Personal Directive Services in Edmonton
Your Care, Your Control
What if you couldn’t speak for yourself?
A Personal Directive lets you define who speaks for you, about your health, living arrangements, and everyday care, if illness or injury takes away your capacity.
Why a Personal Directive Matters
Without it, healthcare professionals may default to a nearest relative or government-appointed guardian. That means months in court and decisions made without knowing your preferences.
A Personal Directive Specifies:
- Who makes care decisions
- What treatments you accept or refuse
- Where you live and who cares for you
In Alberta, Personal Directives are a recognised legal tool that ensures someone you trust can make healthcare and personal decisions if you lose capacity. (Government of Alberta)
A Growing Number of Professionals Refer to Us
- For Professionals: Your choices about care remain central, even if you can’t communicate them."
- For Medical Providers: Our directives include precise treatment preferences and dispute safeguards, reducing ethical ambiguity and allowing care teams to act swiftly.
- For Families: We offer coaching for agents, family meetings for clarity, and clause-by-clause walkthroughs that empower--not confuse.
Families and advisors appreciate our collaborative approach to care planning.
The Legal Update You Should Know
Remote Execution
As of March 2025, Alberta has permanently adopted remote signing for Personal Directives (as well as wills and POAs) with strict safeguards:
- You must sign in wet ink
- A licensed Alberta lawyer must witness via live video, confirm your identity, and oversee signing
- Electronic signatures remain invalid
What a Personal Directive Covers
When creating yours, you can address:
- Medical preferences: life-sustaining treatments, palliative care, resuscitation
- Living arrangements: home, hospice, long-term care
- Personal care: hygiene, daily routines
- Guardianship: named caregivers for minor children
- Other personal wishes: spiritual support, preferred activities
Creating a Personal Directive with Forum Estates
Step 1
Consultation
Explore your values and concerns?
What treatments matter most?
Who do you trust?
Step 2
Custom Drafting
We customize your Directive to match your health beliefs, support structures, and living arrangements.
Step 3
Signing Set-Up
Sign in-person. Or,
Coordinate with our firm for secure,
lawyer-witnessed video signing, with wet-ink finalization.
Step 4
Distribution and Registry
Share copies with healthcare providers for immediate access.
Step 5
Periodic Review
We recommend updates following health changes, relocations, or every three years.
Your Voice, Even in Silence
A Personal Directive is more than paper; it’s your story. At Forum Estates LLP, we empower clients to preserve dignity, reduce stress for loved ones, and ensure care aligns with core values.
Advance directives decrease caregiver stress and ensure patient preferences are honored
Robust directives reduce disputes and unnecessary court involvement
Why Forum Estates LLP?
- Legal Accuracy: compliant with Alberta’s Acts and health regs
- Empathetic Approach: we honor personal values…cultural, spiritual, familial
- Modern Collaboration: remote signing with confidentiality and security
- Seamless Integration: directives dovetail with your broader estate, trust, and tax strategies
FAQS
1. What are the Personal Directives and what is their importance in Alberta?
A Personal Directive is a legal document in the province of Alberta by which an individual can designate certain personalized decision-making powers to someone. A personal directive names an individual who is permitted to make non-financial decisions on your behalf in case of a loss of capacity. It includes healthcare, housing and personal issues. In the absence of it, the court can assign a guardian, which may not reflect your choice.
2. What is the difference between a personal directive and power of attorney?
A personal directive is used in personal decisions as well as healthcare decisions, whereas a power of attorney involves financial and legal issues. The combination of these two documents makes up a full incapacity plan, in this way both money and your welfare are secured.
3. Who can create a personal directive in Alberta?
4. What decisions can an agent under a personal directive make?
5. Is it mandatory to have a personal directive in Alberta?
6. When does a personal directive take effect?
It is applied only after a written notice of incapacity by a competent health person is furnished. Up until then, you are still making your own personal decisions.
7. Am I allowed to cover medical treatment preferences in my personal directive?
Yes, it is advisable to do so. You have the option of declaring your values, beliefs, as well as treatment desires like preferences on life support, resuscitation or palliative care. Such instructions provide a guide to your agent and lessen the confusion of the healthcare providers and your family.
8. Who should I choose as my agent in a personal directive?
9. Will more than one agent be allowed in my personal directive?
Yes, you can allow that. They can either be working in unity or by themselves, as required in accordance with what you decide to give approval in a document. They can either be working in unity or by themselves, as needed, in accordance with what you decide to approve a document.
10. How do I cancel or change my personal directive?
You may revoke or amend your personal directive at any time, as long as you are mentally capable. To do so, create a written revocation and inform your agent and healthcare providers. Also, destroy outdated copies to avoid confusion.
11. Are personal directives registrable in Alberta?
Registration with the Alberta Personal Directive Registry is only recommended, but not compulsory. This will enable registered medical professionals to receive your direction even during crises. It is free to register, and it gives you the utmost satisfaction that your wishes will be taken into account.
12. What happens in the event of my incapacity without a Personal Directive?
In the absence of a directive, friends or family members will have to seek an application in court to have themselves given a guardianship order. This process is both very expensive and time-consuming, and it may not even align with your preferences. There should be a command system so that you are the boss even when you are not.
