A few bits of information on Living Wills and estate planning

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This is going by memory (and I posted it as a response in another thread). I'm not an attorney, but I was a paralegal in an estate planning firm in California for several years. This information is not set in stone, and laws do vary from state to state, but:

To be honest, there are really four documents everyone should have, a Last Will and Testament, a Durable Power of Attorney, a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and a Living Will.

The regular will takes care of distribution of property, who gets care of your dependent children, etc.

The Durable Power of Attorney grants your appointee the right to make financial decisions and transactions on your behalf should you become incapacitated.

The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is similar, but allows your appointee to make health care decisions on your behalf such as authorizing additional medications, surgeries, hospital transfers and other medical procedures. This does not cover heroic measures and life support in most circumstances.

The Living Will usually contains the instructions should you be in a situation with no chance of recovery.

As I said, none of this is set in stone, and everyone should consult an attorney regarding estate planning. BUT, these are really the bare minimum that everyone should have. There are a lot of other estate planning tools you could use, but most of them are dependent on how many assets you have and what type.

Hope this information helps someone out there.