You're still living your best life--happy, healthy, and mentally fit. This is the perfect time to start thinking about the need for two key senior health care documents: a durable power of attorney and advanced medical directives. With these documents in place you can truly relax, knowing that your future is in good hands.

It's only natural to feel a bit reticent to think about a point in your life when someone will be making decisions on your behalf, but it's important to recognize that these documents will allow you to keep control of critical choices, even when you are unable to voice them yourself, by ensuring that your loved ones know your wishes regarding financial and health care decisions. If you were to suffer an injury or illness that resulted in your mental incapacitation and these documents are not executed, the court will appoint someone to make financial and health decisions on your behalf. This person may be a stranger to the family or someone who will make decisions contrary to what you would want.

To make sure that your wishes will be carried out, it is necessary to have both a power of attorney and an advanced directive document as they address very different issues.

Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA)

Granting someone durable power of attorney gives that person the right to manage your financial affairs. Although the DPOA grants the “agent” with the power to make decisions about your finances, you can still limit what they can do. For example, in your DPOA, you could specify that your agent would be able to pay daily expenses, taxes, and other bills but not sell your home or any personal items unless you became fully incapacitated. You can also require that they maintain certain balances in specific accounts or otherwise specify what they are allowed to manage.

Given the power you are granting your agent, it is important that this person be trusted, competent, and willing to take on this responsibility. This can be a family member, friend, bank, or lawyer. Together, you and your loved ones should determine who the best person to function as DPOA is and what limits or controls should exist.

Consult with an attorney to review these issues and to draft and execute this document.

Advanced Directives (AD) and Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (DPOAHC)

Advanced directives, also referred to as a living will, allows you to detail what kind of medical treatments you would want to receive in the event of a terminal illness, vegetative state, or other form of permanent incapacitation. This can include the use (or not) of ventilators for breathing, resuscitation, tissue or organ donation, and more. Each state has its own rules as to what can or must be included in Advanced Directives and forms which you can download and print.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is the formal appointment of the person who will make medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. If there is an Advanced Directives, her agent must follow her wishes on the stated matters. In addition, when crafting the DPOAHC, you can detail other specific health care choices that your agent should make.

Some people only have Advanced Directives and others take it a step further and legally appoint a DPOAHC. The first you can do yourself; the second will require an attorney.

Protect your future and your piece of mind through the use of a durable power of attorney and advanced directives. These key senior health care documents provides you with the ability to inform others of your financial and health desires with the confidence of knowing that those wishes will be respected.