Reach for Protection before It’s Too Late: A Legal Plan to Help You (and your loved ones) Avoid Future Heartache

The second Sex and The City movie may have tanked in the box office but the series still holds a place in every single woman and many men’s hearts because of the issues, apart from dating, to which it brought awareness. In season 2, episode 5 for example, “Four Women and a Funeral,” after choking on Chinese takeout Miranda was faced with the reality of dying alone. While the level- headed lawyer enlisted Carrie as her In Case of Emergency contact, she failed to take the necessary legal measures to safeguard herself and her belongings.

Like Miranda, the unfortunate truth is that the majority of singles do not take time for health and estate planning.  If you are over 18 years old it’s your responsibility to designate people that will make financial, medical and legal decisions for you in the event that you pass away or are left unable to care for yourself, otherwise you are leaving your fate in the hands of the judicial system.  Below are four legal documents every individual should posses and what you need to know about each of them:

Living Will: The reality is that many singles living alone are far away from family and close friends, but in the event of a medical emergency every second counts and decisions must be made quickly. A Living Will (also known as an advanced health care directive, advance medical care directive, personal directive or advanced decision depending on which state you live in) is a legal document that allows you to give official instructions with respect to the types of medical treatments and life-sustaining measures you do and don’t want if you are in a permanent coma, have been diagnosed with a fatal illness or are seriously injured and not expected to recover.

Health Care Proxy: (also referred to as Medical Power of Attorney,  Health Care Power of Attorney, Designation of Health Care Surrogate, or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care).  This document lets you assign responsibility to a person who will make health care decisions for you if you are unable to do so for yourself. The person you designate to act in your place as your health care proxy can be a parent, sibling, partner or friend, but if you do not put it in writing they will not have the authority to speak on your behalf.  (note that this is not a financial power of attorney).

Durable Power of Attorney: In critical situations it may be a good idea to have someone in charge of managing your finances and making sure your legal affairs are in order. Let’s say for example you are stuck outside the country and cannot pay your rent/mortage, alimony payments or other important expenses, a Durable Power of Attorney is a document in which you can assign a proxy to do so on your behalf.  Of course you need be extremely careful in making this designation, as you may want to limit its extremely broad scope given the access it gives to your finances.


Last Will and Testament: Consider this: if you're single without kids and you pass away without a will your assets will likely go to your next of kin in this order: surviving parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. So if there is a best friend who’s been like a sister/brother to you they will be left out of the mix but a sibling who you have not talked to in years may inherit your personal belonging and valuables. There are some surprising things that people will feud over after the fact, including even the use of frozen eggs or sperm produced by a deceased person unless he/she leaves express instructions before death or in a will. 

Most of these documents can be found in forms online so you should be able to do the basics yourself without an attorney, though attorney advice is recommended.  It is also a good idea to keep copies of these documents with your attorney, general practitioner and a family member or friend, and in a place where they can be easily found in your apartment or home.