Living wills and advance directives in QPSG

A living will is not a last will. It states medical facts the declarant puts on the record: who speaks, under what condition, what the directive is, and who the health-care agent is. Wish language — “I would like,” “please do everything possible,” “if it seems best” — hides those facts.

Not legal advice. Not medical advice. Language tool only. This article does not tell you what treatment to choose, what any hospital must follow, or what your state form requires. Fill your own facts. Confirm local statutory forms with your own advisors.

What usually goes wrong

• Wishes instead of facts — “I hope they will…” / “I would prefer…” — no named condition and no named directive.
• Unnamed actor — “my family,” “the doctors” — the record does not name the declarant or the agent.
• Future tense — “shall be withheld,” “will decide later.”
• Mixed with a last will — gifts and executors on a page that should only carry medical directives.

Before (typical wish line)

I hereby state that I would like my doctors to please do what they think is best if I ever become very sick, and my family will decide about life support.

After (fact lines from the living-will template)

:FOR THE LIVING-WILL IS BY/OF/FOR [DECLARANT-NAME]
FOR THE MEDICAL-DIRECTIVES IS WITH THE FACTS:
	~1: DECLARANT: [DECLARANT-NAME].
	~2: CONDITION: INCAPACITY AND TERMINAL-CONDITION.
	~3: DIRECTIVE: WITHHOLD OR WITHDRAW LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT.
	~4: HEALTH-CARE-AGENT: [AGENT-NAME].

Replace the brackets with your names. Change ~2 and ~3 only if those are your facts — the catalog is a starter, not a prescription. The full form also has a pain-relief line.

How this differs from a last will

• Living will — declarant, condition, directive, health-care agent.
• Last will / simple will — testator, executor, gifts, residual estate.
• Pour-over will — residual estate to a named trust. See pour-over coordination.

Keep the living will as its own document. Do not paste last-will gift clauses into it.

How to run it

1. Open LIVING-WILL-SHORT-FORM (or the full form if you need the extra lines).
2. Click LOAD-TEMPLATE. Leave the divine-law line. Fill [DECLARANT-NAME], [AGENT-NAME], and [DATE].
3. Edit ~2 / ~3 only to match your own stated facts.
4. ANALYZE. Check pronouns (family / they / it) and future tense. Subscribe to Accept-all and Copy when you need the work product.

Free trial: 5 analyses and 800 words — analyze and preview. Educational ($18) unlocks Accept-all and Copy. Operational ($50) adds 12,000-word filing and FULL-DOC.