Advance Care Directive and Living Will Forms by State
If you’ve had a medical checkup lately, your doctor may have asked you about a living will or advance directive. These legal documents explain your health care preferences if you are unable to communicate. An advance directive also identifies a specific person to speak on your behalf, if you can’t speak for yourself. This person is sometimes called your healthcare proxy or healthcare power of attorney.
Each state has slightly different legal requirements for living wills. To make your task easier, we’ve gathered form and instruction links for every state.
You won’t need a lawyer to make your living will official, but most states do require signing the document in front of two witnesses. In many states, documents must also be signed in the presence of a notary public.
A living will or advance directive won’t do much good if it’s locked up at home or in a safe deposit box. The best way to share your wishes is to make copies for your primary care doctor and close family.
Link to directions and forms for completing a living will or advance medical directive in every state.
Alabama
Advance directive information, videos and forms
https://www.alaha.org/advance-directives
Alaska
Advance health care directive booklet (PDF download)
http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/director/documents/advancedirective.pdf
Arizona
Electronic filing of advance directives
https://www.azsos.gov/services/advance-directives
Arkansas
Information and forms from the Arkansas Department of Health
https://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/health-care-decision-forms
California
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California
Colorado
Colorado Advance Directives Consortium
http://coloradoadvancedirectives.com/
Connecticut
Living wills and advance directives
https://portal.ct.gov/DMHAS/Programs-and-Services/Advocacy/Advance-Directives
Delaware
Delaware’s Advance Health Care Directive Form
http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dsaapd/advance1.html
Florida
State of Florida advance directives and living wills
http://www.floridahealthfinder.gov/reports-guides/advance-directives.aspx
Georgia
Download the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care
aging.georgia.gov/get-advance-directives
Hawaii
Advance directives example from the University of Hawaii
http://www.hawaii.edu/uhelp/UHCDA/AdvDirFrms/AdvanceDirectiveBrochure.pdf
Idaho
Idaho has an online state health care directive registry.
https://sos.idaho.gov/hcdr/index.html
Illinois
Advance directives forms and information from Department of Public Health
http://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/health-care-regulation/nursing-homes/advance-directives
Indiana
State of Indiana advance directive resource center
Iowa
University of Iowa advance directive resources
https://uihc.org/advance-directives
Kansas
Advance directive guides from The University of Kansas School of Law
http://guides.law.ku.edu/medicaldecisionforms
Kentucky
Attorney General living will packet
https://ag.ky.gov/AG%20Publications/livingwillpacket.pdf
Louisiana
A Louisiana living will is called a State of Louisiana Declaration. Information and forms are located at: http://www.sos.la.gov/OurOffice/EndOfLifeRegistries/Pages/default.aspx
Maine
Maine Health Care Advance Directive Form
http://www.themha.org/policy-advocacy/Issues/End-of-Life-Care/advdirectivesform.aspx
Maine Hospital Association - Facts about advance directives
Maryland
Maryland Attorney General advance directive information and downloads
http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Pages/HealthPolicy/AdvanceDirectives.aspx
Massachusetts
Information about health care proxies, living wills and letting your family know about your preferences for life sustaining medical treatments.
http://www.mass.gov/courts/case-legal-res/law-lib/laws-by-subj/about/healthproxy.html
Michigan
Making Choices Michigan is a non-profit helping people document and ensure future healthcare choices.
Minnesota
Health care directives and information on aging.
mn.gov/dhs/ownyourfuture/plan/take-action/age-40-60.jsp
Mississippi
Mississippi advance directive form
http://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/publications/p2220_web.pdf
Missouri
http://www.caringinfo.org/files/public/ad/Missouri.pdf
Montana
Montana’s End-of-Life Registry and information about advance directives
https://dojmt.gov/consumer/end-of-life-registry/
Nebraska
Advance directive information from the University of Nebraska Medical Center
https://www.nebraskamed.com/patients/advance-directive-living-will
Nevada
Living will and power of attorney information and forms
http://www.nvlivingwill.com/faq.html
New Hampshire
New Hampshire Advance Care Planning Guide
https://www.nhhca.org/files/2015/04/ACPGuide.pdf
New Jersey
Advance directive forms and frequently asked questions
http://www.state.nj.us/health/advancedirective/ad/forums-faqs/
New Mexico
New Mexico offers extensive information about advance directives and end-of-life planning on a state website called New Mexico Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (NM MOST).
New York
Advance care planning website from the New York Department of Health
https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/conditions/dementia/adv_care_planning.htm
North Carolina
North Carolina Advance Health Care Directive Registry
North Dakota
Download the North Dakota Health Care Directive form from the North Dakota State University Aging Well website.
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/aging/documents/NDHealthCareDirectiveLegalDocument.pdf
Ohio
Advance directive and living will forms from the Ohio Bar Association
https://www.ohiobar.org/membership/Practice-Resources/Advance-Directives/
Oklahoma
Information and downloadable advance directive forms from the Oklahoma Department of Health website
Oregon
State of Oregon website for advance directive information and forms
https://healthcare.oregon.gov/shiba/topics/Pages/advance-directives.aspx
Pennsylvania
Advance directive forms from Penn Medicine
Rhode Island
Advance directive information from the state health site
https://health.ri.gov/lifestages/death/about/advancedirectives/
South Carolina
Advance directive brochure and information from the state bar.
https://www.scbar.org/public/get-legal-help/free-forms-and-publications/
South Dakota
Living will download form from the State Bar of South Dakota
http://www.statebarofsouthdakota.com/p/cm/ld/fid=14
Tennessee
Advance Directives for Health Care Decision Making
Texas
Texas Health and Human Services advance directive information
https://hhs.texas.gov/laws-regulations/forms/advance-directives
Utah
Utah advance Health Care Directive forms and instructions
http://aging.utah.edu/programs/utah-coa/directives/
Vermont
Advance directives from healthvermont.gov
http://www.healthvermont.gov/systems/advance-directives
Virginia
Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
http://www.virginiaadvancedirectives.org/home.html
Washington
Healthcare and advance care directives from End of Life Washington
West Virginia
Advance directive forms and upload registry at the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care
http://wvendoflife.org/for-patients/
Wisconsin
Forms from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/forms/advdirectives/adformspoa.htm
Wyoming
My Choices booklet with form downloads from Wyoming Medical Center
https://wyomingmedicalcenter.org/patients-visitors/advance-directives