Health care proxy

With an advance care directive, you determine in advance who can manage your personal and financial affairs if you are no longer able to do so yourself due to incapacity of judgment caused by illness (e.g. dementia) or accident (e.g. coma). It is a legal instrument and serves to safeguard your own wishes and needs and to entrust your preferred person with the representation of your affairs.

You, if you are capable of acting, as well as any other natural person, can draw up an advance care directive. You can only appoint natural persons to represent your personal care and natural and/or legal persons to represent your financial care.

The child and adult protection authority (KESB) will (have to) appoint a guardian to represent a person who lacks capacity. In addition to a relative, a third party (professional guardian) can also be appointed as a guardian. The guardian is obliged to report to the KESB on a regular basis and must even obtain its approval for certain transactions.

You can have the advance care directive drawn up by a notary and publicly notarized or write it from A to Z by hand, date it and sign it.