Alberta does not have living wills. Instead, we have personal directives. You may not be able to make decisions if you suffer a serious:

• injury – like from a car accident

• illness – like a heart attack or disease

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A personal directive is a legal document you make in case you can not make your own personal decisions in the future. A personal directive:

• is optional and voluntary

• names the person or people you have picked to make personal decisions for you – a person you name on the personal directive is called an agent

• makes sure your written instructions are known in case something happens to you

• only comes into effect if you are found to lack capacity – that means you are not able to make your own decisions

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When you make a personal directive, the person or people you pick to be your agent have legal authority to make personal decisions for you. This could be temporary or long term.