The living will, referred to by law as advanced healthcare directives or ADH, and the will governing inheritance serve profoundly different needs. The former concerns healthcare decisions in the event that you can no longer express them; the latter establishes what happens to your assets after death. Confusing them can leave precisely the wishes you wanted to protect unanswered.

I will explain the effects of each document, who can be appointed as a healthcare proxy or heir, what forms are required, and why family and asset choices may require some additional caution. We will also look at how to coordinate the two instruments without assigning to one functions that belong to the other.

Living will and will: two decisions that do not replace each other

Advanced healthcare directives address personal care. An advanced healthcare directive allows an adult of sound mind to express, for the future, their wishes regarding diagnostic tests, healthcare treatments, and therapeutic choices in the event of a future loss of capacity for self-determination. The rules are contained in Article 4 of Law No. 219 of 2017.

The will governs succession. Through a will, a person disposes of their property for the time after death: they can institute heirs, allocate specific assets or rights through a legacy, and organize the destination of the estate within the limits of the law. The reference is Article 587 of the Civil Code, included in the provisions on testamentary succession in the current text of the Civil Code.

First, the time at which the instrument operates changes. ADHs become relevant during life, when the person is unable to make healthcare decisions for themselves. A will, on the other hand, grants no powers during life and produces its effects only upon the opening of succession. Writing a preference regarding medical care in a will does not transform that document into an ADH that can be used in relations with doctors and healthcare facilities.

Nor do ADHs transfer assets. The healthcare proxy designated in the ADHs does not become an heir for that reason, cannot freely administer the estate, and receives no assets by virtue of that appointment. Similarly, designating an heir in the will does not assign them the task of representing you in clinical decisions while you are alive.

What you can decide with advanced healthcare directives

ADHs require a conscious choice regarding medical care. The law requires them to be made after obtaining adequate medical information on the consequences of the decisions adopted. It is not necessary to foresee every possible clinical situation with rigid formulas; rather, it is essential that the instructions truly concern healthcare treatments, diagnoses, or therapeutic choices and are understandable in their meaning.

The healthcare proxy is a trusted medical liaison. In your ADHs, you can appoint an adult of sound mind to represent you in relations with doctors and healthcare facilities. The appointment requires the acceptance of the proxy. This is a choice that deserves clarity: the designated person must be aware of the existence of the ADHs, receive a copy of them, and be able to maintain a dialogue with medical staff when you are unable to do so.

The absence of a proxy does not automatically invalidate ADHs. If no proxy is indicated, if they resign, die, or become incapacitated, the expressed wishes remain effective. The law provides that, when necessary, the guardianship judge may appoint a support administrator. However, this possibility does not replace the practical usefulness of a clear appointment and prior discussion with the chosen person.

Form serves to make the intent recognizable. ADHs can be drawn up by public deed, by private instrument with authenticated signatures, or by private instrument personally delivered to the registry office of the municipality of residence. They may also be collected by healthcare facilities in the cases provided for by regional regulations. The law allows renewal, modification, and revocation at any time in the same forms, and contemplates an exceptional mode of revocation in emergency or urgent situations. These rules result from Article 4, paragraphs 2-7, of Law No. 219 of 2017.

The physician must respect the ADHs, but must also care for the concrete person. The law mandates compliance with advanced directives, while providing that they may be disregarded in whole or in part, with the agreement of the proxy, if they appear manifestly inappropriate with respect to the current clinical condition or if there are therapies unforeseeable at the time of signing that offer concrete possibilities of improvement. ADHs are therefore neither a generic delegation nor a set of instructions detached from clinical evolution.

What you can decide with the will

The will allows you to allocate your estate after death. You can indicate who will receive the estate as a whole or assign a specific asset, such as a property or a sum of money, to a specific person. The choice must refer to assets, rights, and financial relationships that will be relevant upon succession: it is not the appropriate means to express consent or refusal of medical treatment.

The form of the will is not a detail. A holographic will must be entirely handwritten by the testator, dated, and signed. A public will, on the other hand, is received by a notary in the presence of the witnesses required by law. Other forms regulated by the civil code also exist, but for ordinary planning it is above all important to understand that a text typed and signed by one's own hand does not possess, for that reason alone, the requirements of a holographic will.

Testamentary intent remains modifiable. The civil code establishes the revocability of testamentary dispositions. This makes it possible to adapt the will to changes in family, personal relationships, or asset composition. A revision, however, must avoid ambiguous overlaps between different texts: a new document may affect previous provisions and must be prepared with a formulation compatible with the chosen form.

The freedom to dispose is met by the protection of forced heirs. Spouses, children, and, in the absence of children, ascendants have a reserved quota established by law. The remaining part is the disposable quota, which can be allocated more freely. The rules on rights reserved to forced heirs and on the reinstatement of their quota are located in Articles 536 and following of the current Civil Code. Therefore, a will can express important preferences, but it does not unilaterally eliminate positions protected by law.

Previous donations may count. If money, real estate, or other assets were donated during life, their existence can affect the verification of the quota reserved for forced heirs when succession opens. Donating is therefore not equivalent to definitively solving the planning problem: the effect must be considered together with the remaining assets, debts, and family composition at the time of death.

How to coordinate healthcare wishes and financial wishes

The two documents must be kept separate. ADHs must focus on healthcare decisions and the relationship with the proxy. The will must precisely identify financial provisions, heirs, and legatees. Keeping the functions separate also helps those who will have to apply them: medical staff must be able to retrieve a formally valid healthcare intent; heirs must be able to identify succession provisions without searching for them in an extraneous document.

The same person can hold different roles, but it is not mandatory. You can choose someone other than your heir as your proxy, because the required qualities are different. The proxy must be able to converse with doctors and represent your treatment wishes; the heir must succeed, after death, to the financial relationships attributed to them. If you prefer it to be the same person, it is useful for the distinction to be clear to all interested parties.

Planning starts with the people the law protects. Before allocating a significant asset to a partner, a relative, or someone outside the family, one must consider whether there are spouses, children, or ascendants with reserved rights. A generous disposition incompatible with such quotas can generate, after succession, a claim for the reduction of the allocations that infringed upon them.

Accessibility also has practical value. A holographic will kept in an unknown location risks failing to emerge in a timely manner; an ADH delivered according to legal forms but ignored by the proxy can be more difficult to enforce at the necessary moment. It is not necessary to make one's personal choices public, but it is reasonable to ensure that the proxy knows where the documentation concerning them is located.

A few essential details are enough to guide an initial discussion. It is useful to have a clear understanding of family composition, the potential presence of previous wills or donations, main assets, and the person one would like to appoint as proxy. For ADHs, it is also important to distinguish healthcare preferences from financial expectations: these are closely related issues in daily life, but legally separate.

The facts that can change the choice

Capacity at the time of signing is decisive. ADHs can be expressed by an adult of sound mind. A will also requires the testator to have the capacity provided by law when expressing their intent. A document written when this capacity is lacking does not solve the problem and can expose the provisions to contestation.

Family structure modifies the limits of the will. The presence of a spouse and children does not leave the same freedom of disposition that exists when such individuals are absent. One does not need to know percentages by heart to grasp the essential point: before assigning the entire estate to a single person, one must establish who has the right to a reserved quota and what part effectively remains available.

A clinical change does not coincide with a financial change. A new diagnosis may make it appropriate to revise ADHs, especially if it allows for more informed preferences. Conversely, the birth of a child, a marriage, a separation, or the purchase of a property may make it appropriate to reconsider the will. The two updates may take place in the same period, but they remain separate acts with different reasons and recipients.

A donation requires independent evaluation. Transferring an asset immediately may respond to concrete needs, but it does not automatically replace a will and may affect succession rights. If the goal is to favor a person without compromising reserved quotas, the sequence between donations, the will, and the remaining estate becomes a central element of the decision.

The simplest choice depends on the real objective. If you only want to express wishes regarding future medical care, the relevant document is the ADH. If you only want to decide the fate of assets after death, you need to consider the will and the limits deriving from forced heirs. If both needs are present, the solution is not an indistinct document: they are two separate acts, to be made consistent in the persons involved and the necessary practical information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I indicate in my ADHs who will receive my inheritance?

No, ADHs do not govern succession. They concern healthcare treatments and the potential appointment of a proxy for relations with doctors and healthcare facilities. To allocate assets or money after death, a valid will is required, otherwise the rules of statutory succession provided by the civil code will apply.

Can the ADH proxy decide everything in my place?

No, their role is circumscribed to healthcare wishes. The proxy represents the principal in relations with doctors and healthcare facilities within the scope of the ADHs. They do not automatically become an heir, estate administrator, or holder of a general power of attorney. Their functions depend on the advanced directives and applicable healthcare regulations.

Can I make ADHs without going to the notary?

Yes, the notary is not the only possibility. The law also allows private instruments with authenticated signatures and personal delivery of the private instrument to the registry office of the municipality of residence. Additional methods provided at healthcare facilities when the conditions established by applicable regulations are met remain unaffected.

Is a handwritten will sufficient?

It can be, but it must respect precise requirements. The holographic will must be written entirely by hand by the testator, dated, and signed. Even when the form is correct, the clarity of the provisions and the rights of forced heirs must be considered: a formally valid text can still infringe upon the quota reserved for a spouse, children, or, in the absence of children, ascendants.

Can I modify both ADHs and the will?

Yes, both acts are modifiable. ADHs are renewable, modifiable, and revocable at any time in the forms provided by law. Testamentary dispositions are also revocable. When an important change occurs, it is advisable to avoid contradictory texts and make it recognizable which is the most recent wish for each subject matter.

Keeping instruments separate to make wishes clear

Good planning does not confuse the person with the estate. ADHs allow you to express choices regarding medical care and identify a trusted liaison; the will allows you to dispose of assets after death, within the limits set by the protection of forced heirs. Understanding this distinction is the first step in deciding whether you need one of the two acts or both.

If you need to coordinate healthcare, family, and financial wishes that could come into tension, you can contact me to clarify which instruments are relevant to your situation and what legal limits to consider.