A Living Will is a document serving as a guideline to your family members should you develop a serious medical condition or on certain matters surrounding your death. Your Living Will should not deal with any bequest of assets. That should be done in your standard Will.

People do living wills for various reasons and to address different issues. Most people use it as a tool do give instructions to family members should they develop a serious medical condition and be unable to decide for themselves. Many people feel they don’t want to be kept alive artificially, for whatever reason, be that to avoid high medical costs or traumatizing family etc so they give clear instructions on the issue. Some people also use their living will to give specific guidelines surrounding their death, ie they want to be buried instead of cremated, where they want to be buried etc. You can also us it to leave some personal notes to your loved ones, ie “Mary I want you to take care of my dog Bruno after my death” etc.

There are no specific formalities prescribed by law as in the case of a normal will. We suggest it to be a written document signed by you in the presence of two witnesses.

While your Will stipulates how your assets will be dealt with after your death, your Living Will deals with matters such as what should happen should you develop a serious medical condition or other matters surrounding your death.