Who has the right to choose my elderly relative’s health care in Pennsylvania?
If your loved one has already completed his or her estate planning, the person named in the estate as an agent has the right to choose your elderly relative’s health care in Pennsylvania. In some cases, this can be more than one individual.
When an elderly relative hasn’t named an agent to make health care decisions on his or her behalf, the situation can get a bit more complicated and may require the help of a Chester County elder law attorney.
Petitioning for Guardianship to Make Decisions for Your Elderly Relative
When advance planning hasn’t been done and your relative becomes emotionally or physically incapacitated, you’ll have to petition for guardianship if you want to make health care-related decisions on his or her behalf.
Once you enter a petition for guardianship in the county where your loved one resides, the court — not you or your elderly relative — will determine whom to appoint as a guardian.
If you’re facing a pressing or emergency situation with your elderly relative’s health care in Pennsylvania, a Chester County elder law attorney can go over the requirements you’ll have to meet in order to become a guardian. Among them are showing your qualifications and why guardianship is being sought. In addition, you’ll need to furnish a number of documents that detail your relative’s residence, relatives and heirs, estate net worth and more.
An attorney can help you through the entire process, in efforts to provide the best possible health care-related decisions for your relative.
Let Our Chester County Elder Law Attorneys Help You and Your Family
The attorneys at Unruh, Turner, Burke & Frees have been serving the Chester county area since 1990. Regardless of your Pennsylvania estate planning or elder law needs, our team has the experience and commitment to build a long-lasting, trusted relationship with each and every one of our clients. Also serving Phoenixville, Malvern and West Chester, our diverse team handles cases involving municipal law, litigation, commercial transactions, bankruptcy, real estate, taxation, zoning and more. Contact David Frees today for your elder law consultation.
