Advance Directives
Advance Directives is a catch phrase for documents you execute to provide your loved ones guidance and an Agent authority to assist you when you are not able to do so for yourself. You may need another to assist you due to physical limitations or mental infirmities. We at the Law Office of Burnett and Cairns are able to provide you with documents to help your loved ones help you. Advance Directives are powers and instructions you provide others to help you while you are alive.
General Durable Power of Attorney
A General Durable Power of Attorney provides authority to another person to assist you in handling your affairs. This is a key provision that can be easily overlooked. If you do not provide for another to handle your affairs, and you become unable to do so, the courts will have to step in and determine who should be allowed to handle your affairs. This can be avoided by designating an Agent under a Power of Attorney to act on your behalf. You can authorize them to perform specific tasks or create a general Power of Attorney that covers a wide range of personal and estate matters.
The Law Offices of Burnett & Cairns can help you with the legalities and regulations in place for the designation and management of a Power of Attorney. This is especially critical as Power of Attorney is not regulated by the court. We can help you develop provisions and restrictions that are specific to your family or situation and help you understand how the document can be challenged or terminated.
Healthcare Power of Attorney
A Healthcare Power of Attorney allows you to designate an Agent to make health care decisions for you when you are unable. Almost all of us will need to have someone make a medical decision for us at some point. By designating an Agent ahead of time, and providing specific provisions, you can have assurances that your wishes are known and that the person you wish to make the decisions is doing so. The media has provided examples of how today’s medical technologies can spawn bitter court cases that try to resolve a person’s wishes for medical treatment when no documentation existed.
Living Will
(Declaration for the Desire of a Natural Death)
A Living Will allows you to make a statement today, while you are able, about what type of life sustaining treatment you wish. With your wishes being expressed, families can avoid agonizing decisions and angst regarding what your wishes may be.
The Law Offices of Burnett & Cairns can help you create an individualized healthcare power of attorney document that grants another person the power to give, withhold or stop medical treatment, services or diagnostic procedures in the event that you become unable to communicate your own preferences. This document must be very specific and abide with state laws that regulate power of attorney guidelines. We can also help you terminate or revoke an existing agreement.
If you’d like to learn more about our power of attorney, healthcare power of attorney services, practice or lawyers, please contact our offices at 803-786-1758.