The Right Advance Directing Living Will Lawyer for Your Needs
When you live your life, thinking about your future medical care can feel a little uncomfortable. No one likes to think about a time when they might not be able to make their own decisions. But here’s the thing—planning ahead now means less stress and trouble later.
That’s what advance directives and living wills are for. These legal instruments give you a voice when you need it most. And our team at Arkansas Legacy Planning is here to assist you with the process of creating an advance directive and/or living will tailored to your specific needs.
We understand the sensitive nature of planning for end-of-life care and medical treatments when you can no longer communicate your wishes. But proactive planning will spare your family uncertainty and stress and help remove the overwhelming burden from your shoulders.
Understanding Advance Directives and Living Wills
Let’s start with the basics. An advance directive is a legal document that lets you spell out what kind of medical care you want (or don’t want) if you can’t speak for yourself. A living will is one kind of advance directive, and it focuses on life-sustaining treatments like ventilators and feeding tubes.
In Arkansas, you can also name someone to speak for you—this is called a health care proxy or power of attorney for health care. It’s someone you trust to make your own health care decisions when you can’t.
Put simply: these documents make sure your voice is heard even if you can’t speak. That’s a powerful thing.
Importance of Advance Care Planning
We know it’s not fun to think about “what ifs,” but life can throw surprises our way. Accidents, illnesses, or surgeries can happen unexpectedly, at any age. Having a plan in place gives you and your family peace of mind.
When you create an advance directive or living will, you’re doing more than filling out a form. You’re making your wishes known, taking the burden off your loved ones, and ensuring that you get the care you truly want.
Here’s what you can achieve with advance care planning:
- Providing clarity during a crisis. When medical decisions must be made quickly, having your wishes documented removes guesswork and potential conflict.
- Reducing family burden. Your loved ones won’t have to wonder if they’re making the right choices on your behalf.
- Ensuring your voice is heard. Your values and preferences remain central to your care, even when you cannot express them.
- Creating peace of mind. Both you and your family can feel more secure knowing there’s a plan in place.
- Sparking important conversations. The process of creating advance directives often opens meaningful discussions about values and priorities.
Arkansas healthcare facilities are required by law to ask if you have advance directives when admitted. And, contrary to popular belief, planning ahead isn’t just for seniors or those facing illness. Unexpected medical crises can happen at any age, making advance care planning important for all adults.
What to Look for in a Living Will Lawyer
When you’re choosing a lawyer to help with something as personal as a living will, it’s not just about finding someone with a law degree—it’s about finding someone who understands the personal and practical aspects of advance care planning.
So what should you look for? Here’s our take, based on years of helping families plan ahead:
1. They Know Arkansas, and They Know People
A great living will lawyer doesn’t just understand the law—they understand you. Arkansas has unique laws about advance directives, but those don’t mean much if your lawyer doesn’t know how to listen to your story and reflect your wishes accurately.
2. They Make It Feel like a Conversation, Not a Chore
Let’s face it—no one wakes up excited to write a living will. But the right attorney will make the process feel surprisingly easy. They will ask the right questions, explain your choices clearly, and help you create something that actually puts your mind at ease.
3. They Value Your Voice Over Their Own
Some lawyers love to talk. The ones you want on your side? They know how to listen. You want someone who pays attention to your goals, your concerns, your fears and helps turn those into a solid, legally binding plan.
4. They Think Ahead
Life changes. A great living will lawyer will help you build a plan that works today and can grow with you. They will be there for you down the road, not just in the moment.
5. They Put Your Comfort First
The best lawyers understand that legal planning is also emotional planning. Whether you’re calm, anxious, unsure, or a little of everything, they meet you where you are and guide you with kindness.
At Arkansas Legacy Planning, we know that our job isn’t just to draft documents—it’s to offer reassurance in uncertain times. We take pride in offering a warm, personalized experience that meets the needs of everyday Arkansans. Our approach isn’t about pressure or paperwork. It’s about conversations that matter and relationships that last.
Creating a Comprehensive Advance Directive
A truly effective advance directive goes beyond basic checkboxes. It should provide clear guidance for various scenarios while reflecting your personal values and beliefs.
And when we say “comprehensive,” we don’t mean complicated. We just mean we help you cover all the important stuff. Here’s how the process works with us:
- We chat about what matters to you: This is your chance to share your values, beliefs, and medical preferences.
- We help you choose your health care proxy: Picking someone you trust is key. We make sure it’s done right.
- We walk through tough choices together: Things like feeding tubes, CPR, and ventilators. We will help you think them through.
- We put it all in writing: In plain language, legally sound, and easy for others to understand.
- We help you share it: We make sure your family and doctors have copies so your wishes are always within reach.
This is your plan, your voice. At Arkansas Legacy Planning, our attorneys guide you through this process step by step. We use a thorough questionnaire and in-depth conversation to ensure we capture all aspects of your wishes.
Benefits of Creating a Living Will
Taking the time to create a living will offers profound benefits that extend far beyond the legal document itself. Some of the advantages of having having these legal instruments as part of your estate plan include:
- Peace of mind for everyone: You know what you want. Your family knows what you want. Your doctors know what you want. No one is left second-guessing or arguing in a moment of crisis. That kind of clarity is priceless.
- You stay in control: Even if you’re unconscious or unable to speak, your wishes are front and center. Your living will becomes your voice when you can’t use yours.
- Less emotional strain on your loved ones: Without a living will, families are often left trying to guess what you would have wanted—and sometimes they don’t agree. That can lead to tension, guilt, or even heartbreak.
- It opens up meaningful conversations: Many clients tell us the process of creating a living will sparked some of the most important conversations they’ve ever had with their spouse, children, or close friends.
- You avoid unwanted treatments: If you feel strongly about not being kept alive by machines, or you want to avoid aggressive treatments that don’t align with your values, your living will makes that clear.
- It complements your other planning: A living will fits right into the bigger picture of your life and estate planning. It works alongside your healthcare proxy, power of attorney, and even your will or trust to give you full-circle peace of mind.
Think of it like this: if you care about the people in your life (and we know you do) creating a living will is one of the kindest things you can do for them. It doesn’t take long, it doesn’t have to be complicated, and the impact lasts far beyond the moment you sign the paper.
Requirements of a Valid Arkansas Living Will
Under the Arkansas Rights of the Terminally Ill or Permanently Unconscious Act, a valid living will must:
- Be in writing. Verbal wishes, while important to communicate, don’t carry the same legal weight as written documents.
- Be signed by you. Your signature confirms these are your expressed wishes.
- Be witnessed properly. Arkansas requires signatures from two witnesses who are at least 18 years old, not related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, not entitled to any portion of your estate, not directly financially responsible for your medical care, and not your healthcare providers or employees of your healthcare facility.
- Be created voluntarily. The document must be your free choice, without coercion.
- Be made when you’re of sound mind. You must have the capacity to understand the document and its implications when you create it.
Arkansas also provides an optional statutory form for advance directives, though you’re not required to use this exact form. A customized document prepared by an attorney is equally valid if it meets all legal requirements.
Working with an Arkansas Legacy Planning Attorney
We know that sitting down to talk about a living will isn’t exactly your idea of a fun afternoon. It’s one of those things you know you should do—but it’s easy to put off. That’s totally normal. At Arkansas Legacy Planning, we’re here to help you finally check it off your list and feel really good about it.
When you reach out to us, it won’t feel like you’re walking into a stiff law office. No intimidating suits, no heavy legal talk. Instead, you will meet kind, down-to-earth people who genuinely care about helping you get this done right.
We always start with a conversation. Nothing fancy, just us getting to know you and what matters most. Maybe you’ve got strong opinions about what kind of care you want. Maybe you’re still sorting through it all. Either way, we’re here to listen and walk through the options with you.
We will talk about things like:
- What “quality of life” means to you
- How much (or how little) intervention you’d want
- Who you trust to make decisions if you can’t
- How you want your loved ones to feel supported—not stressed—if something happens
No pressure. No rush. Just honest conversations that help you get clear on what you want and how to say it. Once you’re ready, we will help you put it all into a document that’s legally sound and easy to understand.
At the end of the day, we want you to walk away feeling lighter. Like you’ve done something truly meaningful for yourself and your family. That’s what this is really about.
Frequently Asked Questions
An advance directive is an umbrella term covering several documents that guide your future medical care. A living will is one specific type of advance directive focused on end-of-life treatment preferences when you’re terminally ill or permanently unconscious.
In Arkansas, comprehensive advance directives typically include both a living will component (stating your treatment preferences) and a healthcare proxy designation (naming someone to make decisions for you). While often combined in one document, they serve different purposes. The living will speaks directly to your healthcare providers about specific treatments, while your healthcare proxy interprets your wishes for situations not specifically addressed in your written documents.
While Arkansas offers standard forms, working with an attorney provides advantages such as:
- Personalization beyond the limited options on standard forms
- Language that precisely reflects your specific wishes
- Guidance through various medical scenarios you might not consider
- Integration with your overall estate plan
- Error prevention in execution and wording that could invalidate documents
- Regular updates as laws and your situation change
The modest investment in legal assistance provides peace of mind that your documents will work as intended when needed most. An attorney ensures your advance directive is truly tailored to your unique wishes and properly executed under Arkansas law.
Your living will can address a wide range of medical decisions, including:
- Life-sustaining treatments like ventilators, dialysis, and CPR
- Artificial nutrition and hydration through feeding tubes
- Pain management preferences, even if treatment might unintentionally hasten death
- Antibiotics and other medications
- Organ and tissue donation wishes
- Comfort care preferences when curative treatment stops
- Preferred location of care (home versus hospital)
Arkansas Legacy Planning attorneys help you think through these decisions carefully, documenting them to guide your healthcare team when you cannot communicate your wishes directly.
Yes, you can change or revoke your advance directive at any time as long as you have the mental capacity to make healthcare decisions. In Arkansas, you can revoke your advance directive by physically destroying it, creating a written revocation, or verbally expressing your intention to revoke it to your healthcare provider.
Life changes, and so might your healthcare wishes. It’s a good idea to review your directive after major life events (marriage, divorce, death of loved ones), when diagnosed with serious illness, or every three to five years even without major changes.
While Arkansas provides standard forms, they have serious limitations. Standard forms use general language that may not capture your specific wishes, might not address all scenarios relevant to your situation, and can be completed incorrectly without proper guidance.
Think of standard forms as off-the-rack clothing, while attorney-drafted documents are custom-tailored to fit your exact specifications. For something as important as your future medical care, personalization matters. An attorney also provides education about options you might not know exist and ensures your documents are properly executed, witnessed, and distributed to the appropriate people.
Contact Us
You deserve a say in your future health care. And your loved ones deserve the comfort of knowing they’re doing what you would want. At Arkansas Legacy Planning, we’re here to help you take this important step.
Don’t wait until a crisis forces difficult decisions. Contact Arkansas Legacy Planning today to ensure your voice will be heard when it matters most.
Contact Us
Feeling lost or worried about your future? Our team at Arkansas Legacy Planning is here to provide personalized support for all your estate planning needs. Contact us today so we can start working on a clear, tailored strategy designed specifically to safeguard what matters most to you.
