New Proposed Law Impacts Advance Medical Directives
An advance medical directive is a document that allows you to designate someone to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event that you are unable to make those decisions for yourself. For example, you might be in a coma or suffering from reduced capacity as a result of a car wreck and are on life prolonging treatment. An advance medical directive can allow your loved one to know your wishes ahead of time and inform the doctor as to what treatments you are refusing. Without an advance medical, the doctors may be limited in making decisions regarding your healthcare.
But what happens if you are going through a divorce or a custody battle?
New law addresses what happens to these documents pending custody or divorce cases. These documents were not previously automatically revoked in the event that you were going through a divorce or a custody battle. Lawyers used to see people forgetting to change their medical directives after breaking up with a significant other. This could cause heated battles between family members and your ex regarding how to handle your medical decisions.
In response to these concerns, the new law, when it goes into effect, will cause these advance medical directives to automatically terminate when there has been a custody or divorce case filed. That means you don’t have to wait for the conclusion of those cases in order to know that your family can make medical decisions for you and not be bound by the decisions of your ex.
Unintended consequences and word of caution. There are many different reasons why a couple may decide to get a divorce. Many older couples are divorcing for monetary reasons given changes in the economy. Not everyone who is getting a divorce is necessarily separating. When these couples are going through these financial issues, they may not realize that their estate planning is at risk.
There may also be other reasons that a loving couple may need to go through the custody courts in the event of incapacity. For example, a doctor or school provider may not be willing to allow services to be provided without both parents signing off on the paperwork. There are some situations where a custody petition may need to be filed that could terminate the medical directive.
It is important for every person who has an advance medical directive or estate plan to talk to their lawyer if they are contemplating filing a custody case or a divorce case to make sure their estate planning is protected.