Why would I need a living trust for long-term care?
As far as why you might need a living trust, I think any time you want to specify specific preferred intensity of care desires that you have and you are not a hundred percent sure that there is somebody you can trust to actually do those things for you, it is a very good idea to have those written down specifically in a directive to physicians. It bypasses that middle person. I can tell you from personal experience, that many times, family members have a hard time honoring the wishes of a loved one. They just, for whatever reason, have some unfinished business with Mom or whatever it is. It is very difficult to say, “We're just going to let Mom die,” essentially, and “we are not going to give her food or fluids.” It has got a very emotional context to it, although in reality, we allow people to die that way on a daily basis and they don't appear to be uncomfortable in any way. I would say most of us could only pray for that peaceful an exit from the planet. It still has a bad reputation. People have religious ideas about it. They don't want to feel like they are doing something that will hasten their loved one's demise even though they know in their heart that's what their loved one would have wanted. They just have a hard time acting on that.
