Who will decide if you can't
At some point in the future, an accident, injury, illness, or conditions like dementia could leave you unable to make decisions or express your wishes about your health, personal matters, or finances.
That’s why planning ahead is so important.
Planning ahead means thinking about what matters to you and discussing your wishes with your loved ones and the people you trust. Most importantly, it means creating legal documents that say who you want making decisions on your behalf, and what decisions they can and can’t make, if you’re no longer able to.
You can only prepare these documents while you can still make your own decisions.
So the chances of winning the gold lotto? Probably zilch. Approximately one in 45 million, yes.
That's why I never spend a lot of money on lotto tickets.
The chances of being killed in a shark attack? Probably low because we live on land. One in 8 million.
The chances of meeting someone you'll fall in love with? I think that's probably about right. Goodness me. That's cute.
The chances of having a stroke? Probably one in a thousand? Oh. Someone has a stroke every nine minutes. Wow, that's, yeah.
The chances of suffering a brain injury in your lifetime? One in 50 million? One in 45 people suffer an acquired brain injury. And 75 percent of those are under 65. Wow.
The chances of getting dementia? This to me is a very frightening one. One person every six minutes is diagnosed with dementia. This means nearly half a million Australians live with dementia. And I know some of them, so yes, I can well believe that.
The chances of losing capacity to make decisions at some point in your life? Yep, that could be high too. Oof. I hope I always can. They're good questions. I haven't done a great deal of thinking about me being in a position where I'm not gonna be able to make my own decisions later in life. If I lost the capacity to make decisions for myself, I hope my family would make the right decisions for me. I believe that my daughters and family would have the capacity to take over. I would hope that my wife would know what I want, but I'm also assuming that it's my wife that's gonna be making these decisions and I wouldn't know that either.
[Off Screen] Have you ever heard of an enduring power of attorney?
The enduring power of attorney? No, I've never heard that. I have heard of it, but I don't know the function, I guess.
Number one, choose someone you trust who would speak for you in the future. Write it down in an enduring power of attorney. Share it with the people who need to know. And number four, live your life. Live your life. And live your life.
So yeah, it's got me thinking now. I like that, can I keep that?
Here is how you can plan for future decision-making
- Reflect on what matters most to you now and in the future.
- Discuss your wishes with trusted family and friends so they understand your preferences.
- Choose someone you trust who should speak for you if you can’t do so in future (your attorney)—this should be someone you trust to respect your views, wishes and preferences.
- Write down your choices in an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPOA) form and—if you want to record your healthcare wishes in more detail—an Advance Health Directive (AHD) form.
- Share copies of the completed documents—with your attorney(s), family, doctor, accountant/financial planner, lawyer, and anyone else who would need to know about your plans.
How can you safeguard your future?
If you lose decision-making ability, you might be able to get help from your family and friends for everyday decisions, such as what to eat or buy, and social outings.
However, someone may need to be legally appointed to act on your behalf for more complex decisions about things like financial transactions, where you live, your healthcare and organising support.
To ensure someone you trust will have legal authority to make your decisions when you can’t, you should make an:
What is an Enduring Power of Attorney?
An EPOA allows you to give someone you trust legal authority to make certain decisions for you if you can’t make them yourself. You can appoint more than one attorney to make decisions about one or more of the following:
- personal matters - including where you live and who you live with, support services, and legal matters unrelated to your finances or property
- healthcare matters - including consent for most medical treatments, procedures and services to treat physical and mental conditions
- financial matters - including paying expenses, making investments, managing a business, selling property (including your home) and handling legal matters relating to your finances or property
Are there any decisions an attorney cannot make?
While your attorney has significant decision-making power, there are some decisions they cannot make. For example, they can’t make decisions about your children, and they must follow your views, wishes and preferences unless it’s impossible or doing so would cause harm.
When completing your EPOA, you can also provide specific instructions to your attorney in the terms and instructions sections of the form. This allows you to set conditions or limitations on what your attorney can do. Your attorney must follow these instructions and they cannot make decisions that go against the terms and instructions you’ve provided.
What is an Advance Health Directive (AHD)?
An AHD allows you to give health care professionals directions about your future health care if you lose decision-making ability.
You can tell doctors what treatment you would or wouldn’t want and the outcomes you would find acceptable or unacceptable.
An AHD also gives you the option to appoint an attorney. An attorney is a person, or multiple people, you trust to make decisions about your health care on your behalf.
Why should you plan ahead?
Planning ahead can make life easier for you and your loved ones. Here are some of the benefits of having an EPOA and AHD in place:
- you can make sure someone you trust has the legal authority to make decisions for you if you can’t
- critical decisions about your life can be made quickly, without delay
- decisions made for you will reflect your views, wishes and preferences
- it reduces the chances of disagreements, as it’s clear who you’ve chosen to act on your behalf and what your wishes are.
What happens if you don’t plan ahead?
If you don’t have an EPOA and AHD, you could face these risks:
- no-one will know what your wishes are
- someone you don’t know might end up making decisions for you
- you may end up with a different life to the one you would have chosen
- your loved ones may feel stressed trying to guess what you would want or prefer