Personal Directives
INFORMATION ABOUT PERSONAL DIRECTIVES
This outline contains information to assist you in discussing and deciding what provisions you want to put in your Personal Directive(s). One point to remember is that if you are married, as spouses you will actually be signing separate Personal Directives. You can therefore have different provisions in each Personal Directive, for example having different alternate Agents.
The first decision to make for your Personal Directive is to select the person who you want to look after your making decisions about your medical care and treatment. This person is known as your “Agent”. There are a number of persons eligible to be appointed as an Agent - spouses, brothers or sisters, parents, children over the age of 18, friends, acquaintances, or a trust company.
In the case of a married couple, each spouse should appoint their spouse the Agent to begin with, unless for reasons of illness or age it would make more sense to have someone else appointed. You should also appoint someone as an alternate Agent, in case your first named Agent dies before you or because of illness is unable to serve when the time comes. You may appoint more than one person to be an Agent, in which case they would be joint Agents. If one of those joint Agents did not wish to serve, they could resign from the appointment.
When appointing someone other than a spouse as your Agent or as an alternate Agent, you should choose someone in whom you would have confidence and trust that your affairs would be handled properly, and who knows your wishes and feelings about medical issues and treatments.
Many Albertans have their parents or siblings living elsewhere in Canada. You are allowed to appoint someone who lives outside Alberta as your Agent. In some cases there will be no alternative but to appoint an Agent or Alternate Agent who lives outside of Alberta. However, it is preferable if possible to have someone living in Albert appointed as your Agent. You do not as a strict requirement need to have the consent of your proposed Agent(s) to their being appointed as such in your Enduring Power of Agent. As a practical matter, however, it would be wise to seek their consent. If they declined to act after you become incapacitated, there could be a delay in arranging for a new Agent.
If you have any questions or concerns prior to developing your Personal Directive instructions, please feel free to contact me to discuss them. The laws governing these issues are sometimes complicated, and this outline only provides basic information on general points. If you have any specific problems or desires, you should obtain specific legal advice and opinion on those matters.