Health Care Agents

Your healthcare agent will make your health decisions if you are incapacitated.  Usually, your spouse is first, unless they have diminished capacity or are not well-suited to make financial choices, followed by your executor, beneficiaries,  close family, or friends.  It is okay to have choices different from those of your spouse.

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Your healthcare agent is generally your financial manager or the person most likely to be involved in your day-to-day care if you are incapacitated.  

• If you want to choose co-agents, we recommend listing John Doe or Jane Doe (so they can make decisions independently, as that is what often happens in practice anyway)

• Often, clients choose their financial manager (power of attorney) because they want the person making healthcare decisions to also have all the info to be able to consider the financial implications of that choice.  

• If you are choosing someone other than your financial manager, it is ideal if that person gets along with your financial manager. Tension often results in a lack of meaningful care.