What is a Personal Directive?
In Nova Scotia, the Personal Directives Act allows an individual to legally create a personal directive. This would be a legal document authorizing an individual to act on a person’s behalf when they no longer have capacity and are therefore unable to make decisions concerning their own personal care, including health care, living arrangements, and support services. Creating a personal directive does not mean you are giving specific instructions to a person for every possible health care issue. Appointing a person to act on your behalf, when you are not able to, gives them the authority to make decisions consistent with what you would want and in your best interests. The person appointed under a Personal Directive to act on your behalf is commonly referred to as your Health Care Guardian. What are the benefits of having a Personal Directive? There are many benefits of creating a Personal Directive: Is a Power of Attorney different from a Personal Directive? A Power of Attorney is very different from a Personal Directive and are governed by separate statues. A Power of Attorney document appoints an individual to handle financial duties on a person’s behalf.[4] This could mean a variety of things such as enabling a person to pay bills, communicating with your bank, and also completing real estate transactions, to name a few. It is very common for a Power of Attorney and Personal Directive to consult each other (or be the same person) prior to making decisions regarding a person’s wellbeing as usually one’s finances and assets will need to be considered as well. Ensuring that your Power of Attorney and Personal Directive are in place for when they may be needed is an extremely important step in preparing for your future. Kennedy Schofield Lawyers discuss Personal Directives in their Estate Planning meetings. Make an appointment with one of our lawyers today by calling the office 902-826-9140. [1] Personal Directives Act. 2008, c. 8, s 3(1). [2] Personal Directives Act. 2008, c. 8, s 14 [3] Personal Directives Act. 2008, c. 8, s 3(5). [4] Powers of Attorney Act. R.S., c. 352, s 2.