Make your health care wishes known

A last will and testament (a “will”) is the primary estate planning document. You can use a will to provide for the distribution of your assets after your death. If you have minor children, you can name guardians for them in your will.

Unlike a will, a living will, also known as a health care directive, is only valid during your lifetime. You can use a health care directive to describe your health care wishes during your lifetime, but not to distribute your assets after your death. A comprehensive estate plan may include both a will and a health care directive to cover both asset distribution and health care decisions.

Yes, a health care directive from another state is valid in Illinois if it complies with the laws of the state where it was created or with Illinois’ laws.

Although an out-of-state health care directive may be valid in Illinois, it’s a good idea to update your estate plan when you complete an interstate move. This will help to ensure that your will, health care directive, and other estate planning documents comply with state laws and reflect your current preferences.

In Illinois, health care directives only become effective in the event that you are diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. This is defined as an irreversible condition that will lead to imminent death unless health care staff apply artificial life-sustaining procedures.

In other words, a health care directive does not become operative if you are suffering with a condition that has a good prognosis of recovery. Your medical providers should only act on the instructions in your health care directive if you are facing a terminal prognosis.

Under Illinois law, you can revoke your health care directive in several ways. To perform a revocation, you may:

• Tear up, burn, or otherwise physically destroy the document.
• Verbally declare your intention to revoke your health care directive in the presence of an adult witness.
• Create a written revocation of your health care directive. You must sign and date this revocation or direct someone to do so on your behalf.
• For an electronic document, delete the health care directive with the intention to revoke.

Although the law technically permits a verbal revocation, you should only do so if you have no other option. It is much easier to cast doubt on the authenticity of a spoken declaration than a written one. A verbal revocation also requires your adult witness to create a signed and dated record of the revocation. If you must revoke verbally, make sure to choose a witness who you trust to create the proper written record.

If you purchase your health care directive through FindLaw, you can make unlimited changes for a year after purchase. These changes serve as effective revocations to your previous health care directives. Whenever you revoke your health care directive or create a new one, you should inform your loved ones and health care providers of this fact. If you stored your document with a living will registry, you should make sure to contact them to remove or replace the revoked document.