A Living Will Covers Your Most Important Asset: You
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Here's your money briefing for Friday, November 29th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Having a will ensures that your assets and belongings are passed down according to your wishes after you die. A living will outlines what kind of care you want if you're unable to speak for yourself.
People feel really strongly about what kind of care they would want if they had an accident or a serious chronic illness. The living will spells that out. It would say whether you want all means taken to save your life or the other extreme, whether you refuse medical treatment.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Ashley Ebeling after the break.
Listen at schwab.com slash washingtonwise.
Confusion about end-of-life issues happens often in hospitals. A living will can remove the ambiguity. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Ashleya Ebling joins me. Ashleya, what is a living will, and how does it differ from any other kind of will that someone would draw up?
A basic will, your last will and testament, covers your assets, your real estate, your investment, what you want done with that at your death. A living will is a completely separate document, and it covers your health care decision-making, what you want done if you're unable to speak yourself.
If you're in some kind of a medical emergency?
Right. It could be an accident or it could be a coma or a degenerative disease. If you're unable to tell the doctor what you want, you can say whether you want all life-saving measures taken or whether you, for example, don't want certain medical care.
Could someone have a living will and a regular will?
Yes, you would want both.
What is a living will and how does it differ from a last will and testament?
People feel really strongly about what kind of care they would want if they had an accident or a serious chronic illness. The living will spells that out. It would say whether you want all means taken to save your life or the other extreme, whether you refuse medical treatment.
How common are these types of wills?
About a third of people have these living wills that state their health care wishes. It goes up to about a half for older people, but that still tells you half of the people don't have them. What other types of details are typically in one? It could spell out on the medical side if you want artificial hydration and nutrition, for example. It can also spell out on the softer side things like how you want – your comfort care if you want harp music, for example, or if you do or don't want a chaplain visit in the hospital. The tricky thing is states have different names for these documents. And in most states, there's one overall form called an advance directive, and that includes a section that's the living will.
And it has another section called a health care proxy, where you name someone to make decisions for you if you can't. That person then is... supposed to follow the living will that you wrote out.
What are the most frequent problems that come up with a living will?
People who don't have them, actually, that's the most confusing thing because then it's unclear who they should be asking and what you would want. Problems that come up, just confusion and ambiguity on terms if you have a document. And people don't know where to find the directives when an emergency arises in some cases.
Are there tools available to help write a living will to avoid some of the confusion?
You might find out about it through your financial advisor or an attorney. If you're an attorney doing an estate plan, they would include it as part of an overall estate planning package.
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