From A Dog’s Last Wish to the PocketWill® & LifeWill® Idea
In A Dog’s Last Wish, Claude Filion, a veteran lawyer specializing in wills, powers of attorney, and estate planning, offers something no one ever truly gets:
A second pass through life.
This is not fiction for entertainment.
It is fiction as a reflection.
Claude revisits moments, relationships, and decisions, not as a passive observer, but as someone confronting a question that quietly unsettles all of us:
What would I do differently?
Because Claude understands something most people don’t:
Life is not only about what happens when you die, it’s about what happens when you’re still alive, but no longer in control.
The Moment Everything Shifts
In the book, Claude is given time to reflect, revisit, and reinterpret.
In real life, we are not.
Control doesn’t fade gradually; it disappears abruptly.
An accident, a stroke, a sudden collapse.
You are alive, but unable to communicate.
And in that moment, the question is no longer philosophical.
It becomes immediate:
Who speaks for you?
In Ontario, the law has an answer.
It will either follow the person you named or appoint one for you.
Because in the absence of a voice, the system does not wait.
It moves.
The First Layer, Who Decides
Claude spent his career structuring decisions for others.
One of the most practical tools in that structure is the Power of Attorney for Personal Care.
At its core, it answers a single question:
Who decides?
But in reality, documents are often inaccessible when they are needed most.
There is no time to search, no time to reconstruct intentions, no time to debate authority.
There is only one requirement:
Immediate clarity.
A simple, accessible format, something you carry, transforms legal authority into something usable.
Because when seconds matter, structure matters.
But Authority Is Not Enough
The law does something else that is less visible, but more demanding.
It requires the decision-maker to follow your prior wishes, if those wishes are known, clear, and applicable.
And this is where the system begins to strain.
Not because authority is missing.
But because clarity is.
The Real Problem
The Power of Attorney solves who decides.
But it does not tell them what to do.
That is the harder problem.
Claude’s story makes this visible.
He is not just reliving his past; he is reconstructing meaning, re-evaluating choices, reinterpreting priorities, and reassessing what truly mattered.
And in doing so, he exposes a flaw in how we plan:
We prepare extensively for death.
We draft wills, structure estates, and plan distributions.
But the real exposure happens earlier, when you are alive, decisions must be made, and your voice is absent.
We transfer authority, but we rarely transfer intent.
When Intent Is Missing
When wishes are unclear, the law does not stop.
It shifts.
Decision-makers must act in your best interests, a standard that is intentionally flexible and deeply human.
But flexibility introduces interpretation.
And interpretation is shaped by memory, emotion, pressure, and perspective.
When your wishes are vague, your life is no longer guided by your decisions.
It is guided by someone else’s understanding of them.
The Missing Layer
If one layer answers who, there must be another that answers how.
Not as a rigid document.
But as a structured expression of what matters to you.
Your values, your thresholds, your definition of acceptable outcomes, your tolerance for risk, suffering, and intervention.
Because the system does not need more authority.
It needs better input.
Clarity that can be understood in real time, under pressure, without interpretation becoming guesswork.
Connecting Law and Life
The law is not indifferent.
It is structured, consistent, and designed to function even in the face of uncertainty.
It already prioritizes your wishes.
But only if those wishes are usable.
That is the gap.
Not legal, but practical.
Not theoretical, but human.
The story reveals the consequence of unclear intention.
The Power of Attorney ensures someone is in place.
What remains is ensuring that the person is not left guessing.