Make your Maine healthcare directive.

How it works

1. 1

   Answer a few questions

   About your care preferences and who you want making decisions.

2. 2

   Download your healthcare directive

   A complete, personalized document, formatted for Maine.

3. 3

   Sign and share

   Sign in front of 2 adult witnesses. Give a copy to your healthcare agent and your doctor.

What governs a Maine directive

Maine's healthcare-directive statute is at 18-C M.R.S. §5-801 et seq. The official form is the Advance Health Care Directive. 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.

Who can witness your Maine directive

18-C M.R.S. §5-803(2) requires only that a power of attorney for health care be in writing and signed by the principal and 2 witnesses, and it imposes no witness-qualification rule: it does not disqualify the agent, a health care provider, or a person who stands to inherit. Two requirements do bind. The signatures of the principal and both witnesses must be made in person and not by electronic means, notwithstanding any law validating electronic or digital signatures. And, as a limit on the agent rather than on any witness, unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption an agent may not be an owner, operator, or employee of a residential long-term health care institution at which the principal is receiving care. Choosing witnesses who are not the agent and not involved in the principal's care remains sound practice, but it is not a condition of validity.