Walk It Through: Planning Ahead
A power of attorney, an advance directive, who decides at the hospital, and a guardianship avoided.
A widow in her seventies wants her daughter to handle her finances if she cannot.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One parent's planning. Wills and trusts, conservatorship of money, the guardianship article rewritten for 2027 and a physician's orders for life support are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Durable power of attorneyA power of attorney that survives the principal's incapacity, which every power of attorney is unless it expressly says incapacity ends it.
- Advance care planning documentA document any competent person eighteen or older may make naming health care agents and giving instructions on care, valid with the person's name, birth date, contact details, signature and the date signed.
- Least restrictiveThe form of guardianship the law favors, letting the person take part in decisions as fully as possible.
- MinorA person under eighteen years of age. A minor who has been married may enter contracts and sue on them.
- Surrogate decision-makerThe person who consents to care for a patient who cannot: a guardian, then the agent named in an advance directive, then a spouse, an adult child, a parent and other relatives, in that order.