you leave us a message after hours, we will return your call promptly. We can arrange to meet with you in the evening if you require a later appointment time.

Kantrowitz, Goldhamer, Graifman, Perlmutter & Carballo, P.C. is a full-service law firm providing estate law services including: creation of wills, trusts, elder law and Medicaid planning. Let us help you create an all-inclusive estate plan to protect your interests and those of your family.