Law Office of Vanchieri and Ferrier LLP

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Brooklyn, NY 11214
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Advanced Care Directives

Advance directives have become an important complement to estate planning. While estate planning will determine what happens to your assets after death, more and more we must be concerned about what happens during life. The following documents are an essential part of any “complete” plan.

Health Care Proxy

A Health Care Proxy allows you to appoint an agent to make medical care decisions for you, in the event that you lose the ability to make these decisions yourself. In light of recent events, appointing a health care agent is of the utmost importance to ensure that important health decisions will be made in the event you become incapacitated.

Hospitals, doctors and other health care providers must follow your health care agent's decisions as if they were your own. You may give your health care agent as little or as much authority as you want. You may allow your health care agent to make all health care decisions or only certain ones. You may also give your agent instructions that he or she is required to follow. Additionally the Health Care Proxy form can be used to state your wishes with regard to organ and/or tissue donation.

Living Will

A Living Will is your own written expression that you do not wish to be kept alive in the event that you are unable to communicate your health care decisions and you suffer from an incurable or irreversible condition with no reasonable expectation of recovery. It is used in conjunction with a Health Care Proxy. A Living Will is not used to pass assets to your beneficiaries after your death.

We recommend that you have both a Living Will and a Health Care Proxy. Although health care providers are required to follow the instructions of your health care agent, they may be unwilling to take life-ending actions. The existence of a Living Will confirming your desire for such action may be enough to convince the health care provider that your health care agent has your best interests at heart.

Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney allows you to authorize someone else to sign your name to any non-health care related document (including financial documents) without any further consent. Having an “attorney-in-fact” can be of great assistance in the event that you become incapacitated, as there will be someone available to access your funds and take care of your financial affairs. If you become incapacitated without having a Power of Attorney, the appointment of a guardian may be necessary to manage your financial affairs. This can be a lengthy and costly Court proceeding.
However, a Power of Attorney can also be used for fraudulent purposes, if entrusted to the wrong person it. Your “attorney-in-fact” should only be someone you trust to handle all of your financial affairs during an emergency with the utmost confidence.

Don’t entrust your and your family’s future to some do-it-yourself book or a “legal document preparation” service. Our attorneys have more than 30 years in advising clients on how to prepare for the future. We take you future seriously. You should too.

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This Website is provided for general information. Information in this Website is NOT intended to create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it constitute legal advice to anyone receiving such information. No communication (electronic or otherwise) with Vanchieri & Ferrier, LLP will generate an attorney-client relationship, nor will it be considered an attorney - client privileged communication. No communication (electronic or otherwise) with Vanchieri & Ferrier, LLP will create an obligation to respond. Vanchieri & Ferrier, LLP lawyers are New York lawyers. Vanchieri & Ferrier, LLP serves Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx, Westchester County, Nassau County, and Suffolk County. Even though some of our lawyers may be admitted to practice law in other states, Vanchieri & Ferrier, LLP provides legal services only for New York cases.

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