Personal Planning Documents

Representation Agreements

Clarity regarding decisions surrounding your health is of critical importance to both your family and your healthcare providers. In British Columbia, a Representation Agreement specifies who has the right to make these healthcare decisions on your behalf, including refusal of life support directives. This is especially valuable for individuals with no spouse or children, or if their children are in conflict with one another or would not make clear decisions.

Depending on how the Representation Agreement is prepared, the authority of a designated representative can include:

• routine finances;
• decisions regarding health care, personal care, and limited legal affairs;
• refusal or consent to life-support treatment and care;
• consent to less common medical procedures and/or treatment;
• consent to treatment the adult approved while capable but has refused since losing capacity;
• decision for living arrangements for the adult, including choosing a care facility.

Ensure that your personal medical decisions are made by someone you trust with a properly detailed Representation Agreement by an experienced notary. Contact us today at 604.682.8988 to find out more.

Advance Directives

Advance Directives document instructions for doctors, nurses, and other health-care providers for an adult’s future health care. That ensures their wishes will be carried out if he or she is unable to express them in the future.

An advance directive is valuable when:

• their family’s wishes differ from their own;
• they have no family who could be appointed as their representative;
• they have concerns that differing opinions among their family might cause conflict if a decision must be made about where they should live or their end-of-life situation.

Call us today at 604.682.8988 for advice and help with your family’s personal planning documents.