If you are 18, or older, in addition to a Will you should have a General Durable Power of Attorney, Healthcare Surrogate and a Living Will.
These three (3) documents give your authorization to your appointee so they may make medical and financial decisions for you if you are, for whatever reason, mentally incapacitated or otherwise unable to make those decisions for yourself. You may not be mentally incompetent, but perhaps you have been rendered unable to communicate through an accident or medical coma.
Hospitals and physicians do not necessarily act immediately upon decisions your spouse, parents or other close relatives make for you. Often relatives argue, such as the parent or spouse of a patient arguing with the adult child of a patient. Other times patients have life/domestic partners which the hospital may not recognize as having the legal authority to make these medical decisions. To protect themselves, the medical personnel will require legal authority.
Likewise, with financial decisions, unless the other person is a co-owner or authorized signator on your accounts at a bank, the bank will not discuss your accounts with your loved ones without proper authority. In other situations, one might have an accident due to a third party's malicious act or negligence, and the injured person's loved ones need to get payment from the third party for medical expenses. The loved ones will need authority to do that if the injured person cannot speak for themselves; as an adult, the parent or loved one needs to show proof of the express authority to act on the injured person's behalf.
Without these documents, in some situations your loved ones may be forced to go to court and open a guardianship for you so they can be appointed as your guardian and gain the authority to make these decisions. This can be costly and extremely time consuming. Once a guardianship is opened and a guardian appointed, your guardian must ask the court permission to withdraw any funds or make other important decisions. The guardian is responsible to the court for yearly reports regarding the financial accounts and your physical well-being. The financial accountings will be audited by a court appointed accountant. In some situations, guardianships are useful to protect the "ward" (the minor person or person unable to act for themselves), but in many situations are not needed if the proper people have authority to act. These three documents can help your loved ones avoid this hassle during a difficult and painful time.
Young people think they will live forever, and of course, that is not true. Once one becomes an adult, their parents no longer have the authority to make certain decisions for their children. It is best to "plan for the worst and hope for the best".
These documents only have authority while you are alive. Once you die, your authority dies with you, becoming void at the time of your death.
