As the oldest people in the millennial generation draw nearer and nearer to turning 40, more of them may start to think about creating an estate plan. Any millennial who has become a parent may already have done so if they have opted to lay out plans for a guardianship of their kids should that ever be needed. However, many other millennials who are much younger might think estate planning is not for them, but they could not be more wrong about that.
Any person, regardless of their age, can be rendered unable to communicate after an accident, for example. In situations like these, someone needs to be able to make medical decisions on behalf of that person. This is where a living will and a health care proxy come into play. As explained by Forbes, a living will gives you the ability to do several things, including name the person who will have the right to discuss your condition and treatment options with medical staff.
In a living will, you also provide guidance as to the type of efforts you would or would not want to have used in your care. Examples include feeding tubes, ventilators, resuscitation techniques and more. Your health care proxy would be tasked with ensuring the wishes outlined by you in this document would be respected.
If you would like to learn more about the various types of estate planning tools and how they may help you at different stages of your life, please feel free to visit the millennials’ control and decision-making page of our estate planning website.
