A friend of mine insists that a living will and power of attorney turning authority over to my husband to make decisions for me is a good thing. I tend to agree. Of course, I never thought about this before now, but would like to find out how to get moving on this immediately. Even in my husband's case, we need to establish some sort of guardianship of our children.

Are all Living Wills pretty much the same? Is there anything else we should ask for besides the Living Will, Wills, and Power of Attorney while at the lawyers office? I'm all about "one stop" shopping and getting as much done at once to get it behind me.

Jen

Jen,

I'm not a lawyer, but... living wills (advance directives) are State specific. I did a Google search for <"living will" Colorado> and came up with several references. One article by a Colorado attorney lays things out pretty clearly.

The Colorado Bar Association provides more detail . They don't provide the forms, because they want you to hire a lawyer. If you don't want to hire a lawyer, there are online resources that you can use. Try the Google search and you'll gind them.

I did a Living Will before my first surgery and another when I moved from California to Washington and had #6. I have some speficic wishes, and I want to make sure they are carried out. With a living will, my wife has the notarized document she needs to make sure my wishes are known.

Somehow, it has given me a little peace of mind.

Ken

Jen, the hospital you are being treated at will usually have the forms for a simple living will. The hospitals also usually have a social worker who can help you with getting and filling out the forms. There shouldn't be any need to see a lawyer. If you are looking to accomplish other things, a lawyer may be needed.

Hi Jen,

I had my will changed and also had a living will and power of attorney drawn up prior to my surgery but my case was a little different than most in that my husband passed away suddenly just 9 days after my diagnosis. Facing extensive surgery and treatments and the underlying threat of the "unknown," prompted me to get moving quick. My husband and I already had a will (which was drawn up after the birth of our son) and were VERY outdated so in many ways this was a good thing(?). Although my son at the time was almost 20, I didn't want him to have to make any life decisions on my behalf. I think that would have been too much of an emotional burden. Sorry to ramble ... I guess my point is that it never hurts to be prepared and, for me, it gave me some piece of mind.

Hang in there - you're doing great!

Many hugs, Nancy

Actually ALL of us should have advanced directives, durable power of attorney, living trusts and wills made out because life is fragile with or without cancer. My wife and I had ours done after my diagnosis at a paralegal and it only costs about 500 bucks -far less then what the state would take in a probate court. Power of attorney for bank accounts can be dealt with directly at the bank. Once it's done it's done and it can be easily updated and amended.

Jen,

I agree with what Gary is telling you. Before you embark on this unknown journey, get the loose ends tied up. For example, we found out that although we are married, because the house deed and mortgage was in my name solely, if anything happened to me, my wife would not necessarily get to stay in the house. This was a shocker and before I started treatment, we refinanced the house, updated my will, power of attorney, advanced directives, etc. I also found out that a copy of your advanced directives are supposed to be kept in the glove compartment of your car in case you are in a car wreck. With all the legal stuff done, it was just one less thing to worry about plus it gives you the opportunity to discuss some of the issues we tend to wait until it is too late to discuss.

Kudos to you for all you are thinking about right now!

Ed

The hospice people say to tape the advanced directives to the refrigerator in case paramedics are called because they are required by law to rescesitate you.

Hi Jan,
Seek an attorney that does a lot of work in estate planning. As Gary has said we all should have done these things regardless of cancer. Because you have young children you will probably want to spend a fair amount of time with creating a trust for their care. This will involve choosing guardian(s) and how monies will be distributed. Many states will distribute estate proceeds when the child reaches 18, which is far too young an age to deal with a large sum of money.

For my wife and I, getting our wills and trusts set up was a big relief because we new we should have done it long before cancer forced the issue. If you search the financial forum you will find much discussion in the past couple of years.

Our total bill was around $300.00 and well worth it. We are not wealthy but our estate is suprisingly very sizeable. We both have substantial life insurance policies and our investments and retirement funds together with our home amount to a pretty big number. For the tax reasons alone taking care of this will be very worthwhile.

It is VERY OK to survive your cancer and still have this work done.

I'm back checking the Living Will question again. I went through my local phone book looking for an attorney to do this for me. Primary concern was the Living Will and a Durable Power of Attorney so my husband could make medical decisions for me. The first office I went into, I explained the situation, and the lady said "That will run you 500" I sorta blinked. Yeahhhhhhhhh, don't do anything for us, I honestly think 500 bucks is a wee bit too high.

Time to start looking for a cheaper attorney. Maybe the hospital or the clinic can direct us to one.

Thanks
Jen

Jen,

Do you have any family or friends that could recommend an attorney or even one on the family that you could ask for a referral? Just a thought but sometimes those in your circle of family and friends can connect you the easiest and maybe "grease the skids" for you by placing the call on your behalf. In my case, this dropped the bill from $500 to $250.

Ed