Living Wills & Advance Directives in Columbia
Coordinated Healthcare Documents for Your Estate Plan
A living will works best when coordinated with the people, instructions, and legal documents in your broader estate plan. At Ward & Co Law, we help individuals and families in Columbia, Maryland prepare living wills, advance directives, and Healthcare Powers of Attorney that reflect their healthcare wishes.
Our Wills and Estates practice draws on four decades of combined legal experience. We have advocated for clients throughout Maryland since 1997, providing personalized legal solutions for individuals, real estate owners, and businesses.
To discuss a living will or advance directive in Columbia, call (410) 775-5955 and speak with us about your planning needs.
How Living Wills & Healthcare Powers of Attorney Work Together
An advance directive is a legal instrument that records healthcare instructions, names someone to make medical decisions, or does both. Under Maryland’s Health Care Decisions Act, a person may use one to appoint a health care agent, state future medical treatment wishes, or combine those choices in one document.
A living will records treatment preferences for circumstances in which a person can’t make healthcare decisions. It may address:
- Life-sustaining treatment
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
- Artificial nutrition and hydration
- Hospice care
- Organ donation
A Healthcare Power of Attorney serves a related but distinct purpose. Rather than recording instructions alone, it identifies the person authorized to make medical decisions when the individual can’t do so. We help clients consider how that authority fits with the instructions in an advance medical directive.
When a client becomes incapacitated, an advance medical directive requires physicians to respect the wishes expressed in the document. Those instructions also give the chosen agent a clear basis for decisions that might otherwise require difficult interpretation.
Maryland Requirements for a Valid Advance Directive
A written or electronic Maryland advance directive must be dated and signed by the declarant, the person making the directive. It may also be signed at that person’s express direction. Two people must witness the signature in the declarant’s presence, and the named health care agent can’t act as a witness.
At least one witness can’t be someone who knowingly stands to inherit from the declarant or receive a financial benefit because of the declarant’s death. Maryland doesn’t require notarization, and state law provides an optional statutory form. Using a form, however, doesn’t replace the need to make deliberate choices about treatment and decision-making authority.
Unless the document provides different instructions, an advance directive generally takes effect after the attending physician and a second physician certify in writing that the patient can’t make an informed healthcare decision. The timing depends on both the directive’s language and the required medical determinations.
Oral Advance Directives
A competent individual may make an oral advance directive in the presence of an attending physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner and one witness. The directive must be documented in the individual’s medical record. Because the circumstances and documentation matter, legal guidance can clarify how a written plan may more fully record the person’s wishes.
Decisions Without a Directive or Agent
If someone doesn’t have an advance directive or a designated health care agent, Maryland law provides a priority list for selecting a surrogate decision-maker. A surrogate is legally authorized to make healthcare decisions for a patient who can’t decide independently. The absence of a directive doesn’t create a presumption that the patient consented to or refused life-sustaining procedures.
Coordinating Your Columbia, Maryland Estate Documents
Healthcare planning is one part of a complete plan. We prepare Wills, Trusts, Financial Powers of Attorney, Healthcare Powers of Attorney, and Living Wills. Coordinating these documents helps address financial, healthcare, and legacy decisions without leaving gaps between them.
An advance directive can help protect a client’s legacy by placing deeply personal healthcare choices into a recognized legal instrument. Our personalized approach begins with understanding the individual’s priorities rather than treating the document as a set of interchangeable selections.
Preparing for an Advance-Planning Discussion
Before preparing or revising documents, consider both your medical wishes and the people you trust to carry them out. We provide detailed guidance throughout this process so clients understand their choices.
Topics to consider before discussing your documents include:
- Care preferences: Consider the care you would or wouldn’t want if you couldn’t communicate your decisions.
- Choice of agent: Identify someone you trust to understand your wishes and make healthcare decisions when authorized.
- Existing documents: Gather any current living will, advance directive, Healthcare Power of Attorney, Will, or Trust for review.
- Life changes: Note changes in health, medical wishes, or family relationships that may affect your plan.
We recommend reviewing these documents every three to five years and after a major life event such as marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child. Such changes may affect your wishes, family relationships, or choice of decision-maker.
Put Your Healthcare Wishes in Writing
Clear advance planning lets you document your wishes and select the person who should speak for you if you can’t decide independently. Our contact form provides another way to reach us about living wills and advance directives for Columbia, Maryland individuals and families.
Call (410) 775-5955 to discuss your healthcare planning documents with us.
