Yes, GMan, most states will generally allow your spouse and, if none, your immediate family to make decisions without a Power of Attorney. When it comes to gay relationships, I hate to rely on that and would strongly urge that you have documents legally drawn up. While others on here point you toward sites where you can assemble your own documents at a lower cost, I recommend you not do that. Forms are made for only certain people in certain circumstances. It is like reading the internet and diagnosing your own illness. If you are right, great, you saved a lot of money and no harm done. If you are wrong, you could pay with your life. I've seen clients do their own divorce decrees, for example, and it ended up costing them, in one instance, $ 70k in back due child support they forfeited because the order was not properly drawn up and, in another, a house, because they did not understand which party was the Petitioner and which the Respondent and the house got awarded to the wrong person. That mistake cannot be undone in most instances. If you truly want peace of mind, have a professional draw up your legal documents. Legal stuff is not where you want to try to save a buck.