Personal Directive - Edmonton, Alberta
Ensure your healthcare and personal care wishes are honored. Contact Bosecke LLP in Edmonton to draft a legally sound Personal Directive.
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When planning for the future, many people focus primarily on their financial assets. However, deciding who will make healthcare, living, and personal choices for you if you cannot make them yourself is equally, if not more, important.
At Bosecke LLP, our Edmonton estate planning lawyers help clients draft comprehensive Personal Directives. This crucial document can provide you and your loved ones with profound peace of mind, ensuring that your medical and lifestyle wishes are respected, even if you lose the capacity to explain them.
In some jurisdictions, the document is known as a living will or a healthcare proxy. Under Alberta law, it is called a Personal Directive. It is a legal document that allows you to appoint a trusted individual, known as your Agent, to make personal and non-financial decisions on your behalf if an illness, injury, or cognitive decline leaves you unable to do so.
Your Personal Directive only comes into effect if you lack the mental capacity to make decisions for yourself. Capacity is typically assessed and declared by a physician or a psychologist. Until that moment, you retain complete control over your own body and life choices.
A Personal Directive grants your Agent the authority to make critical life decisions, including but not limited to:
Medical Treatments
Consenting to or refusing medical procedures, surgeries, and medications.
End-of-Life Care
Making decisions regarding life support and palliative care based on the specific instructions or values you outlined in the directive.
Accommodation
Deciding where you will live, such as moving you to an assisted living facility or nursing home if you can no longer live safely at home.
Personal Choices
Making choices about who you interact with, your daily activities, and legal decisions unrelated to your finances.
If you lose capacity without a Personal Directive in place, your family members do not have the automatic legal authority to make major medical or housing decisions for you. They would have to undergo a stressful, time-consuming, and expensive court process to apply for guardianship. In emergency medical situations, delays caused by this legal limbo can be devastating.
A properly drafted Personal Directive prevents this scenario, lifting a significant administrative burden off your grieving family.
Why Bosecke LLP
Drafting a Personal Directive requires careful thought and a knowledge of the nuances of Alberta law.
Our lawyers will guide you through complex considerations, helping you articulate your wishes regarding life-sustaining treatments and quality of life. We ensure your document complies with Alberta’s Personal Directives Act, leaving no room for ambiguity.
Depend on Bosecke LLP for:
Safeguard your family’s future, starting with a free personal directive consultation with the Bosecke LLP team.
Give your family clarity and peace of mind by putting your healthcare and personal care wishes in writing today.
FAQ
Your Agent should be someone who knows you well, understands your values, and is capable of making difficult, emotionally charged decisions under pressure. Most people choose a spouse, adult child, or close friend. You can also name alternate Agents in case your primary choice is unavailable.
No. As long as your Personal Directive is legally valid and your Agent is acting in accordance with the wishes you outlined, healthcare professionals must follow your Agent’s instructions. Your family cannot legally override your designated Agent.
A Personal Directive is strictly for medical, housing, and personal decisions. A Power of Attorney is strictly for financial and legal decisions (like paying bills or selling property). To have a complete estate plan, you need both.
Yes. In Alberta, a spouse does not automatically have blanket legal authority to make all medical or placement decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. A Personal Directive explicitly grants them that power without requiring court intervention.