Colorado: Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements

Colorado makes naming a health care agent about as simple as any state does. The
document is a medical durable power of attorney, governed by the Colorado
Patient Autonomy Act at Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-14-503 to 15-14-509. What sets
Colorado apart is what it does not require: there are no witnesses to round up
and no notary to visit. A signed writing that names your agent is enough. That is
unusual — most states demand two witnesses, a notary, or both — so the trap here is
doing more than the law asks because you assumed Colorado works like a neighboring
state.

Colorado keeps two documents separate. The medical durable power of attorney names
the person who speaks for you (your agent). A living will — a "Declaration
as to Medical or Surgical Treatment" under the separate Colorado Medical Treatment
Decision Act (article 18) — records your own wishes about life support and does
require two witnesses. This page is about the first document: appointing the agent.

Requirements one by one

Governing law and document

The Act at § 15-14-503 provides that "[s]ections 15-14-503 to 15-14-509 shall be
known and may be cited as the 'Colorado Patient Autonomy Act.'" The instrument it
creates is the medical durable power of attorney, which § 15-14-500.5 defines
simply as "a power to make health-care decisions." Colorado publishes no mandatory
or official fill-in form for it; any writing that appoints your agent and meets the
Act works. (Colorado does maintain an electronic registry where an advance directive
can be uploaded, but that is a storage system, not a validity requirement.)

Witnesses or notary

This is the Colorado outlier, and the single most important thing to understand.
Section 15-14-506(1) says only that "[t]he authority of an agent to act on behalf
of the principal in consenting to or refusing medical treatment, including artificial
nourishment and hydration, may be set forth in a medical durable power of
attorney." That is the whole execution rule: put the authority in a written
document. Nowhere in the Patient Autonomy Act — §§ 15-14-503 through 15-14-509 — is
there any requirement of a witness, a notary, or an acknowledgment. The Uniform Power
of Attorney Act's signing rule that governs financial powers (§ 15-14-705) does not
reach this document; § 15-14-500.5 carves medical powers out of that Act.

So in Colorado a medical durable power of attorney is valid when you sign a writing
that appoints your agent. You may of course add witnesses or a notary for extra proof
of authenticity, and many people do — but the law does not make you. Where the
two-witness idea comes from is the living will, a different document under
article 18 that does require witnesses. If you use a combined form, do not assume
the witness lines are what validate your agent's appointment; they are not.

When the agent can act

Your agent's authority is dormant until you cannot make your own decisions.
Section 15-14-506(3) lets an agent "provide informed consent to or refusal of
medical treatment on behalf of a principal who lacks decisional capacity." Who
decides you lack capacity? Under § 15-18.5-103(2), that "determination ... may be
made by a court or the attending physician, and the determination shall be documented
in such patient's medical record." Your attending physician is the doctor "who has
primary responsibility for the treatment and care of the patient" (§ 15-14-505(4)).
Colorado does not require a second physician's concurrence to activate your agent (the
two-doctor rule some readers have heard of applies to a proxy chosen when there is no
document, and only for withdrawing tube feeding).

Agent's powers and limits

Once the power is active, your agent may consent to or refuse the medical treatment
you could, and § 15-14-506(1) says that authority expressly includes "artificial
nourishment and hydration" — so, unlike some states, feeding-tube decisions fall
within the agent's default authority unless your document limits them. The agent must
act "in accordance with the terms ... stated in the medical durable power of attorney,
and in conformance with the principal's wishes that are known to the agent"
(§ 15-14-506(2)), and has the same right of access to your medical records that you
have (§ 15-14-506(3)).

The Act imposes no categorical subject-matter exclusions of its own; the real limits
are the ones you write into the document, plus § 15-14-506(4)(b), under which nothing
in a medical durable power of attorney compels a provider "to administer medical
treatment that is otherwise illegal, medically inappropriate" or otherwise contrary to
law. And if a provider or facility does not wish to honor your agent's decision, it
must give notice of its objection and provide for the "prompt transfer" of your care,
continuing to care for you until the transfer happens (§ 15-14-507).

How to revoke

You never lose control while you have capacity. Section 15-14-506(4)(a) preserves
"the right to revoke an agent's authority or the right to consent to or refuse any
proposed medical treatment." The appointment also ends if you revoke it or if the agent
"is unable or unwilling to serve" (§ 15-14-506(4)(d)). One automatic rule matters most:
under § 15-14-506(4)(c), "a subsequent divorce, dissolution of marriage, annulment
of marriage, or legal separation between the principal and spouse appointed as agent
automatically revokes such appointment," unless your document expressly says otherwise —
and only the spouse's appointment drops out; the rest of the document survives.

Out-of-state directives

A health care directive you signed in another state is respected in Colorado. Under
§ 15-14-509(2), "any 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, in good faith, be relied upon by a health-care provider or health-care
facility." Colorado likewise presumes its own directives should be recognized in other
states (§ 15-14-509(1)).

What trips people up

• You do not need witnesses or a notary — really. Colorado is one of the few states
  that requires neither for the agent appointment (§ 15-14-506(1)). Adding them does no
  harm, but a document is not invalid for lacking them.
• The witness lines are for the living will. On a combined advance-directive form,
  the two witnesses (and any notary block) satisfy the separate living will under
  article 18 — not the medical durable power of attorney. Don't conclude your agent
  appointment failed because it wasn't witnessed.
• Feeding-tube authority is built in, not bolted on. Because § 15-14-506(1) folds
  "artificial nourishment and hydration" into the agent's default authority, your agent
  can address tube feeding unless you write a limit. If you want to restrict that power,
  say so in the document.
• Divorce cancels a spouse-agent automatically. If you named your spouse and later
  divorce, separate, or annul the marriage, that appointment ends by operation of law
  (§ 15-14-506(4)(c)). Name a successor or sign a new document.
• Your agent turns on when a doctor says you lack capacity. The power is not
  effective just because you signed it; it waits until your attending physician (or a
  court) documents that you lack decisional capacity (§ 15-18.5-103(2)).

Common questions

Does a Colorado medical power of attorney have to be notarized?
No. The Colorado Patient Autonomy Act requires neither a notary nor witnesses to appoint
a health care agent; a signed writing setting out the agent's authority is enough
(§ 15-14-506(1)). Notarizing it is optional.

Can I name someone who isn't a relative, like a close friend?
Yes. The Act does not restrict who may serve as your agent — it names no categorical
disqualification, so a friend, an unmarried partner, or anyone you trust can be your
agent.

Can my agent stop artificial nutrition or hydration?
By default, yes — § 15-14-506(1) includes artificial nourishment and hydration in the
agent's authority. If you do not want your agent to make that decision, add a specific
limit in your document; the Act lets you include "any directive, condition, or
limitation" on the agent's authority.

Will the health care directive I signed in another state work in Colorado?
Yes. A directive executed in another state is presumed to comply with Colorado's Act and
may be relied on in good faith by Colorado providers (§ 15-14-509(2)).

Statutes and sources

• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-503 — short title, "Colorado Patient Autonomy Act."
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-500.5 — a medical durable power of attorney "means a
  power to make health-care decisions"; medical powers carved out of the Uniform Power
  of Attorney Act.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-505 — definitions: "adult" (18+) and "attending
  physician" (primary responsibility for the patient's care).
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-506 — the medical durable power of attorney: authority
  "may be set forth in" the document (no witness/notary rule), includes nutrition and
  hydration, springs on lack of decisional capacity, medical-records access.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-506(4) — principal's retained right to revoke; automatic
  revocation of a spouse-agent on divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation;
  revocation when the agent cannot or will not serve.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-507 — "Transfer of principal": a provider unwilling to
  comply must give notice and arrange prompt transfer, continuing care until transfer.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-14-509 — interstate effect: an out-of-state directive is
  presumed to comply and may be relied on in good faith.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)
• Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-18.5-103 — a court or the attending physician determines,
  and documents, that a patient lacks decisional capacity.
  https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.htm (accessed 2026-07-16)