Advance Care Directive
Estate Planning Services
An Advance Care Directive is a document which records your binding refusal of health care, along with your wishes and preferences in relation to:
- Future health care
- Preferred living arrangements
- Life-sustaining treatment
- End of life care
- Personal decisions
You can appoint one or more substitute decision-makers to make these decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so. If you do not wish to appoint a substitute decision maker, you can simply create your Advance Care Directive to document your wishes and binding refusal of health care.
An Advance Care Directive is only valid while you are living.
At FJS Lawyers, we will help you document your healthcare preferences and ensure that your binding refusal of health care is legally recognised. Contact us now.
Planning an Advance Care Directive
You can appoint one or more adults to make decisions for you. These are known as “substitute decision makers”. However, you can use the document to document your wishes and directions without appointing a substitute decision maker.
You can make an Advance Care Directive only while you have legal capacity – i.e. while you are “competent”.
To be “competent” you must understand:
- what an Advance Care Directive is; and
- the consequences of giving an Advance Care Directive.
If there is a question about your competence, it is best to obtain a written opinion from your doctor.
If you do not have an Advance Care Directive and you become unable to make decisions at a later stage in your life. Your loved ones may need to seek an order from the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT).
An Advance Care Directive is effective as soon as it has been signed and witnessed, but it can only be used by a health practitioner or substitute decision maker if at the relevant time, you have “impaired decision-making capacity” (i.e. you are not competent to make decisions).
An Advance Care Directive provision which states a refusal of particular health care (whether express or implied) is a binding provision. All other provisions of an Advance Care Directive are non-binding provisions.
An Advance Care Directive DOES NOT cover financial matters – (you will need an “Enduring Power of Attorney” for financial matters)
Leave us a message to obtain expert advice about the process of making an Advance Care Directive – giving you the peace of mind that your wishes will be respected and your refusal of health care will be binding if you cannot communicate them in the future.