50-State Surveys › Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements by State
Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements by State
What does it take to execute a valid health care power of attorney (health care agent designation) in each state?
51 of 51 jurisdictions verified
every entry statute-checked, oldest 2026-07-16
What this survey covers
A health care power of attorney is a document in which one adult (the principal) names another person (the agent, sometimes called a health care proxy, representative, or attorney-in-fact) to make medical decisions if the principal later cannot make them. It is the medical counterpart of a financial power of attorney, and in most states it is the single most useful advance-planning document a person can sign: without one, a hospital falls back on a state-ordered list of default surrogates or, in a dispute, on a court.
States call the document different things and package it differently. Some use a single combined advance health care directive whose first part appoints the agent and whose second part records treatment wishes (the "living will"). Others keep a standalone medical power of attorney or health care proxy separate from the living will. This survey answers one question, state by state: what does it take to validly execute the part that appoints a health care agent? Each state's page states the rule in plain English, quotes the statute it comes from, and shows the date we last verified the statutory text.
Each state's page answers the same eight questions: the governing law and the form of the document; who may sign and how; whether witnesses, a notary, or both are required; who is barred from witnessing or serving as agent; when the agent's authority begins; the agent's default powers and the decisions no agent may ever make; how to revoke; and whether a directive from another state is honored.
The big picture (national patterns)
Execution is where states diverge most. The largest cluster, drawn from the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, gives the signer a choice: sign before a notary OR before two qualified witnesses (California, Texas, Washington, Kentucky, Oregon, Nevada, Arkansas, Kansas, and Mississippi work this way). A second large cluster requires two witnesses with no notary option (Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, Connecticut). Smaller groups require one witness (Illinois, Utah), one witness or a notary (Arizona), a notary only (Missouri), or — uniquely — two witnesses AND a notary (North Carolina). At the far end sit outliers like Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico, whose statutes make witnesses and notarization entirely optional — the signature and date are the only mandatory elements. Because of this spread, the witness/notary rule is the dimension a reader is most likely to get wrong by assuming their state works like a neighbor's.
Who may witness or serve is heavily regulated. States routinely bar the agent, the principal's treating provider and that provider's employees, and the operators and staff of the care facility where the principal lives from serving as a witness, and several add a requirement that at least one witness be unrelated and not an heir. Patients in a skilled nursing facility often face an extra layer — a patient advocate or ombudsman must witness — reflecting a legislative worry that an institutionalized patient may not be acting freely.
Timing is usually springing, but not always. In most states the agent's authority springs into effect only when a physician determines the principal lacks capacity, unless the document says it takes effect immediately; who makes that determination varies, and a few states require two clinicians or let an advanced-practice nurse or physician assistant make the finding. Nevada makes the authority immediate by default; New York and South Dakota are springing-only.
Categorical limits are the opposite of uniform. The strong-limit states — California and Texas among them — bar every agent from committing the principal to a mental health facility or consenting to convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, or abortion. Other states begin with broad authority but add one or two targeted limits. Mississippi, for example, lets the agent make any health-care decision the principal could make, yet requires the written directive to expressly authorize admission to a mental health-care institution. Artificial nutrition, hydration, and other life-sustaining treatment form another dividing line: some states include them in the default grant, while others require express authority.
Divorce treatment ranges widely. Some states revoke a spouse-agent the moment a divorce is filed, others on separation or a final decree, and some have no statutory rule at all — so a reader who divorced after signing cannot assume the appointment lapsed.
How to read the table
Each column is one requirement, answered the same way for every state, with the statutory citation compressed into the cell. Click a state for the full plain-English page: the requirements one by one, the traps people actually hit, and the verbatim statutory text with official source links.
Get this answered for your state
This survey compares every state side by side. Ezel applies your state's law to your specific situation and answers with citations to the statutes.
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| State | Governing law & document | Who can sign | Witnesses or notary | Who can't witness or serve | When the agent can act | Agent's powers & limits | How to revoke | Out-of-state directives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama verified 2026-07-16 | Alabama Natural Death Act, Ala. Code §§ 22-8A-1 to 22-8A-18; the agent appointment is a written 'health care proxy designation' inside a combined 'Advance Directive for Health Care (Living Will and Health Care Proxy)' (§ 22-8A-4). A mandatory statutory form is set out — the directive 'shall be substantially in the following form' (§ 22-8A-4(h)). |
A 'competent adult' — an adult (19+ in Alabama) who is alert and able to understand and appreciate the treatment choices (§ 22-8A-3(1),(6)) — appoints another competent adult as proxy (§ 22-8A-4(b)). Must be in writing, signed by the declarant (or by another in the declarant's presence at the declarant's express direction) and dated (§ 22-8A-4(c)); the proxy must accept in writing, with the acceptance attached (§ 22-8A-4(b)). |
Two witnesses, no notary. The directive must be 'signed in the presence of two or more witnesses at least 19 years of age' (§ 22-8A-4(c)(4)); no notarization is required (the notary line on the state form is optional). |
A witness may not be: the person who signed for the declarant, the proxy, a relative by 'blood, adoption, or marriage,' anyone entitled to a share of the estate, or anyone 'directly financially responsible for declarant's medical care' (§ 22-8A-4(c)(4)). And 'under no circumstances' may the patient's health care provider or a nonrelative employee of that provider serve as proxy (§ 22-8A-4(b)(4)). |
Springing. The directive 'shall become effective when' the attending physician finds the declarant 'no longer able to understand, appreciate, and direct his or her medical treatment' AND two physicians (one the attending) examine and document a terminal illness or injury or permanent unconsciousness (§ 22-8A-4(d)). It has no effect while a declarant is known to be pregnant (§ 22-8A-4(e)), and the declarant's own current desires 'shall at all times supersede' it (§ 22-8A-7). |
The proxy decides on providing, withholding, or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment and artificial nutrition/hydration (§ 22-8A-4(b)), following the patient's instructions and intent (§ 22-8A-6). Limits: artificial nutrition/hydration may not be withdrawn or withheld 'unless specifically authorized' in the designation (§ 22-8A-4(b)); any general, non-life-sustaining health care decisions are limited to the powers allowed under the Alabama Durable Power of Attorney Act, § 26-1-2 (§ 22-8A-4(b)(2)). Proxy decisions take precedence over the living will (§ 22-8A-4(g)). |
The declarant may revoke 'at any time' by physical destruction, a signed and dated written revocation, or a verbal statement made before a witness 19 or older who signs a writing confirming it — a verbal revocation taking effect when the physician receives that writing (§ 22-8A-5). Alabama's Act lists no automatic revocation on divorce, annulment, or separation; those three methods are the exclusive ones, so a former spouse named as proxy stays proxy until you revoke. |
Recognized. 'An advance health care directive executed in another state in compliance with the law of that state or of this state is valid for purposes of this chapter' (§ 22-8A-12). |
| Alaska verified 2026-07-16 | Alaska Health Care Decisions Act, AS 13.52.010–13.52.395 (Title 13, ch. 52). Alaska uses a single combined "advance health care directive" — an individual instruction (the living will), a durable power of attorney for health care, or both (§ 13.52.390(1)). The agent-appointment component is the "durable power of attorney for health care." The Act supplies an optional sample form (§ 13.52.300). |
An adult may execute a durable power of attorney for health care (§ 13.52.010(b)). It "must be in writing, contain the date of its execution, be signed by the principal," and be witnessed by one of the two methods below. Capacity is the ability to receive and evaluate information effectively and to make and communicate health care decisions (§ 13.52.390(8)). A separately valid individual instruction stays valid even if the power itself fails the witnessing rules (§ 13.52.010(l)). |
A choice (§ 13.52.010(b)): the power must be either (1) "signed by at least two individuals who are personally known by the principal," each witnessing the signing or the principal's acknowledgment, OR (2) "acknowledged before a notary public at a place in this state." A notary alone is enough — no witnesses are then required. If the two-witness route is used, at least one witness must be disinterested (§ 13.52.010(e)). The document must also be dated (§ 13.52.010(b)). |
Witnesses (two-witness route): may not be a health care provider employed at the institution or facility where the principal is receiving care, an employee of that provider or facility, or the agent (§ 13.52.010(d)); and at least one witness must be someone not related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption and not entitled to a share of the principal's estate under a will/codicil or by operation of law (§ 13.52.010(e)). Agent: unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, the agent may not be an owner, operator, or employee of the health care institution where the principal is receiving care (§ 13.52.010(c)). |
Springing by default, unless the document specifies otherwise: "the authority of an agent becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity, and ceases to be effective upon a determination that the principal has recovered capacity" (§ 13.52.010(f)). The primary physician makes that determination — except in the case of mental illness, where a court makes it unless the situation is an emergency (§ 13.52.010(g)). |
Broad: the agent may make "any health care decision the principal could have made while having capacity" (§ 13.52.010(b)), following the principal's instructions and known wishes, otherwise the principal's best interest (§ 13.52.010(h)). A "health care decision" expressly includes directing the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration (in accord with accepted standards) and even psychotropic medication, electroconvulsive treatment, and admission to a mental health facility (§ 13.52.390(18)) — no separate end-of-life grant is required. But mental-illness capacity determinations go to a court rather than a physician (§ 13.52.010(g)), and heightened findings govern a directive during mental illness (§ 13.52.020(c)). |
The agent designation may be revoked "only by a signed writing or by personally informing the supervising health care provider" (§ 13.52.020(a)); the rest of a directive may be revoked at any time and in any manner communicating intent (§ 13.52.020(b)). A decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or legal separation revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or the power says otherwise (§ 13.52.020(e)), and a later directive revokes an earlier one to the extent of the conflict (§ 13.52.020(f)). Special heightened rules apply in the case of mental illness (§ 13.52.020(c)). |
Narrower than many states: an advance health care directive — including one "made in compliance with the laws of another state" — "is valid for purposes of this chapter if it complies with this chapter, regardless of where or when it was executed or communicated" (§ 13.52.010(k)). Alaska honors an out-of-state directive only if it also satisfies Alaska's own requirements, not merely because it was valid where signed. |
| Arizona verified 2026-07-16 | Living Wills and Health Care Directives Act, A.R.S. Title 36, Ch. 32 (§§ 36-3201 to 36-3287). A standalone health care power of attorney (§ 36-3221), separate from the living will (§ 36-3261) but able to attach one. Optional sample form at § 36-3224. |
Any adult (§ 36-3221(A)). The document must contain language clearly showing intent to create a health care power of attorney and be 'dated and signed or marked by the person' (§ 36-3221(A)(1)-(2)); if the person cannot sign or mark, the notary or witness verifies the person indicated it expressed their wishes (§ 36-3221(B)). |
One witness OR a notary — an unusually light rule. The document must be 'notarized or ... witnessed in writing by at least one adult' who affirms the signer was present, appeared of sound mind, and was free from duress (§ 36-3221(A)(3)). A single witness suffices; there is no two-witness or notary-plus-witness requirement. |
A notary or witness may not be the person named as agent, or anyone 'directly involved with the provision of health care to the principal' at execution (§ 36-3221(C)). If only one witness is used, that witness also may not be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, or entitled to any part of the estate (§ 36-3221(D)). Agent: any adult; a person whose fiduciary license is suspended or revoked may not serve unless related to the principal (§ 36-3221(E)). |
Springing: the agent acts as the patient's surrogate once 'an adult patient is unable to make or communicate health care treatment decisions' (§ 36-3231(A)); the sample form states it is 'effective on my inability to make or communicate health care decisions' (§ 36-3224). The treating provider makes that assessment; no second-physician certification is required by statute. |
As surrogate, the agent makes the patient's health care decisions and must follow the patient's known wishes (§ 36-3231(A)); the sample form grants 'full power to give or refuse consent to all medical, surgical, hospital and related health care' (§ 36-3224). Mental-health limit: a surrogate may make mental health treatment decisions for an incapable patient, but only the agent or a guardian (not other surrogates) may consent to inpatient psychiatric admission, subject to emergency safeguards and Arizona's separate mental health care power of attorney (§§ 36-3231(D)-(E), 36-3281). |
Revoke or disqualify the surrogate by a written revocation, by orally notifying the surrogate or a health care provider, by making a new directive, or by 'any other act that demonstrates a specific intent to revoke' (§ 36-3202). Arizona's directive statute has no automatic-revocation-on-divorce rule for an appointed agent, so if your named agent is a former spouse, revoke and re-execute. |
A health care directive prepared in another state is valid in Arizona 'if it was valid in the place where and at the time when it was adopted and only to the extent that it does not conflict with the criminal laws of this state' (§ 36-3208). |
| Arkansas verified 2026-07-16 | Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act, Ark. Code §§ 20-6-101 to -118 (eff. Oct. 1, 2013; a Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act enactment). Arkansas uses one umbrella "advance directive" that can hold a living will, a durable power of attorney for health care (the agent appointment), or both (§ 20-6-102(1), (4)(A)). The Act publishes no optional statutory form. |
"An adult, married minor, or emancipated minor may execute a durable power of attorney for health care" (§ 20-6-103(b)(1)) — Arkansas lets a married or emancipated minor sign, an outlier. It "shall be in writing and signed by the principal" (§ 20-6-103(b)(2)); the Act provides no way for another person to sign at the principal's direction. Capacity is the ability "to understand the significant benefits, risks, and alternatives ... and to make and communicate a healthcare decision" (§ 20-6-102(3)) and is presumed (§ 20-6-112). |
Notary OR two witnesses — an advance directive "shall be either notarized or witnessed by two (2) witnesses" (§ 20-6-103(c)(1)). One route or the other suffices. A witnessed directive must contain an attestation clause that the witnesses comply with the section (§ 20-6-103(c)(3)). |
Witnesses: each must be "a competent adult who is not the agent," and "at least one" must not be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption and not entitled to any of the estate (§ 20-6-103(c)(2)). Agents: the Act sets no restriction on who may be named agent (no treating-provider or facility bar) — the only person-based execution limit is the witness rule. |
Springing by default — "[u]nless otherwise specified in an advance directive, the authority of an agent becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity" and ends on recovery (§ 20-6-103(d)). A licensed physician makes that determination (§ 20-6-103(e)(1)) and records it in the clinical record (§ 20-6-108). The principal may instead specify immediate effect. |
Broad: the agent may make "a healthcare decision that the principal could make if he or she had capacity" (§ 20-6-103(b)(1)), and "healthcare decision" includes consent, refusal, or withdrawal of consent — reaching life-sustaining treatment (§ 20-6-102(9)). The agent must follow the principal's known instructions and wishes, otherwise the principal's best interest and personal values (§ 20-6-103(f)); decisions are effective without judicial approval (§ 20-6-103(g)). The Act lists no categorical exclusions. |
A principal with capacity "may revoke all or part of an advance directive ... at any time and in any manner that communicates an intent to revoke" (§ 20-6-104(a)). "A decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or legal separation revokes a previous designation of a spouse as agent" unless stated otherwise (§ 20-6-104(b)). A later conflicting directive revokes the earlier one to the extent of the conflict (§ 20-6-104(c)). |
Honored: a directive "executed outside of this state shall be given effect in this state if, at the time of execution, the advance directive complies with either this subchapter or the laws of the state in which the advance directive was executed" (§ 20-6-103(h)). |
| California verified 2026-07-16 | Health Care Decisions Law (Uniform Health Care Decisions Act), Prob. Code §§ 4670–4701; one combined advance health care directive (Part 1 appoints the agent, Part 2 is the living will). Optional statutory form at § 4701. |
An adult having capacity; the directive must be dated and signed either by the patient or, in the patient's name, by another adult in the patient's presence and at the patient's direction (§§ 4671, 4673(a)). |
Either acknowledged before a notary public OR signed by at least two qualified adult witnesses (§ 4673(a)(3)). An electronic directive must be notarized (§ 4673(b)). |
A witness cannot be the agent, your health care provider or their employee, or a care-facility operator/employee; at least one witness must be unrelated to you and not an heir (§ 4674). A skilled-nursing-facility patient also needs a patient advocate or ombudsman as a witness (§ 4675). |
Springing by default: the agent's authority begins only on a determination that the principal lacks capacity and ends on recovery, unless the directive provides it takes effect immediately (§ 4682; form § 4701). |
The agent may make any health care decision the principal could, subject to limits stated in the document (§ 4683). No agent may authorize commitment to a mental health facility, convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, or abortion (form § 4701). |
Revoke the agent only by a signed writing or by personally informing your supervising health care provider; other parts of the directive are revocable anytime in any manner showing intent (§ 4695). Dissolution or annulment of your marriage to the agent revokes that designation (§ 4697). |
A written directive validly executed under another state's law (or California's) is valid and enforceable in California to the same extent as one executed here (§ 4676). |
| Colorado verified 2026-07-16 | Colorado Patient Autonomy Act, Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-14-503 to 15-14-509 (§ 15-14-503); the document is a 'medical durable power of attorney' (§ 15-14-506), a standalone agent appointment separate from the living will (Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act, art. 18). No statutory or mandatory form — the Act prescribes none. |
An adult — 'any person eighteen years of age or older' (§ 15-14-505(1)) — sets the agent's authority in a written medical durable power of attorney (§ 15-14-506(1)). The Act prescribes no separate execution-capacity test and no fill-in form; a competent adult executes any writing that meets the Act. |
None required — Colorado's outlier. The Patient Autonomy Act (§§ 15-14-503 to 509) sets no witness, notary, or acknowledgment requirement; the only formality is that the authority be 'set forth in a medical durable power of attorney' (§ 15-14-506(1)) — a signed writing. Two witnesses belong to the separate living will, not this document. |
No witnesses are used, so there are no witness bars. The Act names no categorical disqualification for who may serve as agent — it does not bar a treating physician or facility staff (contrast the no-document proxy rule, where the proxy 'does not mean the attending physician,' § 15-18.5-103(1.5)(b)). |
Springing by nature: the agent may act only 'on behalf of a principal who lacks decisional capacity' (§ 15-14-506(3)). That determination 'may be made by a court or the attending physician' and must be documented in the medical record (§ 15-18.5-103(2)); the attending physician is the doctor with 'primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient' (§ 15-14-505(4)). |
The agent gives informed consent to or refusal of medical treatment, expressly 'including artificial nourishment and hydration' (§ 15-14-506(1)), acting on the document's terms and the principal's known wishes (§ 15-14-506(2)), with the principal's rights of access to medical records (§ 15-14-506(3)). No categorical subject-matter exclusions in the Act; limits come from the document and from § 15-14-506(4)(b) (may not compel illegal or medically inappropriate treatment). A provider unwilling to comply must transfer the patient (§ 15-14-507). |
The principal keeps 'the right to revoke an agent's authority' and to consent to or refuse any treatment (§ 15-14-506(4)(a)); revoking the appointment, or the agent's inability or unwillingness to serve, ends it (§ 15-14-506(4)(d)). A subsequent divorce, dissolution of marriage, annulment, or legal separation automatically revokes a spouse-agent's appointment unless the document says otherwise (§ 15-14-506(4)(c)). |
Honored. A medical durable power of attorney or similar instrument 'executed in another state shall be presumed to comply with the provisions of this part 5' and may be relied on in good faith by providers (§ 15-14-509(2)); Colorado also presumes its own directives should be recognized in other states (§ 15-14-509(1)). |
| Connecticut verified 2026-07-16 | Connecticut's advance-directive chapter, Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 19a-570 to 19a-580g (Chapter 368w). You may sign a standalone 'appointment of health care representative' or a combined advance directive (living will + appointment). Optional statutory forms at §§ 19a-575a (combined) and 19a-577 (appointment). |
Any person 18 or older; the appointment must be 'signed and dated by such person in the presence of two adult witnesses' (§ 19a-576(a)). No heightened capacity test beyond being an adult. |
Two adult witnesses who also sign the document; there is no notary alternative (§ 19a-576(a)). A resident of a state mental-health or developmental-services facility needs special witnesses — one not affiliated with the facility and one physician, APRN, or licensed clinical psychologist (§ 19a-576(b)–(c)). The statutory form adds an optional witness affidavit. |
The person you name as representative 'shall not act as witness' or sign the document (§ 19a-576(a)); the statute sets no heir or provider bar on ordinary witnesses. As representative: a facility operator, administrator, or employee cannot serve for a patient, resident, or applicant of that facility, nor may a government-agency employee financially responsible for your care — unless related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption (§ 19a-576(d)) — and a physician or APRN cannot be both your representative and your attending provider (§ 19a-576(e)). |
Springing only. The appointment 'becomes operative when (1) the document is furnished to the attending physician or [APRN], and (2) the declarant is determined by the attending physician or [APRN] to be incapacitated' (§ 19a-579) — a single provider's determination. The representative may then 'make any and all health care decisions' (§ 19a-575a). |
Once operative, the representative is 'authorized to make any and all health care decisions' — accepting or refusing any treatment, service, or procedure, carrying out your living will, and, where your wishes are unclear, deciding in your best interests (§§ 19a-575a, 19a-577). Connecticut enumerates no categorical exclusions, but 'comfort care and pain alleviation shall be provided in all cases' (§ 19a-573(a)). |
Two different rules. The APPOINTMENT of a representative 'may only be revoked by the declarant, in writing,' signed by the declarant and two witnesses (§ 19a-575a(b)); a divorce, legal separation, annulment, or dissolution automatically revokes a spouse-representative unless you specify otherwise (§ 19a-579b). A living will, by contrast, is revocable 'at any time and in any manner' (§ 19a-579a(a)). |
Health care instructions or an appointment of a health care proxy executed under another state's law (or Connecticut's), compliant with that law and 'not contrary to the public policy of this state,' are 'deemed validly executed' here (§ 19a-580g). |
| Delaware verified 2026-07-16 | Delaware's Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (2023), 16 Del. C. ch. 25, effective September 30, 2025. A power of attorney may stand alone or include health-care instructions; § 2511 supplies an optional combined form. |
An adult or emancipated minor with capacity signs a tangible or electronic record (§§ 2502(16), (23), (25), (27), 2508(d), 2516(c)). Capacity includes understanding the relationship with the selected agent and may be exercised with supports/accommodations (§ 2503). No directed-signer route is stated. |
One qualified adult witness; no notary. Presence may be physical, real-time audiovisual, or qualifying authenticated real-time audio (§ 2508(d)-(e)). Electronic records and signatures cannot be denied effect solely for being electronic (§ 2516(c)-(e)). |
Witness cannot be the agent or the agent's spouse/domestic partner/cohabitant; for a nursing-home/LTC resident, no owner/operator/employee/contractor of that facility (§ 2508(d)). Agent bars include dangerousness/contact-abuse orders and unrelated facility owners/operators/employees/contractors (§ 2508(b)). |
Springing by default: agent authority starts on a qualifying professional's signed finding or a court finding of incapacity and stops on restored capacity or the principal's objection. A confirmed second finding may overcome an objection in specified cases (§§ 2504-2505, 2518(a)). Health-information authority may be made immediate (§ 2518(c)). |
Follows the directive and known goals/wishes; otherwise best interest. Health-care decisions include institutions, tests, medication, artificial nutrition/hydration, and ventilation (§§ 2502(12), 2517). Mental-facility admission needs express authorization and is capped at 72 hours; >100-day nursing-home placement and withdrawal of established disability supports have special limits (§§ 2518-2519). |
While the principal has revocation capacity, any act clearly indicating intent works, including an oral statement to a professional. A later conflicting directive revokes to the extent of conflict. Filing or entry of specified marital/domestic-partner proceedings, recorded separation, or desertion over one year revokes that agent unless the directive says otherwise (§ 2515). |
A directive created outside Delaware is valid if it complies with the law of the state specified in it—or, if none, the state of creation—or with Delaware chapter 25 (§ 2516(a)). |
| District of Columbia verified 2026-07-16 | Health-Care Decisions Act, D.C. Code §§ 21-2201 to 21-2213 (Title 21, ch. 22, subch. I — 'Durable Power of Attorney'). A standalone durable power of attorney for health care, separate from a living will. An optional statutory form is provided at § 21-2207. |
A competent adult may designate an attorney-in-fact 'in writing' (§ 21-2205(a)). The document must be dated and signed by the principal (§ 21-2205(c)) and contain durable language showing the principal intends it to survive or take effect on incapacity (§ 21-2205(b)). Capacity is presumed (§ 21-2203; § 21-2208(c)). |
Two adult witnesses; a notary is not required. The document must be 'dated and signed by the principal and 2 adult witnesses who affirm that the principal was of sound mind and free from duress' (§ 21-2205(c)). At least one of the two witnesses must be unrelated to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption and not entitled to any part of the estate (§ 21-2205(d)). |
Cannot witness (§ 21-2205(c)–(d)): the principal, the principal's health-care provider, an employee of that provider — and at least one witness must be unrelated and not an heir. Agent limit: when a provider asks a patient who has been in a health-care facility at least 48 hours to execute a DPOA, 'the health care provider may not be named as the attorney in fact' (§ 21-2209(b)); no provider may require a DPOA as a condition of care (§ 21-2209(a)). |
Springing. The DPOA is 'effective upon, and only during incapacitation' (§ 21-2202(3)(B)), and the agent may not make a decision the principal can make with informed consent (§ 21-2206(b)(2)). Incapacity must be certified by two licensed professionals — one a physician and one a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist — at least one of whom examined the principal within the preceding day; both give a written opinion on the cause, nature, extent, and probable duration (§ 21-2204). |
Subject to any express limits in the document, the attorney-in-fact 'shall have all the rights, powers and authority related to health-care decisions that the principal would have' — consenting to, refusing, or withdrawing any treatment, reviewing records, choosing providers, and directing admission or discharge (§ 21-2206(a)). The agent must follow the principal's expressed wishes, or a good-faith view of best interests if wishes are unknown (§ 21-2206(c)). DC bars any substitute decision-maker from consenting to abortion, sterilization, psychosurgery, or convulsive/aversive behavior therapy without a court order (§ 21-2211). |
A principal with capacity may revoke by notifying the attorney-in-fact, orally or in writing, or by notifying the health-care provider (§ 21-2208(a)); capacity to revoke is presumed (§ 21-2208(c)). A later valid DPOA revokes a prior one (§ 21-2208(d)). Divorce, annulment, dissolution, or termination of the principal's marriage or domestic partnership automatically revokes a former spouse or partner as attorney-in-fact unless the document provides otherwise (§ 21-2208(e)). |
DC recognizes an out-of-state directive: a 'durable power of attorney for health care' includes one 'validly executed in another jurisdiction pursuant to similar provisions of the law of that jurisdiction' (§ 21-2202(3)(A)). |
| Florida verified 2026-07-16 | Florida's Health Care Advance Directives law, ch. 765; the health care surrogate designation is Part II (§§ 765.201–765.205), part of the ch. 765 'advance directive' family but separate from the Part III living will. A suggested (optional) statutory form is provided at § 765.203. |
A competent adult signs as principal (§ 765.101(18)); a principal unable to sign may, in the witnesses' presence, direct another person to sign the principal's name (§ 765.202(1)). |
Signed by the principal in the presence of two subscribing adult witnesses — there is no notary alternative. At least one witness must be neither the principal's spouse nor a blood relative (§ 765.202(1)–(2)). |
The designated surrogate may not act as a witness, and at least one witness must be neither the principal's spouse nor a blood relative (§ 765.202(2)). Florida sets no statutory bar on who may serve as surrogate beyond being a competent adult (§ 765.101(21)); a treating provider or facility employee is not disqualified from serving. |
Springing by default: the surrogate's authority commences when the primary or attending physician determines the principal lacks capacity and records it in the medical record (§ 765.204(2)–(3)). The principal may stipulate in the document that the authority is exercisable immediately (§§ 765.101(21), 765.202(6)). |
The surrogate may make all health care decisions during the principal's incapacity, following the principal's instructions, using substituted judgment and then best interest (§ 765.205(1)). To withhold or withdraw life-prolonging procedures, the Part III conditions apply (§ 765.204(6)). A separate surrogate is needed to consent to mental health treatment if the principal is court-determined incompetent and a guardian advocate is appointed (§ 765.202(5)). |
A competent principal may amend or revoke at any time by a signed, dated writing, physical destruction, an oral expression of intent, or a later materially different directive (§ 765.104(1)), effective when communicated to the surrogate or provider (§ 765.104(3)). Dissolution or annulment of marriage revokes a former spouse as surrogate (§ 765.104(2)). |
An advance directive executed in another state in compliance with that state's law or Florida's is validly executed for purposes of ch. 765 (§ 765.112). |
| Georgia verified 2026-07-16 | Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care Act, O.C.G.A. §§ 31-32-1 to 31-32-14 (enacted 2007). One combined advance directive — Part One appoints the health care agent, Part Two records treatment wishes. An optional statutory form is at § 31-32-4; any other complying form may be used (§ 31-32-5(b)). |
Any person of sound mind who is emancipated or 18 or older (§ 31-32-5(a)). The document must be in writing and signed by the declarant, or by another person in the declarant's presence and at the declarant's express direction, and witnessed under subsection (c). |
Two witnesses, of sound mind and at least 18, who attest and subscribe in the declarant's presence (§ 31-32-5(c)(1)). No notary is required. The witnesses need not be together or present when the declarant actually signs. |
Neither witness may be the health care agent, a person who will knowingly inherit or gain a financial benefit from the declarant's death, or a person directly involved in the declarant's health care; and not more than one witness may be an employee/agent/medical-staff member of the facility where the declarant is receiving care (§ 31-32-5(c)(2)–(3)). A physician or provider directly involved in the declarant's care may not serve as agent (§ 31-32-5(d)). |
The agent acts when the declarant is 'unable or chooses not to make health care decisions' (§ 31-32-2(6)) — but cannot override the declarant's own contrary decision while the declarant can understand the procedure (§ 31-32-7(a)). Withdrawing life-sustaining procedures or nutrition/hydration additionally requires two physicians to certify a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness (§ 31-32-9(b)). |
Broad: consent to, refuse, withhold, or withdraw any and all medical care — including medication, surgery, life-sustaining procedures, and nutrition or hydration — plus facility admission/discharge, records access, and autopsy/anatomical-gift/remains decisions (§ 31-32-7(e)). Limits: no sterilization and no involuntary hospitalization or involuntary treatment under Title 37 (§ 31-32-7(e)(1)); the statutory form adds that the agent has no power over psychosurgery (§ 31-32-4). |
Revoke at any time, regardless of mental state or competency, by a new inconsistent directive, destruction, a signed and dated written revocation, or an oral/other clear expression before a witness 18+ who within 30 days signs a confirming writing (§ 31-32-6(a)). Marriage revokes a non-spouse agent designation, and divorce or annulment revokes a former-spouse agent (§ 31-32-6(b)). |
A document appointing an agent or directing end-of-life care that was executed in another state and is valid under that state's law is treated as a complying Georgia advance directive (§ 31-32-5(b)). |
| Hawaii verified 2026-07-16 | Hawaii's Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act (Modified), Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 327E. The agent appointment may be part of a combined advance directive; § 327E-16 supplies an optional form. |
An adult or emancipated minor signs a written, dated power of attorney for health care (§ 327E-3(b)). Capacity means the ability to understand significant benefits, risks, and alternatives and make and communicate a decision (§ 327E-2). |
Two witnesses OR a notary. Each witness must observe the principal's signing or acknowledgment; the alternative is acknowledgment before a Hawaii notary (§ 327E-3(b)). |
No witness may be a provider, provider/facility employee, or the agent; at least one must be unrelated and not an heir (§ 327E-3(c)-(d)). An unrelated owner, operator, or employee of the treating institution cannot be agent (§ 327E-3(b)). |
Springing by default: authority begins when the primary physician determines lack of capacity and ends when capacity returns; the document may specify otherwise (§ 327E-3(e)-(f)). |
May make any health-care decision the principal could make, subject to the document and known instructions/wishes; otherwise uses best interest and known values (§ 327E-3(b), (g)). Scope includes artificial nutrition and hydration under § 327E-2. |
Revoke the agent designation only by signed writing or personally informing the supervising provider; a divorce/annulment/dissolution/legal-separation decree revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or document says otherwise (§ 327E-4). |
Valid if it complies with chapter 327E or was executed in compliance with the law of the state where executed (§ 327E-3(j)). |
| Idaho verified 2026-07-16 | Idaho Medical Consent and Natural Death Act, Idaho Code §§ 39-4501 to 39-4516 (rewritten by 2023 HB 223, ch. 307). The agent appointment sits inside an 'advance care planning document' (ACPD) — Idaho's single directive combining agent nomination and treatment wishes (§ 39-4510); a 'health care agent' is 'a person named in an advance care planning document to make medical decisions' (§ 39-4502(10)). The Department of Health and Welfare 'may' publish an optional form, which 'is not mandatory' (§ 39-4510(1)). |
'Any competent person aged eighteen (18) years or older may execute' an ACPD (§ 39-4510(1)). Competence is functional: a person 'who comprehends the need for, the nature of, and the significant risks ordinarily inherent in' the care is competent (§ 39-4503). Mandatory elements are only the person's name, date of birth, phone, and mailing address; the person's (or their authorized agent's) signature; and the date (§ 39-4510(1)). |
None required — Idaho is the national outlier. A valid ACPD needs only the identifying details, signature, and date (§ 39-4510(1)); the statute lists 'the names and contact information of witnesses' and 'Notarization' among things an ACPD 'may but is not required to include' (§ 39-4510(2)(j),(k)). The pre-2023 'two witnesses, or a notary and one witness' rule was repealed by 2023 HB 223. |
Not applicable. Because witnesses are optional, the Act states no witness-qualification rules, and it names no categorical disqualification for who may serve as agent — a 'health care agent' is simply 'a person named in an advance care planning document to make medical decisions for another person' (§ 39-4502(10)). |
Immediate, not springing. An ACPD 'shall be effective from the date of execution until it is revoked or replaced' (§ 39-4512). Idaho sets no physician-certification trigger; the agent steps in to make decisions when the person is 'no longer able to communicate' their own wishes (§ 39-4502(10); § 39-4509(2)). |
The agent makes the person's medical decisions, including consenting to or refusing treatment and directing the withholding or withdrawal of artificial life-sustaining treatment and artificial nutrition and hydration (§ 39-4509; § 39-4514(3)). Limits: care the person directed be PROVIDED may not be withdrawn (§ 39-4514(3)); the Act does not condone euthanasia, mercy killing, or assisted suicide (§ 39-4514(2)) and does not require nonbeneficial treatment (§ 39-4514(6)); CPR is presumed unless the ACPD or surrogate directs otherwise (§ 39-4514(5)). |
Revoke or replace the ACPD at any time and reexecute a new one (§ 39-4512); or 'suspend' it at any time by a signed writing, an oral expression, or 'any other action that clearly manifests' the intent to suspend (§ 39-4511B(1)). A provider without actual knowledge of a suspension may rely on the document (§ 39-4511B(2)). The Act provides no automatic revocation on divorce. |
Honored in substance. Idaho has no express reciprocity clause, but a 'directive' includes 'another document that represents a competent person's authentic expression of such person's wishes' (§ 39-4502(1)(c)), and 'any authentic expression of a person's wishes with respect to health care services should be honored' (§ 39-4509(3)). |
| Illinois verified 2026-07-16 | Powers of Attorney for Health Care Law (Illinois Power of Attorney Act, art. IV), 755 ILCS 45/4-1 et seq. A standalone 'health care agency'; an optional statutory short form is at § 4-10. Any written form works if it designates an agent, states the agent's powers, and meets § 4-5 (§ 4-10(a)). |
A competent adult (the principal) executes it; the person named as agent must be at least 18 (§ 4-4(e-5)). The principal signs, or another person signs at the principal's direction; signatures may be written or electronic (§ 4-10). |
One witness, who must be at least 18, must sign the agency (§ 4-5.1(a)). No notary is required — the statutory form instructs, 'There is no need to have the form notarized' (§ 4-10). |
The witness may NOT be the principal's attending physician, APRN, PA, dentist, podiatrist, optometrist, or psychologist (or a relative of one); an owner/operator (or their relative) of the facility where the principal is a patient or resident; a parent, sibling, or descendant (or their spouse) of the principal OR of any agent or successor agent; or an agent or successor agent (§ 4-5.1). No physician or provider administering care to the principal may serve as agent (§ 4-5). |
Springing by default: on the statutory form, if no box is checked the agent may 'make decisions for me only when I cannot make them,' as determined by a physician using the Health Care Surrogate Act's decisional-capacity standard (§ 4-10(b), (d)). The principal may instead check a box making the agent's authority effective immediately. |
Broad by default — any health care decision the principal could make, 'as broad as possible,' expressly including withdrawal of nutrition and hydration and other life-sustaining treatment, subject to limits the principal writes on the form (§§ 4-3, 4-10(c)). No categorical statutory exclusions. Authority may extend past death for anatomical gifts, autopsy, and disposition of remains (§§ 4-3, 4-7(d)). |
Revoke at any time, regardless of mental or physical condition, by destroying the document, a signed and dated written revocation, or an oral/other expression of intent before a witness 18 or older who signs a confirming writing (§ 4-6(a)). A principal may elect a 30-day delayed-revocation period (§ 4-6(a-5)). |
No express reciprocity clause in the Health Care Article. A document made in another state is usable in Illinois as a nonstatutory health care power if it is executed by the principal, designates the agent and the agent's powers, and complies with § 4-5 (§ 4-10(a)); it need not use the Illinois form. |
| Indiana verified 2026-07-16 | Indiana Health Care Advance Directives, Ind. Code ch. 16-36-7 (effective 2021, current 2026 text). A single written advance directive may designate one or more health care representatives and also state treatment instructions (§§ 16-36-7-2, -28(a)). No official or unofficial form is required; the Department of Health maintains resources and sample forms (§ 16-36-7-30) |
A 'declarant' is a competent adult (§ 16-36-7-4). The declarant signs, or another adult signs the declarant's name at the declarant's specific direction and in the declarant's presence (§ 16-36-7-28(b)). The directed signer cannot also be a witness, notarial officer, or designated representative. 'Written' and 'sign' include retrievable electronic records and electronic signatures (§§ 16-36-7-22, -26); § 28 does not require a date |
Two adult witnesses OR a notarial officer (§ 16-36-7-28(b)-(c)). Witnesses sign in the declarant's presence; acknowledgment may use compliant remote online/electronic notarization. Witness presence may be physical, live audiovisual, or qualifying real-time telephone interaction (§§ 16-36-7-19, -28(e)); notary presence may be physical or compliant live audiovisual, not telephone-only |
At least one of the two witnesses may not be the declarant's spouse or other relative (§ 16-36-7-28(c)(1)); the second witness may be related. An adult who signs for the declarant cannot also witness, notarize, or serve as the designated representative (§ 16-36-7-28(b)(2)). Chapter 7 otherwise defines a representative as a competent adult or other designated person (§ 16-36-7-13) and does not add the common agent/provider/facility-employee witness bans |
Immediate by default: if the directive states no delayed date or future trigger, it takes effect when properly signed and witnessed or acknowledged (§ 16-36-7-34(1)). The competent declarant's decisions supersede the representative's. A directive may delay authority to a date, event, or incapacity (§ 16-36-7-29(1)-(2)); if springing and no method is stated, a physician, licensed psychologist, or judge determines incapacity (§ 16-36-7-34(7)), ordinarily recorded by the treating physician (§ 16-36-7-35(d)) |
Unless the directive limits it, the representative may make all health care decisions while authority is active, access health information, apply for benefits, and authorize admission, discharge, or transfer (§ 16-36-7-36). 'Health care decision' includes consent, refusal, or withdrawal for all health care, including life-prolonging procedures and mental health treatment (§ 16-36-7-10); mental-health consent is presumed authorized (§ 16-36-7-34(8)), but the directive may prohibit it or name a different representative (§ 16-36-7-29(9)). A provider may refuse a decision that is medically inappropriate or clearly contrary to the declarant's best interests (§ 16-36-7-35(c)) |
Revoke by signing another directive; signing a revocation document with the same execution formalities (and satisfying any added revocation conditions written into the directive); or orally stating the present intent to a health care provider in the provider's direct physical presence (§ 16-36-7-32(a)). A later directive supersedes earlier directives unless it preserves them (§ 16-36-7-34(4)). Amendment or restatement must be written and executed under § 16-36-7-28 (§ 16-36-7-32(c)) |
A writing signed while the declarant resides or is physically located outside Indiana is valid if the declarant was not incapacitated and it satisfies Indiana's signing rules or the law of the place where the declarant resided or was located (§ 16-36-7-28(j)). If an out-of-state directive materially conflicts with another valid Indiana/legacy document after incapacity, the last-signed document and its representative control (§ 16-36-7-44) |
| Iowa verified 2026-07-16 | Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, Iowa Code ch. 144B (§§ 144B.1–144B.12); a standalone health care POA, separate from Iowa's living-will statute, the Life-Sustaining Procedures Act (ch. 144A). Not a Uniform Health Care Decisions Act state. Optional (not mandatory) statutory form at § 144B.5(1) ('may, but need not, be in the following form'). |
The principal must be age 18 or older (§ 144B.1(7)). The document must contain the date of its execution and be signed by the principal or 'by another person acting on behalf of the principal at the principal's direction' in the principal's and witnesses' presence (§ 144B.3(1)(b)). A pre-May 8, 1991 document is valid if it explicitly authorizes health care decisions and is signed by the principal (§ 144B.2). |
Two witnesses OR a notary. The document must be 'witnessed or acknowledged by one of the following methods': signed by at least two individuals who, in the presence of each other and the principal, witnessed the signing; or acknowledged before a notarial officer in Iowa under ch. 9B (§ 144B.3(1)(b)). |
Cannot witness: a health care provider attending the principal on the execution date, an employee of that provider, the named attorney in fact, or anyone under 18 (§ 144B.3(2)); and at least one witness must not be a relative within the third degree of consanguinity (§ 144B.3(3)). Cannot serve as attorney in fact: a health care provider attending the principal on the execution date, or that provider's employee unless related to the principal within the third degree (§ 144B.4). Iowa has no facility-operator bar and no skilled-nursing ombudsman-witness rule. |
Springing only. The attorney in fact has authority to make a particular decision 'only if the principal is unable, in the judgment of the attending physician or attending physician assistant, to make the health care decision' (§§ 144B.1(3), 144B.6(1)); there is no immediate-effect option, and a principal who objects to withholding or withdrawing care is presumed able to decide (§ 144B.6(1)). A willing, available agent has priority over a court-appointed guardian unless a court finds the agent is acting contrary to the principal's wishes (§ 144B.6(1)). |
The agent may consent to, refuse, or withdraw consent to any care, treatment, service, or procedure to maintain, diagnose, or treat a physical or mental condition, and may review medical records (§§ 144B.1(4)–(5), 144B.5, 144B.7). 'Health care' excludes nutrition and hydration except when provided parenterally or through intubation (§ 144B.1(4)) — so the agent's feeding authority reaches only artificial nutrition/hydration. The optional form lets the agent consent to stopping care 'necessary to keep me alive,' but only 'where otherwise consistent with the law of this state' (§ 144B.5(1)); the chapter does not authorize mercy killing or euthanasia (§ 144B.12(2)). Effective July 1, 2026, 2026 Iowa Acts ch. 1009 amended § 144B.6 so an instruction limiting the agent's authority binds only if the document states, in a separate section, that it is limited. |
Revocable at any time and in any manner communicating intent, regardless of mental or physical condition — by notifying the attorney in fact or a health care provider orally or in writing (a provider is bound only once revocation is communicated to that provider) (§ 144B.8(1)). The principal is presumed to have capacity to revoke (§ 144B.8(2)), and a valid new health care POA revokes a prior one unless it says otherwise (§ 144B.8(3)). Dissolution of the principal's marriage to a spouse-agent automatically revokes that designation, reinstated on remarriage (§ 144B.12(3)). |
A durable power of attorney for health care or similar document executed in another state in compliance with that state's law 'shall be deemed valid and enforceable in this state, to the extent the document is consistent with the laws of this state'; a veteran's advance directive compliant with federal VA requirements is also valid (§ 144B.3(4)). |
| Kansas verified 2026-07-16 | Kansas Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions Act, K.S.A. 58-625 to 58-632 (enacted 1989) — a standalone medical POA, separate from the living will in the Kansas Natural Death Act (K.S.A. 65-28,101 et seq.). The document "shall be in substantially the following form" set out at § 58-632. |
The principal designates the agent "in writing," and the writing must contain durability wording — either "this power of attorney ... shall not be affected by subsequent disability or incapacity" or "... shall become effective upon the disability or incapacity of the principal" (§ 58-625). It must be "dated and signed" by the principal (§ 58-629(e)). The Act itself prescribes no explicit minimum age or capacity test for the principal. |
Two witnesses OR a notary — the document "shall be: (1) Dated and signed in the presence of two witnesses at least 18 years of age ...; or (2) acknowledged before a notary public" (§ 58-629(e)). One route or the other suffices. |
Witnesses (§ 58-629(e)(1)): none may be the agent, related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, entitled to the estate by intestacy or will, or "directly financially responsible for the principal's health care." Agents (§ 58-629(d)): the treating health care provider, that provider's employee, or a facility's employee, owner, director, or officer may not be the agent unless related to the principal by blood/marriage/adoption or in the same religious community. |
Springing by default — "No agent powers ... shall be effective until the occurrence of the principal's impairment as determined by the principal's attending physician ... unless the durable power of attorney ... specifically provides otherwise" (§ 58-629(b)); the attending physician is defined in K.S.A. 65-28,102(a). Through the § 58-625 durability wording and the § 58-632 form, the principal may instead elect immediate effect. |
Broad: consent, refuse, or withdraw consent to "any care, treatment, service or procedure," plus organ-donation, autopsy, and body-disposition decisions, facility arrangements, and records access (§ 58-629(a)). Limits: powers reach only what the document grants and "shall not include the power to revoke or invalidate a previously existing declaration by the principal in accordance with the natural death act" (§ 58-629(b)); the agent must "act consistent with the expressed desires of the principal" (§ 58-629(c)). |
The principal may revoke, but a "voluntary revocation ... does not revoke or terminate the agency as to the agent or other person, who, without actual knowledge of the revocation, acts in good faith under the power" (§ 58-628) — so notice matters. The § 58-632 form contemplates revocation "by an instrument in writing executed, witnessed or acknowledged in the same manner as required" or another chosen manner. The Act sets no automatic divorce-revocation rule. |
Honored: a directive "valid under the laws of the state of the principal's residence at the time the durable power of attorney for health care decisions was signed[] shall be a durable power of attorney for health care decisions under this act" (§ 58-630). |
| Kentucky verified 2026-07-16 | Kentucky Living Will Directive Act, KRS 311.621–311.643; one combined 'living will directive' (advance directive) that both records treatment wishes and designates a health care surrogate. Optional statutory form at KRS 311.625(1). |
An adult (18 or older and of sound mind) with decisional capacity; the advance directive must be in writing, dated, and signed by the grantor or, at the grantor's direction, by another person (KRS 311.623(1); 311.621(1); 311.625(2)). |
Either witnessed by two or more adults in the grantor's presence and in each other's presence, OR acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths. Witnesses and a notary are alternatives; you need one or the other, not both (KRS 311.625(2)). |
No witness or notary may be a blood relative, a beneficiary under Kentucky's descent-and-distribution statutes, an employee of the facility where the grantor is a patient (unless serving as notary), the attending physician, or anyone directly financially responsible for the grantor's care (KRS 311.625(2)). A facility's employee, owner, director, or officer may not serve as surrogate unless related within the fourth degree or in the same religious or fraternal order (KRS 311.625(4)); a person convicted of a felony under the adult-protection chapter is barred from serving as surrogate for the victim (KRS 209.115). |
Springing. The surrogate may not make a health care decision in any situation in which the attending physician has determined in good faith that the grantor has decisional capacity, so authority begins only on loss of decisional capacity (KRS 311.629(2)). A later court-appointed fiduciary is bound by the directive and the surrogate keeps acting (KRS 311.6231). |
The surrogate may make any health care decision the grantor could make, in accordance with the grantor's wishes as stated in the directive (KRS 311.629(1)). The statute lists no categorical exclusions; its main limits are on ending artificial nutrition and hydration, allowed only in four defined situations, and on a pregnant grantor, who must receive life-sustaining treatment and ANH unless two physicians certify it futile or harmful (KRS 311.629(3)–(4)). |
Revoke by a signed, dated writing; by an oral statement (while you have decisional capacity) before two adults, one of them a health care provider; or by destroying the document. An oral revocation overrides any prior written directive, and a new surrogate designation revokes the prior one (KRS 311.627). No automatic revocation on divorce. |
No express reciprocity provision. The Act does not preclude providers from following other written advance directives consistent with accepted medical practice (KRS 311.637(6)), and 'advance directive' is defined broadly to include any document giving health-care directions (KRS 311.621(2)). |
| Louisiana verified 2026-07-16 | Civil Code mandate law, arts. 2989, 2993, 2997, plus the medical-consent priority in La. R.S. 40:1159.4; a standalone health-care mandate, separate from the Natural Death Act living-will declaration. No statutory mandate form. |
A person with contractual capacity: everyone except an unemancipated minor, an interdict, or a person deprived of reason when contracting (Civ. Code art. 1918). A mandate has no mandatory signature or date form (art. 2993). |
None for the broad health-care mandate: no particular form is required (Civ. Code art. 2993). The separate terminal-condition living-will declaration requires two witnesses (La. R.S. 40:1151.2(A)(2)). |
No witness bars because no witnesses are required. The mandate and medical-consent provisions name no categorical class barred from serving as mandatary; the authority must be valid and must expressly cover health care (Civ. Code art. 2997(6); La. R.S. 40:1159.4(A)(3)). |
No statutory springing trigger. The mandate's terms control; its authority survives the principal's incapacity by default (Civ. Code art. 3026), while an adult able to consent remains first in the medical-consent priority ahead of the agent (La. R.S. 40:1159.4(A)(1), (3)). |
Health-care authority must be express and may cover surgery, medical expenses, nursing-home residency, and medication (Civ. Code art. 2997(6)). The agent may consent to medical treatment or procedures, including autopsy, that are not prohibited by law (La. R.S. 40:1159.4(A)). |
The principal may terminate the mandate and the agent's authority at any time (Civ. Code art. 3025) and should notify providers or other affected third persons (art. 3028). Incapacity alone does not terminate it (art. 3026). |
A contract is valid as to form if it complies with the law of the state where made, among other alternatives (Civ. Code art. 3538). A separate living-will declaration validly executed under another state's law is expressly recognized (La. R.S. 40:1151.9(D)). |
| Maine verified 2026-07-16 | Maine's Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, 18-C M.R.S. art. 5, pt. 8. A power of attorney may stand alone or be combined with individual instructions in an advance health care directive; § 5-805 provides an optional form. |
An adult or emancipated minor with capacity signs the writing (§ 5-803(2)). Capacity includes understanding the condition, benefits, risks, alternatives, consequences of declining treatment, and the consequences of naming an agent (§ 5-802(3)). |
Two witnesses are mandatory; the principal's and witnesses' signatures must be made in person, not electronically. There is no notary alternative (§ 5-803(2)). A narrow infectious-disease isolation procedure permits directed signing and real-time audiovisual witnessing within a hospital or residential facility (§ 5-803-A). |
Part 8 states no relationship, inheritance, provider, or agent disqualification for the two witnesses. The agent must have capacity and, unless related by blood, marriage, or adoption, cannot be an owner, operator, or employee of the residential long-term-care institution where the principal receives care (§§ 5-802(2), 5-803(2)). |
Springing by default: authority starts upon a determination of incapacity and ends upon recovery, unless the power says otherwise. The primary physician or a court ordinarily determines capacity; a qualified mental-health examiner may do so for a directive authorizing mental-health treatment (§ 5-803(3)-(4)). |
May make any health-care decision the principal could make, subject to instructions and known wishes; the statutory definition expressly includes DNR orders and providing, withholding, or withdrawing artificial nutrition, hydration, and life-sustaining treatment (§§ 5-802(6), 5-803(2), (5)). Psychiatric admission under a directive has separate conditions and a five-working-day limit (34-B M.R.S. § 3831(6)). |
A principal with capacity revokes the agent designation only by signed writing or personally informing the supervising provider. A later conflicting directive revokes to the extent of conflict; an annulment/divorce/dissolution/separation decree revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or power says otherwise (§ 5-804). |
Valid if it complies with Part 8 regardless of where executed or communicated, or if valid under the law of the state of execution (§ 5-803(8)). |
| Maryland verified 2026-07-16 | Maryland Health Care Decisions Act, Md. Code, Health-General §§ 5-601 to 5-618. One 'advance directive' that may appoint a health care agent (Part I) and/or state treatment wishes (Part II); an agent may also be named in a separate health care power of attorney. Optional statutory form at § 5-603 ('completely optional'). |
A 'competent individual' — at least 18, or a minor with adult capacity to consent to medical treatment under § 20-102(a), who has not been determined incapable of making an informed decision (§ 5-601(f)). Dated and signed by or at the express direction of the declarant (§ 5-602(c)(1)). The agent must be an adult (§ 5-601(c)). |
Two witnesses, no notary. The directive must be 'dated, signed by or at the express direction of the declarant, and subscribed by two witnesses in the physical presence or electronic presence of the declarant' (§ 5-602(c)(1)); notarization is not required (§ 5-603 form note). Electronic directives are valid; an unwitnessed video directive counts only if stored by a state-recognized service (§ 5-602(c)(3)). |
Witnesses: any competent individual — even a facility employee, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or the treating physician in good faith — except the named agent may not witness, and at least one witness must not knowingly inherit from or gain financially by the declarant's death (§ 5-602(c)(2)). Agent: a facility owner/operator/employee (or their spouse, parent, child, or sibling) where the declarant receives care is barred unless family-qualified or appointed before care began; and a spouse who has signed a separation agreement or is in a filed divorce, or a person under a protective order protecting the declarant, may not serve (§ 5-602(b)(3)). |
Set by the directive. The § 5-603 form lets you choose immediate effect or effect only on incapacity. By default the agent acts when the declarant is 'incapable of making an informed decision,' certified in writing by the attending physician plus a second physician or nurse practitioner, one having examined the patient within 2 hours; the second certification is not required if the patient is unconscious or unable to communicate (§ 5-606(a)). |
The agent may make any health care decision the declarant could and has decision-making priority over other authorized surrogates (§ 5-602(b)(2), (b)(4)), guided by the declarant's wishes and best interest (§ 5-601(e)). Limits: nothing authorizes mercy killing or euthanasia (§ 5-611(c)); providers must make reasonable efforts to offer food and water by mouth (§ 5-611(d)); an agent may make a separate decision on artificial nutrition and hydration (§ 5-611(e)(1)); life-sustaining procedures may be withheld only on the certifications § 5-606(b) requires. |
Revoke at any time by a signed, dated written or electronic document, by physical cancellation or destruction, by an oral statement to a health care practitioner, or by executing a later directive (§ 5-604(a)). A declarant may knowingly waive the right to revoke during a certified incapacity (§ 5-604(a)(2)). A spouse-agent is separately disqualified from serving once a separation agreement is signed or a divorce application is filed (§ 5-602(b)(3)(ii)). |
Yes. A directive executed in another state 'shall be deemed to be validly executed' if it complied with the law of Maryland or of the state where executed, and is construed to give effect to the patient's wishes to the extent Maryland law permits (§ 5-617). |
| Massachusetts verified 2026-07-16 | Massachusetts Health Care Proxy Law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 201D. It creates a standalone health care proxy; § 4 requires the document to identify the principal and agent, grant health-care-decision authority, state any limits, and make the authority spring on a § 6 incapacity finding. Chapter 201D does not publish a mandatory statutory form. |
Every competent adult may execute a proxy (§ 2), and adults and properly executed proxies are presumed competent/valid unless a court rules otherwise. It must be written and signed by the adult or at the adult's direction in the two witnesses' presence. Section 2 does not make dating or notarization an execution condition. |
Two adult witnesses; no notary option. The proxy must be signed 'in the presence of two other adults who shall subscribe their names as witnesses,' and both must make the required written affirmation (§ 2). Notarization neither replaces the witnesses nor must be added to them. |
The named health care agent may not witness (§ 2); Chapter 201D adds no relative, heir, or provider bar for witnesses. Agent: a facility operator, administrator, or employee generally may not be appointed by a person who is then a patient/resident or applicant to that facility, unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption (§ 3). |
Springing only. Authority begins after the attending physician determines in writing, under accepted medical judgment, that the principal lacks capacity to make or communicate health care decisions (§ 6). If incapacity is due to mental illness or developmental disability, that physician must have or consult someone with relevant specialized training. A physician-agent cannot make the capacity finding. |
The agent may make 'any and all health care decisions' the principal could make, expressly including life-sustaining treatment, subject to the proxy's express limits (§ 5). The agent follows the principal's wishes (including religious/moral beliefs), then best interests if unknown. Even after incapacity is found, the principal's objection prevails unless a court finds the principal lacks capacity (§ 6). |
The principal may revoke by oral or written notice to the agent or a provider, or any other act showing specific intent (§ 7); capacity to revoke is presumed unless a court rules otherwise. A later proxy revokes the earlier one. Divorce or legal separation automatically revokes a spouse-agent appointment. |
Massachusetts preserves the enforceability of a proxy or similar instrument executed in another state or jurisdiction in compliance with that jurisdiction's law (§ 11), subject to the provider/facility protections and duties in §§ 14-15. |
| Michigan verified 2026-07-16 | Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC), MCL §§ 700.5506–700.5515, patient advocate designation. No statutory short form; the designation must contain the required springing-language and the advocate must sign a statutory acceptance before acting (§§ 700.5506(3), 700.5507(4)–(5)). |
A person age 18+ who is of sound mind signs a written, dated designation voluntarily; it must be placed in the medical record before implementation (§ 700.5506(1), (3)). The advocate must also be an individual age 18+ (§ 700.5506(1)). |
Two witnesses must be present and sign (§ 700.5506(4)). The execution statute provides no notary alternative. The expired remote-witness rule in § 700.1202 applied only to documents executed from 2020-04-30 through 2021-06-30. |
A witness cannot be the spouse, parent, child, grandchild, sibling, presumptive heir, known devisee, physician, patient advocate, or specified employee of an insurer, treating facility, home for the aged, or mental-health program/hospital (§ 700.5506(4)). The statute otherwise requires the advocate to be an individual age 18+ (§ 700.5506(1)). |
Springing only: for medical decisions, the attending physician plus another physician or licensed psychologist must examine the patient, determine inability to participate, put it in writing and the medical record, and review at least annually (§ 700.5508(1)). Authority suspends if ability returns and can restart after a later determination (§ 700.5509(2)). |
The document may grant one or more care, custody, medical-treatment, mental-health-treatment, and anatomical-gift powers the patient could exercise (§ 700.5507(1)). Allowing death requires clear-and-convincing authorization; no withdrawing treatment that would cause a pregnant patient's death; forced medication or inpatient mental-health treatment also needs clear-and-convincing authorization (§ 700.5509(1)(d)–(e), (h)). |
Except for a permitted mental-health waiver, the patient may revoke at any time and by any communication even after losing decision-making ability; an unwritten revocation must be documented by a witness (§§ 700.5510(1)(d), 700.5515(1)). A later designation revokes by express terms or inconsistency. A spouse-agent is suspended when a separation, annulment, or divorce case begins and revoked at judgment unless a successor is named (§ 700.5510(1)(e), (g)). |
No express out-of-state-recognition clause appears in EPIC Part 5's current list of patient-advocate sections (§§ 700.5506–700.5520). Current law therefore does not supply a simple statutory safe harbor comparable to states that expressly validate a document under the execution law of another jurisdiction. |
| Minnesota verified 2026-07-16 | Health Care Directives Act, Minn. Stat. ch. 145C. One combined 'health care directive' that must include a health care power of attorney (agent appointment), health care instructions, or both (§ 145C.03 subd. 1(6)). Minnesota has no separate medical-POA form and no statutory default-surrogate list. Non-mandatory suggested form at § 145C.16. |
A principal with capacity to execute it, signed by the principal or by another person the principal authorizes to sign on their behalf; the document must be in writing, dated, and state the principal's name (§ 145C.03 subd. 1(1)–(4)). The agent must be an individual age 18 or older (§ 145C.01 subd. 2). |
Notary OR witnesses — your choice. The signature must be verified 'either by a notary public or by witnesses as provided under this chapter' (§ 145C.03 subd. 1(5)); you do not need both. The suggested form sets the witness route at 'Two witnesses' (§ 145C.16). |
Witnesses/notary (§ 145C.03 subd. 3): the named agent or alternate agent may not witness or notarize; at least one witness must not be a provider giving the principal direct care (or that provider's employee), though a notary may be. Agent (§ 145C.03 subd. 2): the person named to determine the principal's capacity cannot serve as agent, and a health care provider attending the principal (or their employee) at execution or when decisions are made cannot serve unless related by blood, marriage, registered domestic partnership, or adoption, or the directive specifies otherwise. |
Springing by default: the agent's authority arises only when the attending physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant determines the principal lacks decision-making capacity for that decision (or other conditions the principal specified are met), and it ends on recovery (§§ 145C.06, 145C.07 subd. 1). |
By default the agent may make any health care decision the principal could — including giving, refusing, or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment and deciding about intrusive mental health treatment, choosing providers, choosing where the principal lives for care, and reviewing records (§ 145C.07; suggested form § 145C.16); organ-donation and body-disposition powers must be expressly granted. Limits: nothing may condone mercy killing or euthanasia (§ 145C.14), and no directive may authorize assisted suicide (§ 145C.01 subds. 1a, 4). |
With capacity, revoke at any time by destroying the directive (or directing another to, in your presence) with intent to revoke, a written dated statement of intent, a verbal statement before two witnesses (who need not be present at the same time), or a later inconsistent directive (§ 145C.09 subd. 1). A spouse- or registered-domestic-partner agent is automatically revoked when dissolution, annulment, or termination proceedings commence, unless the directive says otherwise (§ 145C.09 subd. 2). |
Yes. A directive executed in another state is legally sufficient in Minnesota if it complies with the law where executed or with § 145C.03 (§ 145C.04); no directive may override Minnesota's assisted-suicide prohibition. |
| Mississippi verified 2026-07-17 | Mississippi Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, Miss. Code §§ 41-41-201 to -229. A power of attorney for health care is one kind of advance health-care directive and may be combined with individual treatment instructions. Section 41-41-209 publishes an optional combined form; another writing may be used |
An adult (18+) or emancipated minor may execute it. The power must be in writing, dated, and signed by the principal (§§ 41-41-203, 41-41-205(2)); the section states no alternate signature-at-direction procedure |
Either 2 qualified witnesses OR acknowledgment before a notary public in Mississippi (§ 41-41-205(2)). Each witness must see the principal sign or acknowledge the signature or instrument and make the statutory declaration |
No witness may be the agent, a health-care provider, or an employee of a health-care provider or facility; at least 1 witness must be unrelated by blood/marriage/adoption and not an heir (§ 41-41-205(2)). Unless related to the principal, the agent cannot be an owner, operator, or employee of the residential long-term-care institution where the principal receives care |
Springing by default: authority begins only when the primary physician determines the principal lacks capacity and ends on a determination of recovered capacity, unless the power says otherwise (§ 41-41-205(5)-(6)). The statutory form allows immediate authority |
The agent may make any health-care decision the principal could make while having capacity, including life-support and artificial-nutrition decisions, subject to document limits (§§ 41-41-203, 41-41-205). The agent follows known instructions and wishes, otherwise the principal’s best interest and values. Admission to a mental health-care institution requires express authority in the written directive (§ 41-41-227(5)) |
Revoke the agent designation only by signed writing or by personally informing the supervising health-care provider; other directive provisions may be revoked anytime in any manner communicating intent (§ 41-41-207(1)-(2)). Annulment, divorce, dissolution, or legal separation revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or health care POA says otherwise (§ 41-41-207(4)) |
A directive that complies with Mississippi’s Act is valid regardless of when or where it was executed or communicated (§ 41-41-205(10)); the Act does not separately validate every directive solely because it complied with another state’s law. A copy has the same effect as the original (§ 41-41-225) |
| Missouri verified 2026-07-16 | Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Act, Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 404.800–404.865 (§ 404.800). A standalone durable health care POA — the agent appointment — separate from the living will (Life Support Declarations, ch. 459), though widely used forms combine them. The Act prescribes no mandatory statutory form. |
Signed ('subscribed') and dated by the principal (the 'patient'), and the document must be denominated a durable power of attorney and carry durability language (§ 404.705.1, .3). The Act sets no separate numeric age test; a competent adult executes it under general law. |
Notarization required; no witness option. The POA must be 'subscribed by the principal, and dated and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for conveyances of real estate' — i.e., acknowledged before a notary (§ 404.705.3). Two witnesses are needed only for a separate living will (ch. 459), not the agent appointment. |
No witnesses are used, so no witness bars. Who may not serve as agent: the attending physician or that physician's employee, or an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility where the patient is a resident — unless related to the patient within the second degree or in the same religious community (§ 404.815). |
Springing by default: authority begins on certification by two licensed physicians that the patient is incapacitated (one may be the attending physician), unless the document expressly provides otherwise; at least one physician's certification is always required, and it ends on certification that the patient is no longer incapacitated (§ 404.825). |
The agent makes the health care decisions the patient could, weighing the diagnosis, prognosis, and benefits and burdens of treatment (§ 404.822). Express limits concern only nutrition and hydration: withholding/withdrawing artificially supplied nutrition and hydration must be specifically granted (§ 404.820.1), and no agent may, intending to cause death, withdraw nutrition or hydration the patient can take by natural means (§ 404.820.2). |
Revoke at any time and in any manner by which the patient can communicate the intent; effective when communicated to the agent, the attending physician, or a health care provider (§ 404.850.1). A later valid health care POA revokes a prior one unless it says otherwise (§ 404.850.3). The Act has no automatic divorce revocation. |
No health-care-specific recognition clause, but a document is a valid 'durable power of attorney' if it is durable under Missouri's rule or under the law of the place where executed or of the principal's residence when executed (§ 404.703(4)) — a choice-of-law rule that carries an out-of-state durable health care POA's durability into Missouri. |
| Montana verified 2026-07-16 | Mont. Code Ann. §§ 72-5-501 and -502 govern the general health care power of attorney; the part has no statutory form. Montana's Uniform Power of Attorney Act expressly excludes powers to make health care decisions (§ 72-31-303(2)); Title 50, chapter 9 is a separate terminal-illness declaration statute. |
The principal designates the agent in writing and includes statutory or similar durability/springing words (§ 72-5-501(1)). This two-section part states no special minimum age, capacity definition, signature clause, or directed-signer procedure for the general health care power. |
None prescribed for the general health care power in §§ 72-5-501 to -502. Do not import the financial UPOAA's execution rule: § 72-31-303(2) excludes a power to make health care decisions. |
No witnesses are statutorily required, and §§ 72-5-501 to -502 list no witness or agent disqualifications. If a guardian is later appointed, the agent is accountable to the guardian, who may revoke or amend the health care power (§ 72-5-501(2)). |
The writing controls. It may say the power is not affected by later disability/incapacity (continuing authority) or that it becomes effective upon disability/incapacity (springing authority), or use similar words (§ 72-5-501(1)). The part does not prescribe who determines incapacity. |
The document defines the authority; Part 5 supplies no default list of medical powers or categorical exclusions. Montana hospitals must recognize the intent of a legally valid health care power concerning treatment, and a medical-POA agent ranks ahead of family/default proxies (§§ 50-5-110(1)(g), 50-5-1311). |
Part 5 refers to express revocation but prescribes no form. Revocation or termination is ineffective as to an agent or other person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge; a later-appointed guardian has the principal's power to revoke or amend (§§ 72-5-501(2), -502). No spouse-divorce rule appears in this health-care-POA part. |
Sections 72-5-501 to -502 contain no reciprocity rule for a general health care power. Section 50-9-111 recognizes an out-of-state declaration only for the separate Rights of the Terminally Ill Act, so it should not be treated as general health-care-POA portability. |
| Nebraska verified 2026-07-16 | Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-3401 to -3432. Nebraska provides a statutory form, but another form or a combined durable POA works if the health-care portion fully complies with § 30-3404 (§ 30-3408). |
A competent adult principal signs and dates the writing; every adult is rebuttably presumed competent unless adjudged incompetent or placed under guardianship (§§ 30-3403(2), 30-3404). "Adult" means age 18 or older or otherwise not a minor (§ 30-3402(1)). |
Two adult witnesses OR a notary. Each witness must observe the signing/dating or the principal's acknowledgment; the notary may not be the agent or successor agent (§ 30-3404). |
Witnesses cannot be the spouse, listed close relatives, heir/devisee, attending physician, mental-health-team member, dating partner, agent, or insurer employee; at most one may work for the treating provider (§ 30-3405). Agent bars appear in § 30-3406. |
Springing only. Authority begins after the attending physician makes a written incapacity determination; any consulted physician also documents it. The principal may require confirmation by a second physician (§§ 30-3411, 30-3412; § 30-3408 form). |
Makes health-care decisions subject to instructions, but life support or artificial nutrition/hydration may be withdrawn only for terminal condition or persistent vegetative state plus an express grant or clear-and-convincing proof (§§ 30-3417, 30-3418). Comfort care and ordinary oral nutrition/hydration cannot be withdrawn. |
A competent principal may revoke at any time in any communicated manner; effective upon communication to the attending physician, provider, or agent (§ 30-3420(1)). A divorce/legal-separation decree revokes a spouse-agent if the decree is silent (§ 30-3420(6)). |
A health care power of attorney executed in another state and valid under that state's law "shall be valid according to its terms" (§ 30-3408(4)). |
| Nevada verified 2026-07-16 | Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions, Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 162A.700–162A.870 (part of the Ch. 162A power-of-attorney chapter). Nevada uses a standalone power of attorney for health care; § 162A.715 defines an 'advance health-care directive' as 'a power of attorney for health care.' Optional statutory form at § 162A.855 (plus special forms for adults with intellectual disability, § 162A.865, and dementia, § 162A.870). |
'Any adult person may execute' the power (§ 162A.790(1)). The power 'must be signed by the principal' (§ 162A.790(2)); the statute has no provision for another person signing at the principal's direction, and sets no special capacity test beyond adulthood. |
Notary OR two adult witnesses — the principal's signature 'must be: (a) Acknowledged before a notary public; or (b) Witnessed by two adult witnesses' (§ 162A.790(2)). One route or the other suffices; neither the statute nor the topic requires both. |
Witnesses: the only mandatory bar is that 'neither of the witnesses ... may be the owner, operator or employee of a nursing home if the principal resides in the nursing home' (§ 162A.790(3)). Agents: a principal may not name their health care provider, an employee of that provider, or a health care facility's operator or employee (§ 162A.840(1)), unless that person is the principal's 'spouse, legal guardian or next of kin' (§ 162A.840(2)). |
Immediate by default — 'effective when executed unless the principal provides ... that it becomes effective at a future date or upon incapacity' (§ 162A.810(1)). If made springing, it becomes effective on a written determination of incapacity by 'an advanced practice registered nurse, a physician, psychiatrist or licensed psychologist' (§ 162A.810(2)). |
Agent makes health care decisions once the principal cannot give informed consent (§ 162A.790(1)); life-sustaining-treatment decisions 'must ... conform to the known desires of the principal' (§ 162A.850(2)). The agent may never consent to mental-illness commitment, convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, abortion, aversive intervention (NRS 449A.203), experimental treatment/research, or anything the principal's document prohibits (§ 162A.850(1)). |
The power terminates when 'the principal revokes' it, or on a stated termination date (§ 162A.820(1)); the agent's authority also ends when 'an action is filed for the dissolution or annulment of the agent's marriage to the principal, unless the power of attorney otherwise provides' (§ 162A.820(2)(c)). A revocation is not effective against a provider who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of it (§ 162A.820(4)). |
Honored: a power of attorney 'executed in a jurisdiction outside of this State is valid in this State if, when the power of attorney was executed, the execution complied with the laws of that jurisdiction' or the federal military-power-of-attorney rule, 10 U.S.C. § 1044b (§ 162A.790(4)). |
| New Hampshire verified 2026-07-16 | RSA chapter 137-J governs. Its substantially prescribed combined advance-directive form contains a durable power of attorney for health care and a living will; either or both components may be completed (§§ 137-J:1(IV), :13, :20). |
A person age 18 or older with capacity signs; if physically unable, another person may sign the principal's name at the principal's express direction and in the principal's physical presence (§§ 137-J:2(VI), (XXIII), :14(II)). |
Sign in the presence of either two or more subscribing witnesses, OR a notary public, OR a justice of the peace. The officer acknowledges the signature; witnesses affirm sound mind, freedom from duress, awareness, and voluntariness (§ 137-J:14). |
A witness cannot be the agent/surrogate, spouse, heir, named taker, attending practitioner, or someone under that practitioner's direction/control; at most one witness may be the principal's provider or its employee (§ 137-J:14(I)(a)). The attending practitioner/direct subordinate and an unrelated provider employee cannot act as agent (§ 137-J:8). |
Springing only: the agent acts when the attending practitioner certifies incapacity in the medical record, and authority ends when that practitioner certifies restored capacity (§ 137-J:5(II)). A religious/moral-belief exception permits a designated, qualified non-agent to certify incapacity in a notarized or JP-acknowledged writing (§ 137-J:5(III)). |
Subject to the directive and chapter, the agent may make any health-care decision the principal could make. The agent cannot block desired eating/drinking, consent to voluntary state-institution admission, sterilization, psychosurgery, electro-convulsive shock therapy, or ordinarily withhold life support during pregnancy (§§ 137-J:2(XIV), (XVI), :5(I), (V), :19). |
Revoke by signed, dated writing delivered to the agent/surrogate or provider; oral statement before two qualified witnesses; intentional destruction; or a later directive. Filing a divorce, separation, annulment, or protective-order action involving principal and agent revokes the primary appointment; revocation takes effect when communicated to the attending practitioner (§ 137-J:15). |
A health care power of attorney valid where executed is as effective in New Hampshire as a New Hampshire-executed document, but it cannot authorize conduct that violates chapter 137-J (§ 137-J:17). |
| New Jersey verified 2026-07-17 | New Jersey Advance Directives for Health Care Act, N.J.S.A. §§ 26:2H-53–78. A proxy directive appoints the representative and may stand alone or be combined with an instruction directive; the Department of Health publishes a model proxy form, but the Act has no mandatory statutory form (§§ 26:2H-55, -58). |
An adult who has the mental capacity to execute the directive; it must be signed and dated by the declarant or at the declarant's direction (§§ 26:2H-55 to -56). |
Either two subscribing adult witnesses who attest sound mind and freedom from duress/undue influence OR acknowledgment before a notary public, attorney at law, or other person authorized to administer oaths (§ 26:2H-56). |
The designated representative cannot witness (§ 26:2H-56). An operator, administrator, or employee of the institution where the declarant is a patient/resident cannot serve unless related by blood, marriage, domestic partnership, civil union, or adoption; a physician cannot be both attending physician and representative (§ 26:2H-58). |
Springing: the directive must reach the attending physician or institution and the patient must be found unable to make the particular decision (§ 26:2H-59). The attending physician makes a written finding, normally confirmed by another physician (§ 26:2H-60). |
The representative may consent to or refuse health care, within the directive and the Act, using the patient's likely decision and then best interests when wishes cannot be determined (§ 26:2H-61). |
Revoke orally or in writing to the representative, a health professional, or another reliable witness; any act showing intent or a later directive also works (§ 26:2H-57). Divorce/legal separation, ending a domestic partnership, or ending a civil union revokes that partner's appointment unless the directive says otherwise. |
The Department of Health expressly says New Jersey recognizes an advance directive valid in another state. The Advance Directives Act itself contains no separate reciprocity section. |
| New Mexico verified 2026-07-16 | Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 24-7A-1 to -18; optional combined advance-directive form at § 24-7A-4. |
An adult or emancipated minor, while having capacity, must execute the power "in writing and signed by the principal" (§ 24-7A-2(B)). |
No witnesses or notary required. The optional form says two witnesses are "recommended but not required" and labels their signatures optional (§ 24-7A-4). |
Because witnesses are optional, the Act states no witness-qualification list. An unrelated owner, operator, or employee of the institution caring for the principal may not serve as agent (§ 24-7A-2(B)); the bar does not apply to a relative by blood, marriage, or adoption. |
Springing by default: authority begins when two qualified health-care professionals, one the primary care practitioner, determine incapacity; the document may provide for immediate authority (§§ 24-7A-2(C), 24-7A-11(C)). |
May make any health-care decision the principal could make and must follow known instructions and wishes (§ 24-7A-2(B), (E)). No authority to consent to mental-health-facility admission; an express directive may permit presenting the principal for evaluation (§ 24-7A-13(E)). |
While having capacity, revoke the agent by signed writing or personally informing the supervising provider; a divorce/annulment/separation petition or decree revokes a spouse-agent unless the directive or decree says otherwise (§ 24-7A-3(A), (D)). |
A directive complying with the Act is valid regardless of where executed, and one validly executed under another jurisdiction's law is valid and enforceable in New Mexico to the same extent (§ 24-7A-16(A), (C)). |
| New York verified 2026-07-16 | Health Care Agents and Proxies (Public Health Law art. 29-C), §§ 2980–2990. A standalone health care proxy — New York has no living-will statute, so treatment wishes ride inside the proxy or common law. Optional, non-mandatory statutory form at § 2981(5)(d). |
A competent adult — 18 or older, or a parent, or married — who is presumed competent. The proxy must be signed and dated by the adult (or, if unable, by another person at the adult's direction and in their presence) in front of the two witnesses (§§ 2980(1), 2981(1)–(2)). |
Two adult witnesses who also sign and attest the principal signed willingly and free from duress. No notary is required or offered. Either or both witnesses may act by audio-video (remote) technology (§ 2981(2)(a), (2-a)). |
The person named as agent may not witness (§ 2981(2)(a)). A hospital operator, administrator, or employee cannot be the agent for that hospital's patient/resident/applicant unless related by blood, marriage, or adoption (§ 2981(3)(a)–(b)). Mental-hygiene-facility residents need specially qualified witnesses (§ 2981(2)(b)–(c)). |
Springing only — there is no immediate-effect option. The agent's authority commences on a determination by the attending practitioner that the principal lacks capacity; a finding based on mental illness requires consulting a qualified psychiatrist (§§ 2981(4), 2983). |
Any and all health care decisions the principal could make, subject to written limits and § 2989 (§ 2982(1)). Signature limit: the agent may NOT decide about artificial nutrition and hydration unless the principal's wishes on that measure are reasonably known (§ 2982(2)). |
Notify the agent or a health care provider orally, in writing, or by any act showing a specific intent to revoke; a later proxy also revokes (§ 2985(1)). Divorce or legal separation from a spouse-agent revokes that appointment unless the proxy says otherwise (§ 2985(1)(e)). |
A proxy or similar instrument executed in another state in compliance with that state's law is considered validly executed in New York (§ 2990). |
| North Carolina verified 2026-07-16 | N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 32A, art. 3, Health Care Powers of Attorney (§§ 32A-15 to -27). Section 32A-25.1 supplies an optional statutory form; another form may be used if it meets Article 3. |
A person age 18+ who has understanding and capacity to make and communicate health care decisions (§ 32A-17). The written instrument is signed by the principal in the presence of two qualified witnesses and acknowledged before a notary (§ 32A-16(3)). |
BOTH two qualified witnesses AND a notary are currently required (§ 32A-16(3)); the statutory form instructs the signer to have both witnesses and the notary present (§ 32A-25.1). The notary may be a paid employee of the treating provider or care facility. |
A witness cannot be related within the third degree to the principal or spouse, expect to inherit, have an estate claim, be the treating physician/mental-health provider or that provider's paid licensed employee, or be a paid employee of the treating facility, nursing home, or adult care home (§ 32A-16(6)). An agent must be competent, age 18+, and not provide the principal health care for pay (§ 32A-18). |
Springing: authority begins when the physician(s) designated by the principal determine in writing that the principal lacks sufficient understanding or capacity; for mental-health treatment an eligible psychologist may be designated. If unavailable or none is named, the attending physician or eligible psychologist decides (§ 32A-20(a)). |
The document may grant full health care authority to the same extent the principal could act, including life-prolonging measures and mental-health treatment, subject to written limits (§ 32A-19(a), (c)). It does not grant general authority over property or finances, and does not displace Chapter 122C involuntary-custody or treatment authority (§ 32A-19(b), (d), (f)). |
While capable of making and communicating health care decisions, the principal may revoke by an acknowledged revocation, a later acknowledged health care POA, or any other communicated intent; it becomes effective only when communicated to every named agent and the attending physician or eligible psychologist (§ 32A-20(b)). A divorce or separation decree revokes a spouse-agent (§ 32A-20(c)). |
A health care power of attorney or similar document executed outside North Carolina is valid if it appears to have been executed under that jurisdiction's requirements or North Carolina's requirements (§ 32A-27). |
| North Dakota verified 2026-07-16 | North Dakota Health Care Directives Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 23-06.5 (§§ 23-06.5-01 to -19). North Dakota uses one combined "health care directive" — a written instrument that may contain health care instructions (the living will), a power of attorney appointing a health care agent, or both (§ 23-06.5-02(5)). The chapter prints an optional, non-mandatory statutory form (§§ 23-06.5-16, -17). |
A "principal" — an adult (§ 23-06.5-02(9)) — with capacity executes it. The directive must be "in writing," "dated," state the principal's name, and be signed by the principal or by another person the principal authorizes to sign on the principal's behalf (§ 23-06.5-05(1)). If the principal is physically unable to sign, another person may write the principal's name "in the principal's presence and at the principal's express direction" (§ 23-06.5-05(2)). Capacity to execute is presumed absent clear and convincing evidence otherwise (§ 23-06.5-13(3)). |
A choice: the principal's signature "must be verified by a notary public or at least two or more subscribing witnesses who are at least eighteen years of age" (§ 23-06.5-05(2)). A notary alone suffices — and the notary "may be an employee of a health care or long-term care provider providing direct care to the principal." If witnesses are used, at least one must NOT be a direct-care provider or such a provider's employee (§ 23-06.5-05(2)). |
A notary or any witness may not be the agent, the principal's spouse or heir, a relative by blood/marriage/adoption, anyone entitled to part of the estate under a will or deed or by law, anyone with a claim against the estate, a person directly financially responsible for the principal's medical care, or the attending physician (§ 23-06.5-05(2)). Separately, a person may not act as AGENT while serving as the principal's health care provider, a nonrelative employee of that provider, the principal's long-term care services provider, or a nonrelative employee of that provider (§ 23-06.5-04). |
Springing by default: the directive and the agent's authority "is in effect only when the principal lacks capacity to make health care decisions, as certified in writing by the principal's attending physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist and filed in the principal's medical record," ceasing when capacity returns (§ 23-06.5-03(3)). But the principal may authorize the agent to act "even though the principal retains capacity" — an immediate-effect option under any conditions the principal imposes (§ 23-06.5-03(4)). |
Broad: subject to the principal's limits, "the agent has the authority to make any and all health care decisions on the principal's behalf that the principal could make" (§ 23-06.5-03(1)), following known wishes or, if unknown, best interest (§ 23-06.5-03(2)). A "health care decision" expressly includes directing the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration (§ 23-06.5-02(4)). Categorical limits (§ 23-06.5-03(6)): an agent may NOT consent to admission to a mental health facility or state institution for more than 45 days without a mental health proceeding or court order, or to psychosurgery, abortion, or sterilization, unless first approved by court order. For a pregnant principal, health care must be provided unless two physicians certify it will not permit live birth or will harm her (§ 23-06.5-09(5)). |
Easy and informal: a directive is revoked by the principal notifying the agent or a health care or long-term care provider "orally, or in writing, or by any other act evidencing a specific intent to revoke the directive," or by executing a later directive (§ 23-06.5-07(1)). Divorce of the principal and a spouse-agent revokes that appointment unless the directive says otherwise (§ 23-06.5-07(3)). A later directive controls over an earlier one (§ 23-06.5-13(2)). |
Honored. "This chapter does not limit the enforceability of a health care directive or similar instrument executed in another state or jurisdiction in compliance with the law of that state or jurisdiction" (§ 23-06.5-11). A directive valid where you signed it remains enforceable in North Dakota. |
| Ohio verified 2026-07-16 | Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1337.11–1337.17. A standalone durable health care POA — Ohio's 'living will' is a separate document called a declaration (R.C. Ch. 2133). No mandatory form; the statute sets the formalities directly (§ 1337.12). |
An adult (18 or older) who is of sound mind, acting voluntarily (§§ 1337.11(A), 1337.12(A)(1)). It must be signed at the end by the principal and state the date of execution (§ 1337.12(A)(1)(a)). |
Either two adult witnesses OR notarization — your choice (§ 1337.12(A)(1)(b)). If witnessed, both watch the principal sign or acknowledge the signature and then subscribe, attesting the principal is of sound mind and free of duress (§ 1337.12(B)). If notarized, a notary acknowledges it and attests the same (§ 1337.12(C)). |
A witness may NOT be anyone related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption; the agent or alternate agent; the attending physician; or the administrator of a nursing home where the principal is receiving care (§ 1337.12(B)). As agent you may not name your attending physician or your nursing home's administrator, or an employee/agent of your attending physician or of any facility treating you — unless related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, or in the same religious order (§ 1337.12(A)(2)). |
Springing: the agent may make health care decisions only once the attending physician determines the principal has lost the capacity to make informed health care decisions (§§ 1337.12(A)(1), 1337.13(A)(1)). The document may separately give the agent immediate access to the principal's health information. |
By default the agent may make health care decisions to the same extent the principal could, following the principal's known desires or best interest (§ 1337.13(A)). Ohio's limits are strong: no refusing/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment unless the principal is terminal or permanently unconscious with the required physician findings (§ 1337.13(B)); no refusing comfort care (§ 1337.13(C)); no refusing nutrition or hydration unless terminal/permanently unconscious, and for a permanently unconscious principal only if the document authorizes it in conspicuous type with the principal's initials (§ 1337.13(E)); no terminating a pregnancy except in narrow circumstances (§ 1337.13(D)). |
Revoke at any time and in any manner; effective when the principal expresses the intent — or, if the attending physician was made aware of the document, upon communication to that physician (§ 1337.14(A)). A later valid durable health care POA revokes an earlier one unless it says otherwise (§ 1337.14(C)). |
A durable health care POA (or similar document) executed under another state's law and substantially complying with that law or with §§ 1337.11–1337.17 is valid in Ohio (§ 1337.16(G)). |
| Oklahoma verified 2026-07-16 | Two statutes. Oklahoma Health Care Agent Act, 63 O.S. §§ 3111.1–3111.13 (the health care POA; added 2022, amended 2023) governs general medical decisions; the Oklahoma Advance Directive Act, 63 O.S. §§ 3101.1–3101.16, supplies the 'health care proxy' inside a combined advance directive and is the only route to life-sustaining-treatment authority. Optional statutory forms at §§ 3111.5 and 3101.4(C). |
A person with capacity — an adult, or a minor who may lawfully consent to the health service — signs; the POA 'shall be in writing and signed by the principal' (§§ 3111.2(10), 3111.3(B), (G)). An advance directive is signed by the declarant, of sound mind and 18 or older (§ 3101.4(A)). |
Health care POA: signed 'in the presence of a notary public OR witnessed by two (2) individuals' 18+ who are not legatees, devisees, or heirs (§ 3111.3(G)) — notary and witnesses are interchangeable. Advance-directive proxy: two qualifying witnesses only, no notary alternative (§ 3101.4(A)). |
Witnesses (both routes) may not be legatees, devisees, or heirs at law (§§ 3111.3(G), 3101.4(A)); a doctor or facility staffer is not barred from witnessing. As agent: unless related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, the agent may not be an owner, operator, or employee of a residential long-term care institution where you receive care (§ 3111.3(B)). No other categorical bar on who may serve. |
Springing by default: the POA agent's authority 'becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity,' made by the attending physician, unless the document says otherwise (§ 3111.3(C)–(D)); the POA is durable — it 'remains in effect notwithstanding the principal's later incapacity.' An advance directive becomes operative once communicated to the attending physician and you can no longer decide, with life-sustaining-treatment incapacity confirmed by the attending physician and a second physician (§§ 3101.5, 3101.3(10)). |
The POA agent may make any health care decision you could — selecting or discharging providers, consenting to or refusing treatment, and signing a do-not-resuscitate consent — but NOT withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, nutrition, or hydration; only an advance-directive proxy can do that (§ 3111.3(B)). No document may authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide, or euthanasia (§ 3101.2(C)); a pregnant patient is kept on life support and nutrition/hydration unless she specifically directed otherwise (§ 3101.8(C)). |
Revoke the POA by a signed writing or by personally informing a health care provider, at any time and in any manner showing intent (§ 3111.4(A)); a later conflicting POA revokes the earlier one, and a divorce, annulment, dissolution, or legal separation automatically revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or document says otherwise (§ 3111.4(C)–(D)). An advance directive is revocable at any time in any manner, effective when communicated to a physician (§ 3101.6). |
A health care POA in substantial compliance with the Act is valid 'regardless of when or where executed' (§ 3111.3(H)). An out-of-state advance directive executed in compliance with that state's or Oklahoma's law is valid to the extent it does not exceed Oklahoma authorizations, with a nutrition/hydration caveat (§ 3101.14). |
| Oregon verified 2026-07-16 | Oregon Advance Directive for Health Care, ORS 127.505–127.660. You appoint a 'health care representative' either through the full advance directive or the standalone statutory 'form appointing a health care representative'; the Oregon Health Authority adopts the official form (ORS 127.505; 127.510; 127.527; 127.529). |
A 'capable' adult — 18 or older, or an emancipated or married minor — may execute an advance directive; it is effective when signed by the principal and witnessed or notarized (ORS 127.505; 127.507; 127.510(1); 127.515(2)). |
The document must be signed and then EITHER witnessed and signed by at least two adults OR notarized — one or the other (ORS 127.515(2)). Each witness must witness the principal signing or acknowledging the signature; if the principal is in a long-term care facility, one witness must be a facility-designated qualified individual (ORS 127.515(3), (5)). |
A witness may not be the principal's attending physician/health care provider or the appointed (or alternate) health care representative (ORS 127.515(4)). Ineligible to serve as representative, unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption: the attending physician/provider or their employee, and an owner/operator/employee of the facility where the principal is a patient (unless appointed before admission); also an unfit parent or former guardian, a person the principal disqualified in writing, or one removed by a court (ORS 127.520). |
Springing. The representative may make health care decisions only when the principal is 'incapable' — when the attending physician or provider (or a court) finds the principal lacks the ability to make and communicate health care decisions — and only after the representative accepts the appointment (ORS 127.535(1); 127.505; 127.510(2)). |
The representative has all the authority over the principal's health care the principal would have if not incapable, subject to the document's limits (ORS 127.535(1)). No representative may consent to convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, or abortion, and may not withhold or withdraw a life-sustaining procedure unless expressly authorized or the principal is medically confirmed terminal, permanently unconscious, or similarly conditioned; artificially administered nutrition and hydration is presumed and limited (ORS 127.540; 127.580). A representative can never override the principal's contemporaneous objection (ORS 127.535(5)). |
A capable principal may revoke at any time and in any manner; a decision to withhold life-sustaining treatment or artificial nutrition/hydration may be revoked in any manner the principal can communicate the intent (ORS 127.545(1)). Revocation is effective on communication to the attending physician/provider or representative. A new advance directive revokes a prior one, and filing for divorce or annulment suspends a spouse-representative's appointment unless reaffirmed (ORS 127.545(4), (5)). |
Yes. A directive, appointment, or similar instrument executed by an out-of-state resident in compliance with that state's law, the law where the principal is located, or Oregon's law is validly executed for purposes of the Oregon act (ORS 127.515(6)). |
| Pennsylvania verified 2026-07-16 | Advance Directive for Health Care Act (Act 169 of 2006), 20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 54, Subch. C (Health Care Agents and Representatives), §§ 5451–5465. A health care power of attorney may stand alone or be combined with a living will into an 'advance health care directive.' Any written form works (§ 5465); a sample combined form is in Subchapter D. No mandatory form. |
An individual of sound mind who is 18 or older, has graduated from high school, has married, or is an emancipated minor. It must be dated and signed by the principal (signature or mark) — or by another person at the principal's direction if the principal cannot sign (§ 5452(a)–(b)). |
Two witnesses, each 18 or older, must witness it (§ 5452(b)(2)). No notarization is required — unlike Pennsylvania's separate financial power of attorney. There is no notary option or requirement in the statute. |
A person who signed the document for the principal may not also witness it (§ 5452(c)(1)). Unless related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, your health care agent may not be your attending physician or other health care provider, or an owner, operator, or employee of a health care provider where you are receiving care (§ 5455(b)). |
Springing by default. Unless the document says otherwise, it becomes operative when a copy is given to the attending physician and that physician determines the principal is incompetent, and it is inoperative whenever the physician finds the principal competent (§ 5454(a)–(b)). |
Any health care decision and any power over the principal's care the principal could make, including facility admission; authority can extend past death for anatomical gifts, remains, and autopsies (§ 5456(a)). Limits: life-sustaining-treatment choices are subject to the pregnancy rule (§ 5429) and physician duties (§ 5462(a)); the agent cannot consent to care prohibited by Pennsylvania law or override its mental-health commitment consent laws (§ 5463(a)–(b)). |
While of sound mind, revoke by a writing executed like the original (two witnesses, § 5452) or by personally informing your attending physician, health care provider, or agent (§ 5459(a)). Filing a divorce action revokes a spouse-agent as of the filing date, unless the directive clearly says the designation should survive (§ 5430). |
A health care power of attorney executed in another state in conformity with that state's laws is valid in Pennsylvania, except to the extent it would let the agent make a decision inconsistent with Pennsylvania law (§ 5464). |
| Rhode Island verified 2026-07-16 | R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 23-4.10, the standalone Health Care Power of Attorney chapter. Section 23-4.10-2 supplies the statutory form, and § 23-4.10-1.1(5) defines the durable power as a witnessed document executed under that section. |
A Rhode Island resident age 18 or older dates and signs (§ 23-4.10-2). The chapter gives no directed-signer route. The principal keeps decisionmaking control while able to give informed consent, and a current objection controls. |
Two qualified adult witnesses OR one notary public, present when the principal signs or acknowledges. At least one witness—or the notary if used alone—must also sign the unrelated/non-heir declaration (§ 23-4.10-2). |
No agent/alternate, provider, provider employee, community-care-facility operator, or operator employee may witness. The agent cannot be the treating provider, an unrelated employee of that provider, a facility operator, or an unrelated operator employee; dissolution makes a spouse-agent ineligible (§ 23-4.10-2). |
The agent governs when the principal cannot make the decision; the principal's informed decision and contemporaneous objection remain controlling (§§ 23-4.10-2, -5(a)). The chapter names no capacity certifier or required certification procedure. |
Broad authority to consent, refuse, or withdraw any physical- or mental-health care, including life-prolonging care, subject to the document and known wishes. No treatment over the principal's objection; comfort/pain care remains allowed; and the power has no effect during pregnancy while continued life support probably permits live birth (§§ 23-4.10-2, -5). |
At any time and in any manner communicating intent, regardless of mental or physical condition. It becomes effective as to a provider/EMS when the principal or a witness communicates it; the provider records it. The statutory form revokes prior health-care powers, and marriage dissolution makes a spouse-agent ineligible (§§ 23-4.10-2, -3). |
A durable power executed elsewhere in compliance with that state's law is validly executed for purposes of Rhode Island's chapter (§ 23-4.10-11). |
| South Carolina verified 2026-07-16 | Health Care Powers of Attorney (Part 5), S.C. Code Ann. §§ 62-5-500 to 62-5-518 — a standalone health care POA, separate from the living will (the 'Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death,' Title 44, ch. 77). A health care POA is itself a durable power of attorney (§ 62-5-502). The document must be substantially in the mandatory statutory form at § 62-5-504. |
A principal who is 'eighteen years of age or older and of sound mind' (§ 62-5-501(9)). The document must be 'dated and signed by the principal or in the principal's name by another person in the principal's presence and by his direction' (§ 62-5-503(a)(2)). |
Two witnesses, no notary. The document must be 'signed by at least two persons,' each of whom witnessed the signing or the principal's acknowledgment of the signature (§ 62-5-503(a)(3)); a notary is not required for the § 62-5-504 form. A separate safe-harbor recognizes a document bearing two qualifying witness signatures plus a notary attestation (§ 62-5-517). |
Witnesses (form § 62-5-504 / § 62-5-503): may not be the principal's spouse, lineal ancestor, descendant, sibling (or their descendants or spouses), a person financially responsible for the principal's care, a will beneficiary or intestate heir, a life-insurance beneficiary, the named agent or successor, or the principal's physician or physician's employee; no more than one witness may be an employee of a facility where the principal is a patient. Agent (§ 62-5-503): may not be a health care provider (or employee) with whom the principal has a provider-patient relationship at execution, or an employee of a nursing facility where the principal resides, or their spouse — unless a relative of the principal. |
Springing by default. The statutory form makes the power 'effective upon, and only during, any period of mental incompetence' (§ 62-5-504); a physician certifies the mental incompetence, and if the certifying physician states it precludes all (or a category of) health care decisions and is permanent or of extended duration, no further certification is needed (§ 62-5-502). |
The agent may make the health care decisions the principal could, including about life-sustaining treatment (§ 62-5-504), and specifically may access medical records, contract for facility placement, hire and fire care personnel, and exercise family-level visitation (§ 62-5-505). Key limit: if the principal has been diagnosed as pregnant, 'life-sustaining procedures may not be withheld or withdrawn ... during the course of the principal's pregnancy' (§ 62-5-507). A valid Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death controls where applicable (§ 62-5-509). |
Revoke at any time by a writing, an oral statement, or any other act notifying the agent or a responsible health care provider of the specific intent to revoke, or by executing a later health care POA or a durable POA that says so or is inconsistent (§ 62-5-512). If a spouse-agent is divorced or separated from the principal, the named successor agent takes over (§§ 62-5-504, 62-5-511). |
The Act has no health-care-specific reciprocity clause, but the statutory form declares the document 'intended to be valid in any jurisdiction in which it is presented' (§ 62-5-504), and because a health care POA is a durable power of attorney (§ 62-5-502), South Carolina's Uniform Power of Attorney Act governs recognition of a power of attorney validly executed under another state's law. |
| South Dakota verified 2026-07-16 | SDCL §§ 59-7-2.1 to 59-7-2.8 govern the standalone durable health-care power. Section 59-7-2.1 cross-references the durability language in § 59-12-3. No health-care-POA form is provided; the § 59-12-41 statutory form expressly does not authorize health-care decisions. |
The principal signs, or another individual signs the principal's name in the principal's conscious presence and at the principal's direction (§ 59-7-2.1). These execution provisions state no minimum age, date requirement, or separate capacity test for signing. |
Two other adult witnesses OR a notary (§ 59-7-2.1). The two-witness route may use real-time video communication with simultaneous sight and sound (§§ 18-8-1, 18-8-4). |
Section 59-7-2.1 allows 'any other person' as agent and requires only that the two witnesses be adults. It states no provider, facility, relative, heir, or named-agent disqualification. |
Springing only while the principal lacks capacity (§ 59-7-2.1). Incapacity may be determined by a court or in good faith by the attending physician alone or with another physician; a physician finding must be written, signed, and placed in the medical record (§ 34-12C-2). The agent cannot act while the attending physician finds capacity (§ 59-7-2.6). |
The agent may make "any health care decisions for the principal which the principal could make individually if the principal had decisional capacity," in accordance with accepted medical standards, weighing the attending physician's recommendation, the principal's substituted judgment, and best interest (§ 59-7-2.5). Two statutory limits: the agent may never authorize withholding or withdrawing "comfort care," and may authorize withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition or hydration only under a condition listed in § 59-7-2.7 (for example, it cannot be assimilated, its burden outweighs its benefit, or the principal directed that it be withheld); and for a pregnant principal, life-sustaining treatment and ANH must be provided unless two physicians certify that they will not permit live birth or will harm her or prolong unrelievable pain (§ 59-7-2.8). |
The health-care provisions prescribe no special revocation method. General § 59-7-2 lists revocation by the principal as termination as to persons with notice, and § 59-6-11 protects reliance until actual knowledge of revocation. A later guardian-of-the-person appointment terminates the power, but the guardian must follow its medical and end-of-life wishes (§ 59-7-11). |
No general reciprocity rule appears in the health-care-power provisions. The financial UPOAA's validity rules cannot be imported because § 59-12-2 excludes powers to make health-care decisions; § 34-12H-6 recognizes only an out-of-state MOST medical order, not a health-care POA. |
| Tennessee verified 2026-07-17 | Tennessee Health Care Decisions Act, Tenn. Code §§ 68-11-1801–1816. One advance directive may appoint the agent and state treatment instructions; the Health Facilities Commission publishes an optional model form (§§ 68-11-1802 to -1805). |
An adult or emancipated minor executes a written directive signed by the principal (§ 68-11-1803(a)–(b)). Capacity means understanding significant benefits, risks, and alternatives and making and communicating a decision (§ 68-11-1802(3)); capacity is presumed (§ 68-11-1812). |
Either notarized OR witnessed by two competent adults (§ 68-11-1803(b)). A witnessed directive must contain an attestation clause confirming the witness qualifications. |
The agent cannot witness, and at least one witness must be unrelated by blood/marriage/adoption and not entitled to inherit (§ 68-11-1803(b)). The Act states no separate class-based bar on serving as an appointed agent; § 68-11-1806(g)'s provider/facility bars govern surrogates, not agents. |
Springing by default: authority begins on the designated physician's incapacity determination and ends on recovery, unless the directive says otherwise (§ 68-11-1803(c)–(d)). The official form allows an immediate-authority election. |
Any health care decision the principal could make, subject to written instructions (§ 68-11-1803(b)). The agent follows known instructions/wishes, then determines best interests while considering known personal values; no court approval is required (§ 68-11-1803(e)–(f)). |
Revoke the agent designation only by signed writing or personally informing the supervising provider; revoke other parts in any manner communicating intent (§ 68-11-1804(a)–(b)). Annulment, divorce, dissolution, or legal separation revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or directive says otherwise (§ 68-11-1804(c)). |
An out-of-state directive is honored if the signer was not a Tennessee resident when it was executed and it complies with Tennessee law or the law of the signer's state of residence (§ 68-11-1803(h)). |
| Texas verified 2026-07-16 | Texas Advance Directives Act, Health & Safety Code ch. 166; the Medical Power of Attorney is Subchapter D (§§ 166.151–166.166), a standalone agent appointment separate from the Subchapter B 'directive to physicians' living will. Mandatory statutory form — it 'must be in substantially the following form' (§ 166.164). |
A competent adult (18+, or a minor who has had the disabilities of minority removed) signs as principal; if physically unable to sign, another person may sign in the principal's presence and at the principal's express direction (§§ 166.151(1),(4); 166.154(c)). |
Signed by the principal before two qualified witnesses, at least one meeting the stricter § 166.003(2) test — OR the principal signs and has the signature acknowledged before a notary public in lieu of witnesses (§ 166.154(a)–(b)). |
At least one witness must not be the agent, a relative by blood or marriage, an heir/estate claimant, the attending physician or their employee, or a direct-care/officer employee of the facility (§ 166.003(2)). A person may not act as agent while serving as the principal's health care or residential care provider, or an employee of one, unless a relative (§ 166.153). |
Springing: the agent may act only after the attending physician certifies in writing, filed in the medical record, that the principal is incompetent (§ 166.152(b)). The document itself is effective on execution and delivery to the agent, and lasts indefinitely (§ 166.152(g)). |
The agent may make any health care decision the principal could make if competent, subject to any limits stated in the document (§ 166.152(a)). No agent may consent to voluntary inpatient mental health services, convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, abortion, or neglect of comfort care (§ 166.152(f)); treatment may never be forced over the principal's objection (§ 166.152(c)). |
Revoke at any time by oral or written notice to the agent or a health/residential care provider, or by any act showing intent to revoke — regardless of the principal's competence — or by executing a later medical power of attorney (§ 166.155(a)). Divorce, annulment, or a void marriage revokes a spouse-agent unless the document provides otherwise (§ 166.155(a-1)). |
An advance directive validly executed in another state or jurisdiction is given the same effect as one executed under Texas law, except that it cannot authorize care Texas law otherwise prohibits (§ 166.005). |
| Utah verified 2026-07-16 | Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act, Utah Code §§ 75A-9-101 to 75A-9-129 (enacted 2025, effective Jan. 1, 2026 — replacing the repealed Utah Advance Health Care Directive Act). An 'advance health care directive' is a power of attorney for health care, a health care instruction, or both, and the two may share one record (§§ 75A-9-101(1), 75A-9-106(4)). Optional statutory form at § 75A-9-110. |
An 'individual' — an adult or emancipated minor (§ 75A-9-101(14)) — with capacity may create the power (§ 75A-9-107(1)). Capacity is decision-specific: to appoint an agent you must recognize who you are appointing and understand the general nature of your relationship to them (§ 75A-9-102(1)(b)(iii)). The power 'must be in a record, signed by the individual creating the power' (§ 75A-9-107(4)). |
One adult witness — no notary option. The power 'must be ... signed by an adult witness' who reasonably believes your act is voluntary and knowing (§ 75A-9-107(4)); Utah does not offer notarization as a substitute. The witness may be 'present' physically, by real-time audio-video link, or by authenticated audio (§ 75A-9-107(5)), so remote witnessing is allowed. |
The witness may not be your agent, the agent's spouse or cohabitant, or — if you live in or are cared for at a nursing home or assisted-living facility — that facility's owner, operator, employee, or contractor (§ 75A-9-107(4)(b)). Relatives and heirs are NOT barred from witnessing. As agent: someone a court finds poses a danger to you cannot serve, nor can a nursing-home/assisted-living owner, operator, employee, or contractor of the facility where you reside — unless that person is a family member, your cohabitant, or a descendant of your cohabitant (§ 75A-9-107(2)). |
Springing by default: an agent's power 'commences when the individual is found ... to lack capacity to make a health care decision' and ceases if capacity returns (§ 75A-9-117(1)). The power of attorney may instead provide that the agent's power 'commences on appointment' — effective immediately (§ 75A-9-117(3)). |
The agent may make the health care decisions you could make — selecting providers, approving or refusing tests, procedures, and medication, and directing that artificial nutrition/hydration or mechanical ventilation be provided, withheld, or withdrawn (§ 75A-9-101(10)). Limits: no consent to voluntary mental-health admission unless the directive specifically authorizes it and caps the days (§ 75A-9-117(5)); no nursing-home placement over 100 days over your objection unless authorized (§ 75A-9-117(6)–(7)); and for someone on long-term artificial nutrition, hydration, or ventilation, no withholding or withdrawal except in the narrow cases in § 75A-9-118(1). |
Revoke by any act clearly showing intent, 'including an oral statement to a health care professional' (§ 75A-9-114(2)); a later conflicting directive revokes the earlier one (§ 75A-9-114(3)). A spouse-agent's appointment is revoked automatically once a petition for annulment, divorce, dissolution, legal separation, or termination 'has been filed and not dismissed or withdrawn,' when a decree issues, on a recorded separation agreement, or after a spouse's willful desertion for over a year — unless the directive says otherwise (§ 75A-9-114(4)). |
A directive 'created outside this state is valid if it complies with the law of the state specified in the directive or, if a state is not specified, the state in which the individual created' it, or with Utah's chapter (§ 75A-9-115(1)). A directive or signature may not be denied effect solely because it is electronic (§ 75A-9-115(3)). |
| Vermont verified 2026-07-16 | Advance Directives for Health Care, 18 V.S.A. chapter 231 (§§ 9701–9716). One combined 'advance directive' both appoints a health care agent and records treatment instructions; Vermont's older durable power of attorney for health care was repealed in 2005 and folded into this chapter (§§ 9701(1), 9702). No mandatory statutory form. |
An adult with capacity may execute an advance directive at any time (§ 9703(a)). It must be dated and signed by the principal, or by another individual in the principal's presence at the principal's express direction if the principal is physically unable to sign (§ 9703(b)(1)). Capacity is a functional test — a basic understanding of what it means to have someone else make decisions and who would be appropriate (§ 9701(4)). Vermont requires an adult; there is no emancipated-minor option. |
Two witnesses, and no notary alternative. The directive must be 'signed by two or more witnesses at least 18 years of age' who affirm the principal appeared to understand it and signed freely (§ 9703(b)(1)). If the principal is being admitted to or is in a nursing home, residential care facility, or hospital, the directive is not effective unless an authorized person (ombudsman, clergy, Vermont attorney, hospital-designated explainer, and others) explains its nature and effect and signs a statement confirming they did (§ 9703(d)–(e)). |
Cannot witness (§ 9703(c)): the agent, or the principal's spouse, parent, adult sibling, adult child, or adult grandchild. Cannot serve as agent (§ 9702(c)): the principal's health care provider; and, unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption, an owner, operator, employee, agent, or contractor of a residential care, health care, or correctional facility in which the principal resides at execution. |
Springing by default, but the principal may choose immediate effect. Authority begins when the principal's clinician determines the principal lacks capacity, makes findings on the cause, nature, and projected duration, and makes reasonable efforts to notify the principal and the agent (§ 9706(a)(1)); or when a condition the principal specified is met, or on execution if the directive so provides (§§ 9706(a)(2)–(3), 9702(a)(3)–(4)). A 'clinician' is a physician, osteopath, APRN, or PA (§ 9701(5)). |
Once effective, the agent may 'make any health care decisions on the principal's behalf that the principal could make' (§ 9711(a)), including life-sustaining treatment and medically administered nutrition and hydration if the directive so provides (§ 9702(a)(7)). Limits: a principal with capacity keeps concurrent authority and overrides the agent (§ 9711(b)); the agent must follow the principal's known wishes, then best interests, and may not base a decision on the principal's economic status or long-term disability or the agent's own interests (§ 9711(d)); no agent may consent to voluntary sterilization (§ 9711(f)); and an agent may act over the principal's objection only under a specially executed provision (§§ 9707(h), 9704(b)(3)). |
A principal with or without capacity may suspend or revoke all or part of the directive, including the agent designation, by a signed statement, by informing the clinician (who records it), or by burning, tearing, or obliterating it (§ 9704(b)(1)); non-agent instructions may be revoked by any act showing intent (§ 9704(b)(2)). Filing for annulment, divorce, dissolution of a civil union, legal separation, or an abuse-prevention order suspends a spouse or opposing-party agent unless otherwise specified; the agent is reinstated if the action is withdrawn and the suspension becomes permanent when the decree is final (§ 9704). |
Vermont honors an out-of-state directive: 'Nothing in this chapter limits the enforceability of an advance directive or similar instrument executed in another state or jurisdiction in compliance with the law of that state or jurisdiction' (§ 9716). |
| Virginia verified 2026-07-16 | Health Care Decisions Act, Va. Code Title 54.1, Ch. 29, Art. 8 (§§ 54.1-2981 to 54.1-2995). One combined 'advance directive' that may appoint an agent and/or give treatment instructions (§ 54.1-2983). Optional suggested form at § 54.1-2984. |
Any adult capable of making an informed decision — the 'declarant' (§§ 54.1-2982, 54.1-2983). A written advance directive must be signed by the declarant in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. |
Two subscribing witnesses; no notary required. A written advance directive 'shall be signed by the declarant in the presence of two subscribing witnesses' (§ 54.1-2983). Notarization appears only for removing a directive from the state registry, never for execution. |
Virginia imposes almost no witness restrictions: a 'witness' is 'any person over the age of 18, including a spouse or blood relative,' and good-faith employees of health care facilities and physicians' offices may serve (§ 54.1-2982). The agent must be an adult (§ 54.1-2982); the statute sets no further bar on who may be appointed. |
Springing: an agent's authority is effective only while the declarant is 'incapable of making an informed decision' (§ 54.1-2986.1). That determination generally requires the attending physician's written certification plus a written certification from an independent 'capacity reviewer' (a physician or clinical psychologist), unless the patient is unconscious or profoundly impaired (§ 54.1-2983.2). |
The agent may make the health care decisions specified in the directive and takes priority over the default-surrogate list (§ 54.1-2986.1). The suggested form lets the agent consent to, refuse, or withdraw any care, including artificially administered nutrition/hydration and CPR (§ 54.1-2984). Limits: admission to a mental-health facility is capped at 10 days and needs specific authorization plus a physician's finding (§§ 54.1-2984, 54.1-2983.2); the agent may not act against the declarant's known religious beliefs or basic values (§ 54.1-2986.1). |
Revoke at any time, while capable, by a signed dated writing, by physical destruction, or by oral expression of intent — effective when communicated to the attending physician (§ 54.1-2985 A). The agent's authority is also revoked automatically by the filing of a divorce or annulment action, or a custody or visitation petition, between the declarant and agent (§ 54.1-2985 A1). |
Recognized: an advance directive executed in another state is validly executed in Virginia if it complied with Virginia's law or the law of the state where executed, and is construed under Virginia law (§ 54.1-2993). |
| Washington verified 2026-07-16 | Uniform Power of Attorney Act, RCW ch. 11.125; a durable power of attorney granting 'general authority with respect to health care matters' (RCW 11.125.400). The agent appointment is separate from Washington's living will ('health care directive') under the Natural Death Act, RCW ch. 70.122. No mandatory health-care form; a general health-care grant triggers the RCW 11.125.400 powers. |
A competent adult 'principal' — 'an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney' (RCW 11.125.020(9)). The power of attorney 'must be signed and dated by the principal' (RCW 11.125.050(1)); a principal physically unable to sign may sign by mark or under RCW 64.08.100 (RCW 11.125.050(2)). |
Notary OR two qualified witnesses — not both. The principal's signature 'must be either acknowledged before a notary public ... or attested by two or more competent witnesses ... by subscribing their names to the power of attorney, while in the presence of the principal' (RCW 11.125.050(1)). |
If witnesses are used, neither may be a home care provider for the principal or a care provider at an adult family home or long-term care facility where the principal resides, and neither may be related to the principal or agent by blood, marriage, or state registered domestic partnership (RCW 11.125.050(1)). Agent: unless the person is the principal's spouse, domestic partner, parent, adult child, or sibling, no treating physician, physician's employee, or owner/administrator/employee of the health care or long-term care facility where the principal resides or receives care may serve (RCW 11.125.400(3)). |
Set by durability language: a power of attorney 'terminates upon the incapacity of the principal' unless it says it is 'not ... affected by disability of the principal' (durable, effective at once) or 'effective upon the disability of the principal' (springing) (RCW 11.125.040). A health-care appointment must be drafted as durable; it is effective when signed unless it states that it springs on incapacity. |
Health-care authority must be expressly granted: an agent may 'make health care decisions for the principal, or give informed consent to health care decisions,' only if the power of attorney expressly grants it (RCW 11.125.240(1)(l)). A general health-care grant makes the agent the principal's HIPAA personal representative and lets the agent give informed consent (RCW 11.125.400(1)-(2)). Limits: except where the principal consented in a mental health advance directive (ch. 71.32 RCW) to inpatient admission or electroconvulsive therapy, the agent's authority is 'subject to the same limitations as those that apply to a guardian under chapter 11.130 RCW' (RCW 11.125.400(3)). |
A power of attorney and an agent's authority both terminate when the principal revokes them (RCW 11.125.100(1)-(2)). Filing an action for dissolution, annulment, or legal separation of the agent's marriage or state registered domestic partnership with the principal also terminates the agent's authority unless the document provides otherwise — reinstated if that action is dismissed by consent or withdrawn (RCW 11.125.100(2)(c), (3)). |
A power of attorney executed outside Washington is valid here if, when executed, it complied with the law of the jurisdiction that determines its meaning and effect — the jurisdiction indicated in the document, or the one where it was executed (RCW 11.125.060(3), 11.125.070). |
| West Virginia verified 2026-07-16 | West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act, W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-1 to -25. The Act permits a standalone medical power of attorney or a combined medical power of attorney and living will and supplies optional forms (§ 16-30-4). |
Any competent adult may execute. "Adult" includes age 18+, an emancipated minor, or a mature minor (§ 16-30-3). The principal signs, or another person may sign in the principal's presence at express direction if the principal is physically unable (§ 16-30-4(a)). |
Both required: sign before at least two witnesses age 18+, then the witnesses' signatures and attestations must be acknowledged before a notary (§ 16-30-4(a)). |
Witnesses cannot be the directed signer, a relative, heir, person financially responsible for care, attending physician, agent, or successor (§ 16-30-4(b)). Treating providers and unrelated provider/facility employees or operators cannot serve as agent (§ 16-30-4(c)). |
Springing: agent authority begins upon a recorded incapacity determination after personal examination by an authorized physician, psychologist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse (§§ 16-30-6(d), 16-30-7). |
May release records and make "any and all health care decisions" unless the document clearly limits authority (§ 16-30-6(c)). The agent must follow known wishes, values, and beliefs; otherwise act in the person's best interests (§ 16-30-9). |
Destroy it; deliver a signed, dated written revocation to the attending physician; or make an oral revocation before an adult witness who signs a confirming writing (§ 16-30-18(a)). A final divorce decree automatically revokes a former spouse-agent (§ 16-30-18(c)). |
An out-of-state medical power of attorney is validly executed if it complies with West Virginia law or the law of the state where executed (§ 16-30-21). |
| Wisconsin verified 2026-07-16 | Power of Attorney for Health Care, Wis. Stat. ch. 155 — a standalone health care POA, separate from the 'declaration to physicians'/living will (subch. II of ch. 154) and from DNR orders; a valid health care POA supersedes directly conflicting provisions of a ch. 154 declaration (§ 155.70(3)). Statutory form at § 155.30, whose notice and limitation language must appear on forms distributed for use without a lawyer. |
An individual of sound mind who has attained age 18 (§ 155.05(1)); someone under a guardianship of the person is presumed not of sound mind. The instrument must be dated and signed by the principal, or by an adult (18+) at the principal's express direction and in their presence (§ 155.10(1)(b)). |
Two witnesses, no notary. The instrument must be 'signed in the presence of 2 witnesses' who meet § 155.10(2) (§ 155.10(1)(c)); notarization is not required. The two witnesses may also appear by supervised, real-time audiovisual technology (§ 155.10(3)). |
Witnesses (§ 155.10(2)): 18+, and none may be related to the principal by blood, marriage, adoption, or as a domestic partner, have a claim on the estate, be directly financially responsible for the principal's health care, or be a health care provider serving the principal (or that provider's or an inpatient facility's employee, other than a chaplain or social worker). Agent (§ 155.05(3)): the principal's health care provider, their employee, an employee of a facility where the principal is a patient or resides, or a spouse of any of them may not serve as agent unless a relative. |
Springing by default: unless the instrument specifies otherwise, it takes effect on a finding of incapacity by two physicians, or one physician and one licensed advanced practice clinician, who personally examine the principal and sign a statement of incapacity; neither may be a relative or have a claim on the estate (§ 155.05(2)). A principal who has capacity overrides the agent at all times (§ 155.05(4)). |
Broad authority over the principal's health care, but with firm default limits in the statutory form (§ 155.30): the agent 'may not admit or commit' the principal on an inpatient basis to a mental institution or treatment facility, and may not consent to experimental mental health research, psychosurgery, electroconvulsive treatment, or drastic mental health treatment; the agent may withhold or withdraw a feeding tube only if the principal expressly authorized it (and never oral nutrition/hydration unless medically contraindicated); long-term nursing-home or CBRF admission needs the principal's express authorization. No act to end life is allowed beyond withholding or withdrawing care to permit natural dying (§ 155.70(7)). |
Revoke at any time by destroying the instrument (or directing another to, in the principal's presence), a signed and dated written revocation, a verbal statement before two witnesses, or executing a later instrument (§ 155.40(1)). If the agent is the principal's spouse or domestic partner and the marriage is annulled, a divorce is obtained, or the domestic partnership is terminated after execution, the health care POA is revoked and the instrument is invalid (§ 155.40(2)). |
Yes, to the extent of the agent's authority. A document appointing a health care agent that was validly executed in another state 'is valid and enforceable in this state to the extent that the document authorizes the health care agent to make decisions for the principal that a health care agent may make ... under this chapter' (§ 155.70(10)). |
| Wyoming verified 2026-07-16 | Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act (Uniform Health Care Decisions Act), Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-401 to 35-22-416. A power of attorney for health care is part of an "advance health care directive" that may also carry individual instructions (the living will). The Act sets the requirements but codifies no fill-in form; the commonly circulated Wyoming Advance Health Care Directive is a non-statutory practice form (§§ 35-22-402, 35-22-403). |
An adult OR an emancipated minor may execute the power (§ 35-22-403(b)) — Wyoming is one of the few states that lets an emancipated minor sign. It must be in writing and signed by the principal, or by another person in the principal's presence and at the principal's expressed direction. Capacity is presumed unless the primary physician certifies in writing that the principal lacks it (§ 35-22-412(b)). |
A choice: the power must be "acknowledged before a notarial officer" OR "signed by at least two (2) witnesses," each witnessing the signing or the principal's acknowledgment and making a penalty-of-perjury declaration (§ 35-22-403(b)). No date is required by statute. |
Cannot witness (§ 35-22-403(c)): a treating health care provider or their employee; the named agent; and the operator or an employee of a community or residential care facility. Wyoming does not bar relatives or heirs from witnessing and does not require an unrelated witness. Cannot serve as agent (§ 35-22-403(b)): unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, an owner, operator, or employee of a residential or community care facility where the principal is receiving care. |
Springing by default, but you may choose immediate effect: "[u]nless otherwise specified," the agent's authority "becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity" and ends on recovery (§ 35-22-403(d)). The primary physician makes that determination; the treating primary health care provider may make it if the primary physician is unavailable (§ 35-22-403(e)). |
Broad by default: the agent may make "any health care decision the principal could have made while having capacity" (§ 35-22-403(b)), which by definition includes directing the provision, withholding, or withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration and all other health care (§ 35-22-402(a)(ix)) — no separate express grant is needed. The agent must follow the principal's directive and known wishes, otherwise the principal's best interest (§ 35-22-403(f)). The Act does not enumerate categorical exclusions; involuntary mental-health commitment and psychiatric treatment remain governed by separate statutes (§ 35-22-414(e)). |
The agent designation may be revoked "only by a signed writing" (§ 35-22-404(a)); the rest of the directive may be revoked "at any time and in any manner" showing intent, with any oral revocation documented in a signed, dated writing (§ 35-22-404(b)). A decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution, or legal separation revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or the power says otherwise (§ 35-22-404(d)); a later conflicting directive revokes an earlier one to the extent of the conflict (§ 35-22-404(e)). |
Wyoming has no separate out-of-state recognition section; § 35-22-403(j) makes an advance health care directive "valid for purposes of this act if it complied with the applicable law at the time of execution or communication," and § 35-22-416 directs that the Act be construed to make the law uniform among enacting states. |
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