Advance Directive Checklist Guide

By Helen Planning and checklists editor Published August 13, 2026 How we edit

A preparation aid, not legal advice. Confirm each item against the signed document, institution, court, or agency involved.

An advance directive records treatment instructions, appoints a health-care decision-maker, or does both, depending on the state form.

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Copies should be available to the appointed agent and appropriate providers while the original remains secure.

Confirm the current health-care agent and at least one successor, with usable contact details. Locate the signed directive, living will, health-care power, and any later revocation or replacement. Record the signing state, witness or notary evidence, and the law that governed execution. Compare treatment instructions with current wishes, diagnoses, care settings, and religious concerns. Confirm that the primary clinician and likely hospital can retrieve the current document. Keep the HIPAA authorization and emergency-contact information with, but distinct from, treatment instructions. Remove superseded copies from wallets, portals, facilities, and family files when counsel confirms replacement. Set a review after a move, diagnosis, hospitalization, agent change, marriage, divorce, or family death.

Evidence and next-action log
Item	Owner	Evidence or location	Next action / date

Questions that stay open

Does the document appoint an agent, state instructions, or both?
Are witness or notary formalities satisfied?

Risks to pause on

A directive that nobody can locate during a crisis may not guide the people who need it.

Advance Directive Checklist Guide

Checklist workspace

Questions that stay open

Risks to pause on

Sources for current requirements