Who decides when you cannot

A durable power of attorney and a health care directive, signed while they can still be signed.

A durable power of attorney names who signs for you financially. An advance health care directive names who decides medically and records what you would want. Both must be signed while you still have capacity, which is precisely why they are so often too late.

Without them, the answer is a conservatorship: a court proceeding, public, contested more often than people expect, and expensive.