A living will is a legal document that gives health care providers and/or family members guidance in terms of the type of life-sustaining medical treatment that you wish to receive, or do not wish to receive, if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. The scope of a living will is typically limited to those medical treatments that would sustain your life, and is fairly general in its instructions. As a result, in different medical situations, a living will may not give health care providers and/or family members as much as guidance as is needed to make medical decisions for you. It is also important to note that the requirements to execute living wills, as well as the contents of living wills, vary from state to state. Plus, if you do not execute a living will, some state laws will assume that you wish to have certain life-sustaining treatments.