Now that you're making plans for your estate, there's one document you might have overlooked, and that's your living will. Even if your estate is planned out, you still want to make sure that you have the living will in place. This document goes beyond the estate planning and allows you to plan for your medical care, as well. After all, you never know when you're going to become too ill to speak up for your own medical treatment. That's where the living will comes in. It provides a clear-cut guideline about how you want your medical care to be carried out. Here are just three of the reasons why you need a living will in place.

You Remain in Charge of Your Medical Care

When you're healthy, it's easy to take charge of your medical care. However, once you're older or seriously ill, it can become a little more difficult. With the living will, you remain in charge of your medical care, regardless of how weak, ill, or old you are. If you have specific treatment that you would not want, you can put that information into your living will. For instance, if you would not want a feeding tube, you can place that in your living will.

Directions Are in Place If You Are Incapacitated

If you become incapacitated and can no longer speak for yourself, you'll need to have a living will in place. Without the living will, it falls to your family to make important health care decisions for you. Unfortunately, that can lead to fighting, especially if family members can't agree on those healthcare decisions. With a living will, important decisions can be made that will take affect after you become incapacitated. So, if you know that you would not want to be resuscitated after a certain point, you can make sure that those wishes are known so that they can be carried out.

Your Medical Team Has Clear Instructions to Follow

If you don't have a living will in place, doctors have the freedom to make medical decisions on your behalf based on what they feel would provide the best outcome. Unfortunately, those aren't always decisions that you would make for yourself. That's where the living will comes in to play. You can leave clear instructions to your medical team that they will be required to follow when making medical decisions about your care.

Visit a site like http://wrightlawidaho.com/ to learn more about planning a living will.