What do I do with my Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will?

So, you’ve been a responsible adult and have recently completed your estate plan.  As part of your plan, you have a Health Care Power of Attorney, Living Will, and HIPAA Authorization.  Now what?

Here’s what I recommend with regard to those documents:

Keep the originals at home in a place that your Health Care Agent knows about.

Provide a copy to your Health Care Agent, physician and hospital.

Register the documents with one of these services:

                     Legal Directives, LLC – Annual fee, wallet card issued.  Available through certain law firms at a reduced cost.  Automatically provide copies to your physician if you wish.

                    Docubank – Annual fee, wallet card issued.  Available through certain law firms at a reduced cost.

                    U.S. Living Will Registry – No charge, but must be submitted through a “Community   Partner”

                     North Carolina Secretary of State– One time fee of $10 per document.  The cheapest, but a “no-frills” version.

Registration is especially important for those who travel a lot.  Folks who regularly spend extended periods in other states should consider having advance directives prepared for that state as well, taking care not to revoke the primary state’s forms.