Advance Directive Forms For Every 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 state 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.

Alabama

Advance directive and living will form

http://www.alaha.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/advdirective.pdf

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

Aging with Dignity website with links to approved forms

http://humanservices.arkansas.gov/dms/oltcDocuments/addirect.pdf

California

Coalition for Compassionate Care of California

http://coalitionccc.org/tools-resources/advance-care-planning-resources/

Colorado

Colorado Advance Directives Consortium

http://coloradoadvancedirectives.com/

Connecticut

Living wills and advance directives

http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/browse.asp?a=2130&bc=0&c=19278

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

https://aging.georgia.gov/services/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

http://www.in.gov/isdh/25880.htm

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

http://ag.ky.gov/family/consumerprotection/livingwills/documents/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.maine.gov/dhhs/oads/aps-guardianship/documents/advdirectivesform.pdf

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

Michigan Department of Health information about advance directives.

http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-71547_2943_70663—,00.html

Peace of Mind Registry is a website to complete and file a copy of your Michigan advance directive online.

https://www.mipeaceofmind.org/

Minnesota

Health care directives and information on aging.

mn.gov/dhs/ownyourfuture/plan/take-action/age-40-60.jsp

Mississippi

Mississippi advance directive form

https://www.health.msstate.edu/healthcenter/forms/ADVANCE_HEALTHCARE_DIRECTIVE.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).

http://www.nmmost.org

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

http://www.sosnc.gov/ahcdr/

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/ForLawyers/MemberResources/LegalResources/Pages/StaticPage-269.aspx

Oklahoma

Information and downloadable advance directive forms from the Oklahoma Department of Health website

https://www.ok.gov/health/Data_and_Statistics/Center_For_Health_Statistics/Health_Care_Information/Advance_Directives/

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

https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/patient-rights-and-safety/advance-directives

Rhode Island

Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)

http://www.health.ri.gov/lifestages/death/about/medicalordersforlifesustainingtreatment/

South Carolina

Advance directive brochure and information from the state website

http://www.caringinfo.org/files/public/ad/SouthCarolina.pdf

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

https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/health-professional-boards/hcf-board/hcf-board/advance-directives.html

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 directives from End of Life Washington

http://endoflifewa.org/advance-directive/

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