How Living Wills and Last Wills Get Confused All the Time

From The Death Readiness Podcast: Not your dad’s estate planning podcast by Jill Mastroianni - Estate Planning & Probate Attorney/Lawyer for Women

April 21, 2026 · 13 min · Episode 75

About this episode

Jill Mastroianni explains the differences between living wills and last wills, and discusses a recent Michigan court decision affecting advance directives.

A living will and a last will and testament sound similar but they do completely different jobs. In this episode, Jill breaks down the difference in plain English so you know what goes where and why it matters. She also walks through a recent Michigan court decision that changes how advance directives work and raises a bigger question: who gets to decide in a medical crisis?

People in this episode

Host: Jill Mastroianni

Topics covered

living wills
last wills
estate planning
advance directives
medical crisis

Keywords

living will
last will
estate planning
advance directives
medical decision making

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Michigan