I usually always take my Living Willl, Power of Attorney and other documentation when I travel - even within the U.S.

Am wondering if a copy of the documents will serve the same as the original? At this time, I am unable to locate the latter. It has the name of the attorney, but unfortunately, she moved to another city in our same state. The documentation however is indeed filed with our county.

Is a copy valid?

Any feedback is appreciated.

A copy should be fine.

Mike T:

Thank you.

If you are incapacitated almost undoubtedly any reputable health care agency would attempt to contact your next of kin for instructions but the "living will" helps to keep your own wishes at the forefront (and everyone involved honest).

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who does this. I have a small 4x6 photo album where I keep copies of our living wills, powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, driver's licenses, passports, eyeglass prescriptions, and emergency phone numbers (including bank, insurance and credit card companies). I keep it with my travel gear and pack it on every trip, even in the U.S.

A copy will probably be as good as the original, but most states have different formats for living wills/durable POA for healthcare and the state you have troubles in MAY NOT accept the format that your residency state recognizes. Sigh!

Pollyvw - are you certain about this or do you have actual experience with this being the case? It is true that different states have slightly different durable POA requirements, but I cannot imagine that a state would refuse to honor a POA of a resident of a different state if such POA met the legal requirements of that individual's home state. It would seem to violate all choice of laws principles and the ways in which other contracts are interpreted in such situations. I could say that *maybe* if there were some ambiguity in the patient's POA, then someone would try to apply the law of the state where the patient was then located, but even then, I think you could make a convincing argument that the home state's laws (being the jurisdiction of the POA) should be referred to in order to resolved the ambiguity.

I will be traveling with my only next of kin;my husband. The only thing that stays behind is my beloved dog. Therefore, I thought it might be a good idea, especially in this case, to take ours with us. Thank you so very much for the much needed feedback.

I'm an estate planning attorney and completely agree with kgh8m. Although states certainly have different forms that attorneys use for Advance Medical Directives and even Powers of Attorney, they will honor documents from another state if it meets their minimum requirements. Minimum requirements may mean that the signature should be notarized (and possibly witnessed for AMDS).

kgh, I am a CPA. We do much work with estates. What I stated earlier is what we have been told in our seminars; however, I will defer to Jill2 as a better authority.

Hats off to you all!

I'm packing my copies.