Estate & Advance Care Planning

Estate planning is the overall process of planning and making decisions about your future health care and how to arrange and manage your finances. Advance care planning is a term used by health care professionals to describe planning for your future health care if a time comes when you are unable to make your own medical decisions.

Below are resources to help guide you through these processes.

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Estate Planning

ESTATE PLANNING

ESTATE PLANNING MODULE

A module to guide you through the planning process, providing information to help you make the best decisions for you.

QUICK GUIDE TO ESTATE PLANNING

Need-to-know information about the estate planning process in a brief, easy-to-digest document.

Estate planning can include writing down your wishes using these documents:

WILLS

Wills, which can be written, statutory or oral, are documents specifying those who will manage and inherit one’s assets.

TRUSTS

Trusts, or financial arrangements, allow a third party, or trustee, to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary or beneficiaries.

POWERS OF ATTORNEY

Powers of attorney for financial affairs provide the authority to act for another person in financial matters.

STATE-SPECIFIC ESTATE PLANNING

ESTATE PLANNING TOOLKIT

The following toolkit includes estate planning information and forms for all 50 states and DC.

STATE LAWS

Find information about the laws in your state related to estate planning and creating a valid will.

REMOTE EXECUTION OF ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS

Learn about your state’s laws for things like e-wills or remote notary.

Estate Planning Videos

Watch the following recordings to learn more:

Documenting Your Wishes

Documenting Your Wishes

Financial and Medical Decision-Making

Financial and Medical Decision-Making

Practical Things to Think About

Practical Things to Think About

To learn more about estate planning and the steps needed to create an estate plan, please see here. You can also find more information on advance health care directives, including health care powers of attorney/proxy and living wills.

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Advance Care Planning

ADVANCE CARE PLANNING KEY TERMS

ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE

A legal document that specifies what actions should be taken for your health if you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself. An advance health care directive can include a living will and a health care proxy.

HEALTH CARE PROXY (ALSO KNOWN AS HEALTH CARE AGENT OR POWER OF ATTORNEY)

A person who can make health care decisions for you in the event you become unable to make them yourself.

LIVING WILL

A written document stating the type of medical treatment you wish to receive in the event you can no longer communicate your wishes.

ADVANCE CARE PLANNING RESOURCES

ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVES

Find information about advance health care directives and get answers to common questions.

QUICK GUIDE: LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE

Learn about long-term care insurance including what it covers, how to apply and important questions to ask before choosing a policy.

UNDERSTANDING HOSPICE CARE

Learn the difference between hospice and palliative care and find answers to frequent questions about hospice services, coverage and more.

PALLIATIVE CARE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Discover more information about palliative care including tips on how to talk to your doctor.