Living Will

A living will is an advance directive: a written statement of what medical treatment a person does or does not want if they become unable to communicate, particularly around life-sustaining measures such as resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, and artificial nutrition. It speaks for the patient when they cannot. The document goes by different names in different places, including advance decision and advance healthcare directive, and both the formalities required to make one valid and the legal weight it carries vary by jurisdiction.

A living will states wishes; it does not appoint anyone. The companion document, a healthcare power of attorney, names the person authorised to make medical decisions. Together they work as a pair: the directive guides, and the agent decides, provided the documents meet local requirements.

Why it matters for family offices

For families of significant wealth, incapacity is as much a planning event as death, and often a messier one. Without a living will, physicians and relatives are left to guess at the patient's wishes, and disagreement among family members over life-sustaining treatment can cause lasting damage, both emotional and, where disputes reach lawyers or courts, financial. A clear directive lifts the weight of impossible decisions off spouses and children and reduces the chance of conflict at the worst possible moment. It belongs in every principal's incapacity plan alongside powers of attorney and, where relevant, medical information releases.

How it shows up in practice

A family office typically maintains an incapacity file for each senior family member and reviews it on a fixed cycle. The cross-border dimension matters for globally mobile families: a principal who splits the year between homes in two countries may need directives prepared under each jurisdiction's rules, since a document valid in one place may not be recognised in another. The office's role is administrative rather than legal: keeping a register of what has been signed, where the originals are held, which physicians and hospitals hold copies, and when each document was last reviewed, and prompting the family's lawyers when a move, a marriage, or a diagnosis makes an update prudent.