Will.com / Healthcare directive / Washington
WA · Health Care Directive
Make your Washington healthcare directive.
Tell doctors what care you want and name someone to speak for you if you can't. Legally valid in Washington. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.
Washington 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 Washington.
- 3
Sign and share
Sign with notarization OR 2 witnesses. Give a copy to your healthcare agent and your doctor.
What governs a Washington directive
Washington's healthcare-directive statute is at Wash. Rev. Code §70.122.010 et seq. The official form is the 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 Washington directive
The living will portion and the agent appointment have separate witness rules, and a directive executed by witnesses rather than by notarization must satisfy both. Under RCW §70.122.030(1) the directive may be acknowledged before a notary public or other individual authorized to take acknowledgments, or signed before two witnesses who are not related to the declarer by blood or marriage, who would not be entitled to any portion of the declarer's estate under a will or codicil then existing or by operation of law, who are not the attending physician, an employee of the attending physician, or an employee of a health facility in which the declarer is a patient, and who have no claim against any portion of the declarer's estate. Under RCW §11.125.050(1) the appointment may likewise be acknowledged before a notary public or attested by two competent witnesses, who must not be home care providers for the principal or care providers at an adult family home or long-term care facility in which the principal resides, and who must be unrelated by blood, marriage, or state registered domestic partnership to the principal or to the agent. RCW §11.125.400 governs the authority the appointed health care agent may exercise. Neither section disqualifies the agent, or a successor agent, from serving as a witness; choosing a witness who is neither is sound practice and the directive Will.com generates asks for it. A notarized directive needs no witnesses under either statute.
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