Cerritos Advance Directives & Powers of Attorney Lawyer
Make Your Wishes Known and Protect the People You Love
Life can change in an instant. A sudden illness, accident, or medical emergency can leave you unable to communicate your wishes or make decisions for yourself. When that happens, your loved ones may be forced to guess what you would want. Or worse, they may have to ask a court for permission to act on your behalf.
At Georgia N. Kezios in Cerritos, we believe every estate plan should include clear, legally valid advance directives and powers of attorney. These essential documents let you decide who will make important decisions for you if you can’t, and how you want those decisions to be made. They spare your family unnecessary stress, conflict, and uncertainty during already difficult times.
We help you create a plan that protects your dignity, your independence, and your loved ones’ peace of mind. Contact our office for help with advance directives in Long Beach, Southeast Los Angeles, and throughout Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties in Southern California.
What Are Advance Directives?
Advance directives are written instructions about your medical care and personal wishes in the event you become incapacitated and can’t speak for yourself. In California, these directives are typically contained in a document known as an Advance Health Care Directive.
Your Advance Health Care Directive lets you:
- Appoint a healthcare agent—someone you trust to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to make them yourself.
- Set out your preferences for medical treatment, including whether you want life-sustaining measures such as resuscitation, artificial nutrition, or ventilation if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious.
- Specify your wishes for end-of-life care, such as pain management, organ donation, and funeral or burial preferences.
This document serves as both a living will (your written medical instructions) and a durable power of attorney for health care (your designation of a healthcare agent). It becomes effective only if you lose the capacity to make or communicate your own decisions.
Designating a Healthcare Agent
Choosing a healthcare agent is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your estate plan. This person will have the legal authority to make medical decisions for you if you can’t speak for yourself. Your agent can, for example, communicate with your doctors and healthcare providers, consent to or refuse specific treatments, make decisions about surgery, medication, and long-term care, and carry out your wishes for end-of-life treatment and comfort care.
Because this person will be acting in your place, it’s crucial to choose someone you trust completely—someone who understands your values and will follow your wishes, even if others in your family disagree.
We’ll help you think through your options and ensure your Advance Health Care Directive is properly executed so your chosen agent can act immediately if needed, without delay or confusion.
End-of-Life Decisions and Living Wills
Many people have strong feelings about what kinds of medical treatment they would or wouldn’t want at the end of life. A living will, which is part of your Advance Health Care Directive, allows you to state those preferences clearly in writing.
For example, you can indicate whether you want:
- Resuscitation (CPR) if your heart or breathing stops
- Artificial life support, such as a ventilator or feeding tube, if recovery is unlikely
- Pain management or comfort care to ensure dignity and relief from suffering
- Organ donation or anatomical gifts
These are deeply personal choices. By making them now, while you are healthy and capable, you spare your family the pain of having to make those decisions under pressure. You also prevent disagreements among relatives who may have different opinions about what you “would have wanted.”
Your Advance Health Care Directive makes sure there is no doubt about your wishes, and your healthcare providers are legally required to honor those instructions.
Durable Power of Attorney for Finances and Assets
Just as your healthcare agent can make medical decisions for you, your durable power of attorney for assets authorizes a trusted person, known as your agent or attorney-in-fact, to handle your financial and legal affairs if you become incapacitated.
This document allows your chosen agent to:
- Pay your bills, mortgage, and other expenses
- Manage bank and investment accounts
- Handle insurance, taxes, and benefits
- Sign contracts and other legal documents on your behalf
- Manage real estate, including buying, selling, or maintaining property
The “durable” aspect means your power of attorney remains in effect even if you lose mental or physical capacity. Without this document, your family might need to go to court to request a conservatorship, which can be a lengthy, costly, and often emotionally draining process where the court appoints someone of its choosing to manage your affairs.
A properly drafted durable power of attorney avoids that outcome and ensures that someone you trust can step in right away to manage your financial responsibilities.
What Happens If You Don’t Have These Documents
Without an Advance Health Care Directive or Durable Power of Attorney, your loved ones may face difficult and painful challenges if you become incapacitated. They could be forced to go through court proceedings to determine who will make decisions for you, and that person may not be the one you would have chosen.
Common problems that arise when people don’t have these documents include:
- Court-appointed guardians or conservators making decisions without fully understanding your values or wishes
- Family conflicts about medical care, life support, or the use of your money
- Delays in critical treatment while healthcare providers wait for legal authorization
- Financial chaos, such as unpaid bills or frozen accounts, because no one has the authority to act
Creating these documents now ensures your family never faces those problems. You remain in control, even when you can’t communicate, and your loved ones have clear guidance on how to carry out your wishes.
Making Sure Your Directives Are Followed
Once we’ve prepared your documents, we’ll make sure you know how to keep them accessible and effective. We recommend providing copies of your Advance Health Care Directive to your healthcare agent, your doctor, and close family members. Your Durable Power of Attorney should be safely stored but easy for your chosen agent to access when needed.
We also encourage clients to review these documents every few years or after any major life change to confirm that your choices and appointed agents still reflect your current wishes.
At Georgia N. Kezios, we’ll be here to help with updates, questions, or revisions whenever you need them.
Personalized Planning for Your Peace of Mind
Every family’s situation is different, and every person’s wishes are unique. We take the time to listen, explain your options, and create documents that clearly reflect your preferences and values. Our goal is to remove uncertainty and give you confidence that your plan will work exactly as intended when the time comes.
When you work with us, you’ll understand what each document does, how it protects you, and why it’s such an important part of a complete estate plan. We’ll make sure you feel informed, comfortable, and supported throughout the process.
Take Control of Your Future
Don’t leave your family guessing or force them to rely on the courts to make personal decisions about your health or finances. With properly prepared advance directives and powers of attorney, you can make your wishes known, choose who will act for you, and protect your loved ones from unnecessary stress and conflict.
Contact Georgia N. Kezios today to schedule a consultation. We’ll help you take control of your future and ensure that your healthcare and financial wishes are honored when it matters most.
