Living Wills & Advance Directives in Glen Burnie
Incapacity Planning for Anne Arundel County & Howard County Residents
Under Maryland law, “living will” and “advance directive” refer to the same document. The statute uses “advance directive,” but most people know it as a living will. Whatever you call it, the document lets you appoint a health care agent to make medical decisions on your behalf and record your treatment preferences before a crisis forces someone else to guess. Any competent adult can create one. You don’t have to be elderly or facing a terminal diagnosis to make this document matter.
At Ward & Co Law, based in Glen Burnie and Columbia, we serve clients throughout Anne Arundel County and Howard County. We draft advance directives alongside your will and financial power of attorney so your healthcare and financial decisions can be handled by the same trusted people, working from a consistent plan.
Ready to put your incapacity planning in place? Call Ward & Co Law at (410) 775-5955 to schedule a free initial consultation.
Why Glen Burnie Clients Trust Ward & Co Law for Estate Planning
We’ve been serving the Maryland community since 1997, and our team brings four decades of combined legal experience to every estate planning engagement, whether a client needs a straightforward advance directive or a comprehensive plan covering a will, trust, and multiple powers of attorney.
We combine the personalized attention of a boutique practice with the resources of a larger firm. That means your documents get careful, individual review rather than fill-in-the-blank treatment. Before a single word is drafted, we take time to understand your family circumstances, your healthcare values, and who you trust to speak for you.
How Maryland’s Advance Directive Works
Maryland’s advance directive combines two functions in a single document. The first is a health care agent appointment, sometimes called a health care proxy, naming the person who can communicate your wishes to providers and make decisions when you can’t. The second is the living will portion, where you state your treatment preferences across three defined situations: terminal condition, persistent vegetative state, and end-stage condition.
One distinction worth understanding is the difference between an advance directive and a MOLST form. A MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a separate document containing actual medical orders that physicians, emergency personnel, and care facilities are required to follow. An advance directive alone won’t stop emergency responders from performing CPR. If that’s part of your plan, a MOLST completed with your physician is the document that does that. We can explain how the two work together so you have a clearer understanding of each document’s role.
Maryland’s Execution Requirements
A written or electronic advance directive must be dated, signed by you (or by someone at your direction), and signed by two witnesses in your presence. Maryland doesn’t require notarization. The rules for witnesses matter, though:
- Your health care agent can’t also serve as one of your witnesses.
- At least one witness must not stand to inherit from you or financially benefit from your death.
- An owner, operator, or employee of your health care facility generally can’t serve as your agent unless they qualify as your default decision-maker under Maryland law or you named them before you began receiving care there.
Maryland also recognizes oral advance directives made in the presence of your attending physician (or a physician assistant or nurse practitioner) and one witness, with the directive documented in your medical record. You can cancel an advance directive at any time through a signed and dated writing, physical destruction, an oral statement to a health care practitioner, or by signing a new directive. We can help keep your documents current as your circumstances change.
Advance Directives as Part of a Complete Estate Plan
A living will doesn’t operate in isolation. Medical decisions during incapacity and financial decisions during incapacity require separate legal authority, and both need to connect to what happens at death. We help clients pair their advance directive with a financial power of attorney and a will so the same trusted people can manage affairs during incapacity and carry out your wishes afterward.
Depending on your situation, a complete plan from Ward & Co Law may include a will, a trust, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, and a living will, with guardianship clauses added when minor children or other dependents are part of the picture. We draft each element together to reduce the risk of gaps between documents.
Start Your Advance Directive with a Free Consultation
If you don’t have a living will in place, now is a good time to address it. We offer a free initial consultation to Glen Burnie-area residents who want to understand their options and get help with incapacity planning.
Call Ward & Co Law at (410) 775-5955 to schedule your free consultation today.
