Will.com / Healthcare directive / California
CA · Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD)
Make your California healthcare directive.
Tell doctors what care you want and name someone to speak for you if you can't. Legally valid in California once signed under the California signing rules below. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.
California healthcare directive requirements
How it works
- 1
Answer a few questions
About your care preferences and who you want making decisions.
- 2
Download your healthcare directive
A complete, personalized document, formatted for California.
- 3
Sign and share
Notarization OR 2 witnesses, except that an electronic directive must be notarized and a patient in a skilled nursing facility must also have a patient advocate or ombudsman sign as a witness, whichever of the two routes is used. Not everyone can witness it, so read the witness statement on the document before you choose. Give a copy to your doctor and to any healthcare agent and alternate agent you named.
What governs a California directive
California's healthcare-directive statute is at Cal. Prob. Code §§4700 and 4701. The official form is the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD). Your directive is valid the moment it's signed under your state's witness and notary rules above; it only takes effect if your physician determines you can't make or communicate decisions yourself.
Witness rules for your California directive
Cal. Prob. Code §4674: witnesses must be adults, and none of the following may act as a witness: the patient's health care provider or an employee of that provider; the operator or an employee of a community care facility; the operator or an employee of a residential care facility for the elderly; or the agent, where the directive is a power of attorney for health care. Under §4674(e) at least one witness must also be a person who is neither related to the patient by blood, marriage, or adoption nor entitled to any portion of the patient's estate under a will existing when the directive is executed or by operation of law then existing. Under §4674(g) these witness restrictions do not apply to a notary public before whom the directive is acknowledged.
Recent California directive law changes
California remote online notarization law signed, phased rollout
SB 696 authorizes RON in California but delays implementation until the Secretary of State completes its technology project or until January 1, 2030, whichever comes first. Out-of-state RON is currently recognized for California documents.
SB 696 · Effective 2030-01-01
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