Health Care Proxies and Living Wills in New York

In New York, the document necessary to appoint someone to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are incapacitated is a Health Care Proxy. A Living Will is a companion document that specifies the person’s wishes, or these wishes can be incorporated directly into the Health Care Proxy. In addition, you can just make the person to whom you are giving the Proxy aware of your wishes, and don’t have to get specific in the Health Care Proxy. A Living Will is not necessary, and does not confer any powers to anyone to make decisions on your behalf. In order to make sure that your wishes are carried out, especially if there are no close relatives able to make those decisions for you, it would be a good idea to have someone appointed as your proxy.

If you need a Will, Health Care Proxy, Power of Attorney, or other estate planning documents, give me a call, and I can arrange to prepare these documents on your behalf. If someone cannot leave their home, I can arrange to come to them.

Cynthia M. Burke, http://www.nyrealtylaw.com