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An advance directive is a written document, made while you are mentally capable, that gives or refuses consent to specific health care treatments in advance. It takes effect only if you later become incapable of making that decision yourself, and any health care provider who is aware of it must follow it directly.
We recommend putting one in place whenever you are updating your will or other estate planning documents, not only when a health concern arises, since capacity can be affected suddenly and without warning. An advance directive gives your representative clear guidance if they ever need to make a health or personal care decision for you. It sets out your instructions in writing, in your own words, so the people caring for you are not left guessing. At Ambassador Law, we help clients across the Fraser Valley put an advance directive in place alongside their broader estate plan, so their wishes carry legal weight when it matters most.
An advance directive speaks only to future health care. It cannot be used to manage your finances or your personal care arrangements, such as where you live or who provides your daily care. For those matters, you need a representation agreement or an enduring power of attorney, which our team can prepare alongside your advance directive.
There are also specific instructions the law does not allow you to give in an advance directive, including:
When we draft your advance directive, we walk through these boundaries with you so the document holds up when a health care provider relies on it.
For an advance directive to hold up under BC’s Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act, it needs to meet a few conditions:
Our office confirms each of these requirements is met before your advance directive is finalized, so it is ready to rely on when it is needed.
Our process is straightforward, and we keep you informed at every stage:
Please contact our office to set up an appointment for providing instructions for your advance directive. We are glad to prepare your representation agreement or will at the same time, so your planning documents work together rather than in isolation.
Yes. Once it meets the signing and witnessing requirements, any health care provider aware of your advance directive must follow it. That is different from a representation agreement, where your representative has some discretion in situations you did not specifically address.
A temporary substitute decision maker, drawn from a list set out in BC law, would be asked to decide on your behalf, followed by the Public Guardian and Trustee if no one on that list is available. Without your own instructions on file, that decision maker has to rely on what they believe is best for you rather than what you actually want.
We recommend having both. An advance directive gives direct instructions to your health care providers, while a representation agreement appoints someone to advocate for you and fill in the gaps your instructions do not cover.
A will only takes effect after death and deals with your estate, not your care while you are alive. An advance directive is the opposite: it applies while you are living but incapable, and it says nothing about your assets. A representation agreement is closer in purpose but works differently. Instead of instructions a health care provider follows on their own, a representation agreement names a person, your representative, who can speak with your care team and make decisions using whatever guidance you have left them.
Because an advance directive alone does not appoint anyone to advocate for you, we generally recommend our clients have both documents in place together, so there is a named person to interpret and apply your wishes if a situation your directive did not anticipate comes up.
Yes, as long as you are still capable of understanding what the change means. We can help you update or revoke your advance directive at any point your circumstances or wishes change.
You need two adult witnesses, or one witness if that person is a lawyer or a notary public in good standing. Anyone who is paid to provide you with personal care, health care, or financial services cannot act as a witness, aside from that lawyer or notary exception.
A power of attorney deals with your financial affairs, while an advance directive deals only with health care instructions. Most of our clients have both, along with a representation agreement for personal care, so every part of their planning is covered.
Not necessarily. It is written for the health care matters you can reasonably anticipate, and a provider may still need to exercise judgment in a situation it does not address. Pairing it with a representation agreement gives your representative the authority to step in when that happens.
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