Your living will is a legal document
You’ve chosen to create a living will and maybe even found some free printable living will forms online. Now you need to make sure that the living will blank forms are State specific. A living will is a legal document, just as a State specific Last Will and Testament is a legal document. The last thing that you want is to have the validity of your living will challenged.
The purpose of a living will is to make your end-of-life wishes known in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself. Your health care surrogate is designated in your medical power of attorney and is responsible for communicating with your medical providers about your wishes. This should not be the time for someone to challenge your living will on legal grounds.
States have specific forms and requirements
The requirements for living will documents vary from State to State. Some States require a notary to witness your signature and others do not. Many States just require your living will to be witnesses by two people. The language varies from State to State. This is no time to just wing it and jot down some thoughts about want or don’t want when it comes to your end-of-life wishes. In addition to having State specific forms, you should also consider the following:
- Make sure that your witnesses are of legal age
- If a notary is required; don’t put if off
- Make sure your witnesses know what they are signing
- Ensure that your health care surrogate thoroughly understands your wishes
Finding the right resource
Do a search for “living will” on Google and it will return 1,720,000 results. You could review hundreds of sites and not find what you’re looking for; in this case, State Specific living will forms. I’ve visited hundreds of sites promising free living wills and have found that the living will may be free, but they are offering generic forms or the living will forms are free, but the medical power of attorney forms are not. I recommend getting your free printable living will from a site set up by Live Oak Senior Advisors. You will find a request form on the home page asking for your first name and State of residency. Within seconds you will be downloading and printing completely free State specific living will blank forms. Now you can be assured that you have the correct living will forms.
