Guidelines for old age
Guidelines for old age
"Les vieux ne bougent plus, leurs gestes ont trop de rides" sang Brel. I worry about what will happen to me when I can no longer move or express myself. I'd like my ex-husband - whom I still trust completely - to be the person to make the necessary medical decisions and manage my financial affairs. Is it possible to plan for this, and if so, how?
A. Grand-Saconnex
There is in fact a legal instrument known as "anticipated personal measures", which makes it possible to designate in advance one or more persons empowered to assist, represent and therefore take useful decisions for another person suffering from a serious health problem.
When it comes to medical procedures, you can draw up advance directives, a written document that must be dated and signed by hand, in which you describe to doctors the care you would accept if you were unable to express your wishes. You can also refrain from giving precise instructions and appoint a therapeutic representative - who could very well be your ex-husband - empowered to authorise or refuse medical interventions on your behalf. It is also possible to appoint several therapeutic representatives or replacements in the event that the persons chosen are no longer able to carry out their duties.
You can also appoint one or more persons to manage your administrative, financial and legal affairs, and even to provide you with personal assistance in daily life, in a mandate for incapacity (to be drawn up entirely by hand or by a notary), when you are no longer capable of making your own decisions. The person chosen may, however, refuse this mandate, which must in all cases be validated by the courts, in this case the adult protection authority, when the incapacity for discernment is duly established and certified by a doctor.
As you will have realised, it is all the more important to put all this in writing, as your ex-husband is no longer legally entitled to represent you. Finally, on a practical level, don't forget to inform someone close to you of the existence of your anticipated personal measures and of the place where you will keep the corresponding documents.
