1. Planning ahead

Planning ahead is thinking about your future, and putting things in place so that your choices will be known and acted on if you cannot express these choices yourself later in life.

This may happen if you have a sudden accident, become very ill or develop a condition such as dementia that affects your memory and your planning ability. Planning ahead can include issues related to your finances, lifestyle or health care.

This chapter will help you to plan ahead for your future. It is a practical and comprehensive resource for people across Australia just like you. It gives you the information you need to make decisions and helps you to put your decisions into action.

**About the Planning Ahead website resource**

Who should use this site?

The website has information of relevance to:

people who want to prepare for the possible loss of capacity in the future, i.e. preparing for a time when they cannot make their own decisions due to injury or a condition such as dementia
people with early signs of memory loss or with a diagnosis of dementia
family carers of a person with loss of capacity because of an illness such as dementia or some other condition
health and community care professionals who want to promote planning ahead with the individuals or communities they work with.

Using the site to build your own plan

The website has a range of information and worksheets that you can view and print out. You will find our simple, six-step plan outlined in the section of the website titled My plans.

Using the site to help someone else plan ahead

If you are a family member, friend or carer, check out the section titled Their plans. Here, you’ll find a comprehensive range of information, examples and worksheets to help you support someone you care for to make decisions, or to help you make decisions on their behalf if they are not capable of making their own decisions.

Planning ahead in your state or territory

Regulations and forms related to planning ahead vary across the states and territories. The website has been developed to incorporate these differences in two ways. First, at different point in the website you will be asked to nominate your state or territory and the appropriate information and forms will be provided. Second, you can visit Section 3 of the website, titled Planning tools, to get the relevant information for your location.