Planning for the end of your life is not just about preserving assets for your loved ones. What happens in your final days and years before death also impacts your legacy. Before illness or sudden health crises render you unable to make critical decisions, you need to create advance directives. 

Healthcare planning is also a critical component of planning for your future. You should consider how you will pay for any long-term care now. A Tampa Estate Planning Attorney from Mortellaro Law can help. 

Advance Directives Explained 

What is a health care advance directive? The American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging defines it as “The generic term for any document that gives instructions about your health care and/or appoints someone to make medical treatment decisions for you if you cannot make them for yourself.”

Completing advance directives involves writing a set of instructions about your desires for medical treatment and naming a person with the authority to make healthcare decisions for you if you cannot. 

Some considerations for your written healthcare directives can include: 

  • Guidelines for artificial hydration (IV fluids)
  • Guidelines for artificial nutrition (tube feeding)
  • Conditions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
  • Your desired level of comfort care
  • Do Not Intubate (DNI) orders
  • Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders
  • Your wishes for organ donation
  • Your wishes for tissue donation 

Giving a trusted person a Healthcare Power of Attorney gives them the legal authority to decide care questions not addressed in your written instructions. Since it isn’t possible to prepare for every situation, you need a wise and trusted person to make the decisions you would make if you could. Some considerations for this person include: 

  • They should be generally calm and rational
  • They should not be afraid to ask questions 
  • They should be unafraid to stand up and be your advocate 
  • They should be willing to pursue your wishes no matter what 

A Tampa Estate Planning Attorney can help you think through these decisions and formulate the necessary legal documentation. 

Florida Healthcare Planning 

Advance planning is key to preserving your legacy so healthcare costs do not consume it. The time to think about and prepare for chronic illness treatments and hospice or palliative care is when you are still healthy and able to direct some assets for this purpose. One of our Tampa Probate Attorneys can work with you on various estate planning and asset protection strategies to help you prepare to pay these expenses if or when they arise. 

Numerous trusts are available as secure vehicles to protect and grow your assets so that you can qualify for Medicaid coverage and pay for long-term care. Attorney Michelangelo Mortellaro can review the many available strategies and tools and help you customize them to fit your needs and goals. 

Is Your Legacy Secure? Work with a Tampa Estate Planning Attorney 

Preserving your legacy means ensuring that the values, beliefs, and assets that you hold dear are protected and passed on to future generations. It involves planning for your future, including what will happen to your assets and how you want to be remembered. By creating advance directives and making healthcare and estate planning decisions, you can help ensure that your legacy is preserved and that your wishes are carried out if you cannot make decisions for yourself. 

Contact Mortellaro Law at (813) 367-1500 and schedule a consultation at one of our four offices in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Stuart, and Lakeland, FL.