Urgent End-of-Life Planning

When a serious illness leaves little time, you can still decide who speaks for you and what care you want. This service puts your health-care documents in place quickly, with a notary and two witnesses at your bedside.

What the package includes

• Health-care power of attorney. Someone you choose makes treatment decisions when you cannot. Organ donation choices are explained and made only if you initial them.
• Living will. Your wishes about life-prolonging treatment.
• HIPAA authorization. Lets your doctors speak with the people you choose starting now.
• Anatomical gift record. A signed record of your organ and tissue donation wishes, with instructions for confirming the donor designation on your driver license.
• Financial power of attorney, if you want one.

With a will, if you need one

For $1,249, the package also includes a will for one adult.

DNR orders and MOST forms

A portable do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order and a Medical Order for Scope of Treatment (MOST) form are medical orders. A physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner signs a DNR order or a MOST form. I do not prepare or sign them. I counsel you, your health-care agent, and your family so that you bring clear wishes to the clinician who issues the order, and I explain how a signed MOST form can affect the directions in your living will and health-care power of attorney while it is in effect.

How the signing works

A notary and two qualified witnesses are with you in person at your bedside, and I attend by live video. I arrange the notary and the witnesses. Witnesses cannot be your relatives, people who may inherit from you, or paid employees of the hospital, hospice, or care facility where you are.

How it works

1. Call. Your first 15-minute call is free. I ask where you are, who is making the decisions, and whether you can speak for yourself today.
2. Begin. I check for a conflict, we sign an engagement agreement and a HIPAA authorization, and I arrange the notary and witnesses.
3. Talk. By video, I meet with you alone first, then with the person you want as your agent, about the choices each document asks you to make.
4. Review. I prepare the documents, using the statutory forms for the health-care power of attorney and the living will, and make one round of changes by phone.
5. Sign. The signing at your bedside, with the notary and witnesses present and me on video.
6. Close. Copies go to your agent, any alternates, your facility's chart, and your physician, and I explain the donor registry and driver license steps.

I plan for the signing to happen between 24 and 72 hours after your first call, and for the closing to follow by about 96 hours after that call. These are goals, not promises. They depend on the notary and witnesses, the facility, and your condition. If I cannot meet your time frame, I tell you at once, before we begin, and refer you elsewhere.

What is not included

• A guardianship proceeding, Medicaid or long-term care planning, trusts, real estate, and business matters.
• Defense of a will contest.
• Changes to a will I did not prepare. For that, I quote a separate service or refer you elsewhere.

When I cannot take the matter

I do not begin, or I stop, and I explain why, if any of these is true:

• I have real doubt about your capacity on the day we talk or the day of the signing.
• Something suggests another person is directing your choices.
• Family members disagree about who should decide. I represent only the person signing.
• A signing at your bedside cannot be arranged in time, or you will not be in North Carolina on the day of the signing.

A relative cannot make these documents for you. If you can no longer communicate, I explain who may decide under the law and refer you elsewhere.

Price

$849 for the person who is ill, for the directives package. $1,249 for one adult with a will.

To begin, call 984-31-WILLS (94557).

Each price is the standard price plus a $250 rush fee: the Incapacity Planning Package is $599 per person, and the Will-Based Estate Plan is $999 for one adult. The rush fee applies only when you choose this accelerated path. If you can wait, the standard packages are available at their standard prices.

Outside costs are extra: the notary's fees (up to $10 per signature), the witnesses' fees, printing and mailing, and any travel you approve in writing before it happens.