Living Will Attorney Phoenix, AZ
Need Legal Assistance For a Living Will in Phoenix? We Help Loved Ones Throughout Arizona
The Phoenix living will attorney team at Israel & Gerity, PLLC, helps individuals and families throughout Maricopa County and Arizona draft legally binding living wills that clearly outline health care wishes and end-of-life care preferences if they are unable to speak or decide for themselves. Our Phoenix estate planning lawyers provide legal assistance to ensure life-sustaining treatment decisions, hospice care preferences, and other critical medical care instructions are properly documented and compliant with Arizona law.
Our experienced living will attorneys guide individuals of all ages through advance care planning, including specifying medical care preferences for terminal conditions or a persistent vegetative state and addressing related planning needs such as health care power of attorney. By working with lawyers who understand Arizona’s estate-planning laws, clients can protect their wishes, reduce uncertainty for loved ones, and avoid conflict during emergencies. We guide many through this important process efficiently and affordably, providing the legal tools and counsel needed to communicate wishes to family members and medical teams.
To schedule a free consultation with a Maricopa County living will attorney, call 602-274-4400 or use our contact form.
Advance Directive Documents Family Members Need for Arizona Living Wills
Families planning for future health care decisions should be aware of the following advance care planning tools as part of a comprehensive estate plan under state law.
Core advance directives in Arizona include:
- Living Will: The principal (person making the living will) states their end-of-life care wishes.
- Health Care Power of Attorney: Appoints an individual to make health care decisions for you if you are incapacitated.
- Durable Mental Health Care Power of Attorney: Allows you to choose an agent to make mental health care decisions if you are mentally incapacitated.
Additional healthcare directives include:
- Prehospital Medical Care Directive: This is commonly called “the orange form.” It states that the individual does not want to be resuscitated if they stop breathing or go into cardiac arrest. This document must be signed by your doctor, printed on orange paper, and positioned in a prominent position to be valid. This is typically used for those with little quality of life left.
- POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment): This is for people with serious conditions. The document must be signed by your doctor to outline specific medical care preferences.
You can mail, email, or fax copies of registration and advance care planning forms to the Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry so family members, first responders, hospital staff, doctors, and other medical staff can access them if not readily available. You can also give a copy of these documents to the individual you’ve appointed as your health care power of attorney, your loved ones, and your doctors.
Our Phoenix living will attorneys recommend that all competent adults over the age of 18 have a living will and health care power of attorney. We can help draft your living will as a standalone service or as part of your broader estate planning.
Living Wills for End-of-Life Medical Decisions
- A living will is a written statement that expresses your health care wishes if you ever have a terminal illness, are in a persistent vegetative state, or are in an irreversible coma.
- Use a living will to make health care decisions currently, including whether you want life-sustaining care withheld or withdrawn.
- The living will is your written instructions to your health care power of attorney, your family, your doctor, and any other person who might make health care decisions for you.
- The living will must be signed by the individual creating it and either witnessed by someone else who isn’t involved in the principal’s current medical care or notarized by a notary public.
Living wills for end-of-life care can include options for the following:
- Refusing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): This means you do not want physicians or emergency responders to try to restart your heart or breathing if it stops. It avoids aggressive life-saving measures that may cause pain or have a low chance of recovery.
- Refusing artificially administered food and hydration: This means you do not want nutrition or hydration provided through feeding tubes or IV lines if you cannot eat or drink on your own.
- Refusing hospitalization when avoidable: This means you prefer to receive care at home or in a hospice setting rather than being transferred to a hospital, as long as symptoms can be managed safely.
Living wills in Arizona allow you to state your end-of-life care wishes if you ever suffer a terminal illness, permanent coma, are in a persistent vegetative state, or are unable to communicate your preferences or become mentally incapacitated.
Our Phoenix wills lawyers help people throughout Maricopa County draft living wills that cover specific situations, outline medical care wishes, and ensure your values are respected and compliant with state law.
Medical Power of Attorney in Arizona
- The durable healthcare power of attorney is a document that lets you choose another person, called an “agent,” to take action on your behalf if you can no longer do so for yourself.
- Unless the document includes specific limits, the agent will have broad authority to make any health care decision you could normally determine yourself. This includes whether or not to continue tube feeding.
- Medical power of attorney documents must be signed by the patient and witnessed or notarized and attached to the living will.
HIPAA Authorization for Access to Medical Records
- You can grant your healthcare agent authority to be treated as you would be with respect to rights regarding the use and disclosure of individually identifiable health information or other medical records.
- This release of authority applies to any information governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), 42 USC 1320d, and 45 CFR 160-164.
- A HIPAA authorization allows you to authorize specific individuals to access protected health information (PHI).
- Without proper HIPAA authorization, healthcare providers may be unable to share medical information with your designated agent or family members.
Mental Health Care Power of Attorney for Psychiatric Decisions
The durable mental health care power of attorney is a document that lets you choose another person, called an “agent,” to make mental health care decisions if you become incapacitated. In Arizona, standard health care POAs don’t grant authority for mental health decisions. The same is true for a surrogate decision maker.
Only a neurologist, a licensed psychiatrist, or a psychologist can determine whether a patient has the capacity to provide informed consent. If there isn’t a mental health care agent, the traditional medical care POA can determine what mental health treatment is necessary. However, the agent can’t admit the principal to an inpatient psychiatric facility or consent to treatment in an inpatient psychiatric facility. Additionally, if you need inpatient treatment but are unable or unwilling to accept, the only option is to pursue an emergency guardianship or conservatorship.
When Should an Arizona Living Will and Medical Power of Attorney Be Part of Your Estate Planning
Living wills and medical care agents should be part of your estate planning as soon as you turn 18. Having a living will helps ensure your health care wishes are legally enforceable. Most people wait until they’re older to address health concerns and create living wills. However, unexpected accidents, terminal conditions, or medical emergency situations can occur at any age. It’s critical to have living wills and health care agents set up before you need them.
Creating both a living will and a medical power of attorney provides comprehensive protection, with the living will covering specific end-of-life care preferences, including life support, ventilators, and resuscitation preferences, artificial nutrition and hydration, feeding tubes, pain management, hospice, and comfort care instructions. Our Phoenix healthcare directive attorneys recommend that all adults include living wills and powers of attorney as a fundamental component of estate planning, alongside wills, trusts, and other legal documents that protect assets and family members.
Contact a Phoenix trust and estate administration attorney to learn more.
Advance Directive and Living Will: Arizona Requirements Under A.R.S. § 36-3221
Advance directive and living will, Arizona requirements under A.R.S. § 36-3221 specify that you must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind when creating these legal documents. Your living will must be in writing, dated, and either notarized or witnessed by two adults who are not related to you or named in your estate planning documents. Arizona law requires that witnesses cannot be your healthcare providers, employees of healthcare facilities where you are receiving treatment, or anyone who would benefit financially from your death, ensuring the living will reflects your true wishes without undue influence.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office provides information about advance directives and the legal requirements, though working with Arizona estate planning lawyers ensures your documents comply with all state rules and are properly executed to be legally enforceable. Israel & Gerity assists clients in meeting all Arizona requirements for valid advance directives, explains the legal rules, arranges proper witnessing or notarization, and creates documents that hospitals, doctors, and healthcare facilities throughout Arizona will recognize and honor.
Living Trust vs Will in Arizona
Living trust vs. will in Arizona is an important estate-planning decision that affects how your assets are distributed after death: a living trust allows assets to pass to beneficiaries without going through probate. In contrast, wills go through the probate process. A living will is entirely different from both a living trust and a last will and testament. A living will addresses healthcare decisions during your life, while a trust or will addresses the distribution of assets after death.
Most people benefit from having both estate planning documents (wills or trusts for assets) and advance directives (living wills and healthcare powers of attorney for medical decisions) to create a comprehensive plan that protects both their property and their healthcare wishes. Our Arizona estate planning lawyers explain the difference between these legal tools, help clients understand which documents they need based on their assets and circumstances, and assist in creating complete estate plans that address both financial affairs and healthcare decision-making.
When to Update Advance Directives in Arizona
When to update advance directives in Arizona includes major life events such as marriage, divorce, birth of children, death of designated healthcare representatives, significant changes in health status, or changes in your health care wishes and treatment preferences. You should review your Arizona living will and healthcare power of attorney every few years to ensure the documents still reflect your current wishes, that your designated representatives are still appropriate choices, and that you haven’t experienced life changes that make updates necessary.
Arizona law does not require you to update advance directives unless your circumstances change, but regularly reviewing these documents ensures they remain current and effective when needed. Israel & Gerity assists Phoenix clients in updating advance directives, explaining when updates are beneficial, and ensuring revised documents are properly executed, distributed to family members and healthcare providers, and accessible when medical teams need to reference your current health care wishes.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Phoenix Healthcare Directive Attorney
Our healthcare directive lawyers provide skilled legal representation for those needing guidance in creating living wills, health care POAs, and other advance care planning tools that protect health care wishes and ensure loved ones can make informed medical decisions on their behalf. The Phoenix living will attorneys at our law firm offer free consultations and take time to discuss your concerns, explain how we create living wills, and outline our fees and services to help you understand the importance of having legal documents in place before an emergency occurs.
For a free consultation, call 602-274-4400 or use our contact form. This is an important step in creating comprehensive estate plans that provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
Free In-Depth
No Obligation Case Evaluation
Free In-Depth
No Obligation Case Evaluation
