Estate Planning · DuPage County, Illinois
Wills, trusts, and the planning that keeps your family in control and out of court, from the same DuPage County firm since 1990.
Advance directives are the documents that speak for you about your medical care when you no longer can. A living will, a health-care power of attorney, and related directives let you decide in advance what treatment you would and would not want, and who should make decisions if you cannot. Without them, those wrenching choices fall to family members who may not know your wishes, or to doctors and courts who do not know you at all. We help you put clear, legally valid directives in place so your voice is heard at the moments that matter most.
We prepare advance directives for clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs, on their own and as part of a complete plan alongside your will, powers of attorney, and any trust. You work directly with the attorney preparing your documents, we walk through the real decisions in plain language rather than legal jargon, and we make sure everything meets Illinois requirements so your providers will honor it.
Illinois recognizes several distinct medical directive documents. Most people need a combination.
Specifies your wishes about life-sustaining treatment if you’re terminally ill or permanently unconscious. Becomes the standing instruction.
Names an agent to make medical decisions for you in real time. Complements the living will.
Allows your designated people to access your medical information. Without this, providers may refuse to share even basic updates.
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, for those with serious illness, it’s a doctor’s order EMS and hospitals must follow.
Specifies treatment preferences if you become unable to make psychiatric care decisions.
Documents your organ and tissue donation wishes more comprehensively than a driver’s license designation.
Without your wishes in writing, family members often disagree about treatment, and grief gets channeled into conflict.
Hospitals default to providing all available care unless directives say otherwise. That’s not always what you want.
Without HIPAA authorization, hospitals may not even confirm to your siblings that you’ve been admitted.
Severe disputes can end up in court, with judges deciding treatment for someone they’ve never met.
Asking a spouse to decide about life support without prior conversation is one of the hardest moments imaginable. Spare them that.
Standard hospital protocols may not align with your beliefs. Directives let you specify.
Advance directives are not a single form, and the differences between them matter when a real decision has to be made. A living will states your wishes about life-sustaining treatment if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. A health-care power of attorney goes further, naming a trusted person to make the full range of medical decisions for you, in situations a living will never anticipated. Most people need both: the living will to record your wishes, and the health-care agent to apply judgment to circumstances no document can fully predict.
We help you understand how these pieces fit together, and how they interact with hospital DNR orders and Illinois POLST forms that come into play when someone is seriously ill. The goal is not to bury you in paperwork; it is to make sure that when a doctor or family member needs an answer, the answer is already there, in your words, and that the person you trust has the authority to act on it. We keep the documents clear enough that they actually get used the way you intended.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
A living will is your standing instruction about specific situations, usually whether to use life-sustaining treatment if you’re terminal or permanently unconscious. A healthcare POA names an agent who can make real-time decisions in any medical situation. Most people need both.
Yes, and it’s the document most often missed. Healthcare POA grants decision authority but not necessarily access to medical records. A specific HIPAA authorization lets your spouse, adult children, or agent get information from providers.
Illinois requires two adult witnesses. They cannot be your healthcare provider, an employee of a health facility where you’re receiving care, or the person you’ve named as healthcare agent. Notarization is recommended.
Yes, anytime while you’re competent. New directives generally supersede old ones; we recommend updating after major life events (diagnosis of serious illness, change in family, change in beliefs).
Most states honor out-of-state directives, but some require their own state’s form. If you spend significant time in another state, executing that state’s directive too is the safest path.
Absolutely. Documents nobody knows about are useless in a crisis. We help you provide copies to your family, primary care doctor, and any specialists treating chronic conditions.
A living will is a written statement of your wishes about life-sustaining treatment in narrow situations — typically terminal illness or permanent unconsciousness. A health-care power of attorney appoints a person to make medical decisions for you across any situation where you cannot speak for yourself, which is far broader. They complement each other: the living will records your preferences, and the health-care agent applies them and fills the gaps. We generally recommend having both.
Yes — when the documents are properly executed under Illinois law, providers are expected to follow them. Problems usually arise from directives that were never signed correctly, cannot be located, or are so vague that staff are unsure what you wanted. We prepare directives that meet Illinois requirements and are clear about your wishes, and we encourage you to give copies to your agent and your physician so they are on hand when needed rather than locked in a drawer.
These conversations are hard. Having them once, and documenting them properly, spares your family from having them at the worst possible time.