Advance Directives - Store and Distribute Your Documents to the Right People

Step Four in the Process of Expressing Your End-of-Life Wishes

Once you have made the important decisions about your end-of-life wishes, put them in writing, talked to the important people in your life, you will need to store the documents and notes you've made for the time when they become necessary.

The documents need to be easily accessible, and readily available. That means you will not want to store them where they will be difficult to find, like in a safe deposit box or a home safe. Since they aren't meant to be secretive anyway, keeping them in an obvious place is your best choice.

Consider the following as good ways to keep your advanced directives.

Hardcopies:

• Keep in a filing cabinet, labeled with something obvious like "end of life wishes" or "advanced directives"
• Keep them with your will, which spells out how your assets will be distributed
• Also keep them with additional important papers, including contact phone numbers and addresses for others who may need to be, or wish to be notified
• Provide copies to your primary care physician and your attorney

Electronic copies:

• Keep in a file folder on your computer, labeled as above with obvious titles such as "end of life wishes" or "advanced directives"
• Email copies to your proxy and secondary proxy

What If You Want to Make Changes?

Your end-of-life wishes may change over time. You may be diagnosed with a disease that makes you think about end-of-life differently, you may have to make a change of proxy choice, or other events may make you change your mind.

It should not be difficult to update your written directives. Be sure to date every copy, and replace copies held or stored according to the list above. When the time comes, if more than one document exists and the instructions are different, the more current document will be enforced.

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Four Steps to Expressing Your End of Life Wishes

1. Ask the right questions and determine your answers.
2. Record those answers in the appropriate documents.
3. Discuss your decisions and your wishes with your loved ones and others who need to know.
4. File or store any paperwork or electronic files you have produced, and distribute copies to the right people.