Right to Die At Issue in Europe, too – not just Florida probate
As Florida probate & guardianship have grappled with the right to die, so, too, has Europe.
- At the end of June, the Financial Times provided an interesting perspective on two issues which Europe is grappling with:
- 1) letting someone make health care decisions for you if you can’t, and 2) also assisted suicide.
- Florida does not permit assisted suicide or euthanasia.
- Florida does have a number of probate laws regarding health care documents.
Florida Probate Code: Health Care Power of Attorney, Living Will, Proxy
- Florida’s Probate Code permits one to express their desires regarding medical care or health care in a legal document, often referred to as a Florida living will.
- Don’t want to be sustained artificially, like, on life support?? — or maybe you do– then you can have your Florida estate planning attorney put it in writing for you.
- Want to give someone the power to make all or a few specific health care decisions if you can’t?
- In Florida probate or guardianship law, you can have your Florida probate lawyer write up the documents for you.
- In France, there is a lawsuit right now over who has the authority to stop treatment of someone who by many accounts is never going to regain consciousness .
- In Florida probate circles, we refer to this as a persistent vegetative state.
Probate Litigation Over Health Care Power of Attorney
- Can someone challenge your decision if you were granted that power or health care authority in writing?
- In England, they are grappling with issues about euthanasia.
- In Florida, we have not been confronted with that issue of yet. In fact, Florida has a so called “slayer statute” which does not permit someone to inherit from your estate if you are the one who causes or helps to cause a death . If you assist your spouse pass away, does Florida probate law prohibit you from getting your inheritance? What if you were married for 40 years?