Health care directive in Illinois: form, signing and who decides
The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in Illinois.
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Short answer
Power of attorney for health care
- How to sign
- Signed in front of one witness (no notary)
- Who decides without a directive
- Yes
The document and its form
- Document
- Power of attorney for health care
- Official form
- Illinois Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney for Health CarePublished by Illinois Department of Public Health; Spanish version also postedVersion: No revision date printed on the form; PDF file last modified October 2021
You do not have to use it.
- Living will
Living will declaration (Illinois Living Will Act)
The living will is a separate document.
A living will tells your doctor not to use death-delaying procedures if you have a terminal condition. It must be signed by you (or by another person at your direction) and witnessed by 2 people who are at least 18. The statutory form has each witness state that they are not entitled to any part of your estate and are not directly financially responsible for your medical care. A living will does not operate while a health care agent who can make decisions about life-sustaining procedures is available.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-10; 755 ILCS 35/3, 35/3.5; 755 ILCS 45/4-11
Signing rules
- How to sign
Sign the form in front of one qualified adult witness and have the witness sign. The form does not need to be notarized.
- Who signs
You sign. The signature and execution requirements may be met with written signatures or initials, or with electronic signatures or computer-generated signature codes.
- Notary
- Not required
- Witnesses
- 1
- Who cannot witness
One witness who is at least 18. None of these may witness: your attending physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, dentist, podiatric physician, optometrist or psychologist, or a relative of one of them; an owner or operator (or a relative of an owner or operator) of a health care facility where you are a patient or resident (this extends to directors and executive officers of a corporate operator, but not to other employees such as non-owner chaplains, social workers or nurses); your parent, sibling or descendant, or the spouse of a parent, sibling or descendant, of you or of any agent or successor agent (by blood, marriage or adoption); or any agent or successor agent for health care.
- Nursing facilities and special settings
No extra witness is required in a nursing facility, but the owner or operator of the facility where you live (and its directors and executive officers) may not witness.
- Electronic signing
Electronic signatures are allowed, and an electronic health care power of attorney may be created, signed or revoked electronically through a secure system that meets the electronic-signature standards in the law. An agent may show an electronic copy of a signed form on a device, and doctors, EMS and providers may not refuse it for that reason.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-4.1, 4-10(a), (f)
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-5.1, 4-10
Who can be your agent and what the agent can do
- Who cannot be your agent
Your health care agent must be at least 18. Your attending physician or any other health care provider or professional who is giving you health care may not be your agent; a physician or other licensed person who is not treating you may serve.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-4(e-5), 4-5
- When the agent starts
On the statutory form you choose when the agent may act: only when you cannot make decisions (the default if you check no box), the same but with immediate access to your medical records, or starting now. Your physician decides when you lack decisional capacity, as defined in the Health Care Surrogate Act.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-10(b), (d)
- Decisions an agent cannot make
An agent may not delegate health care decisions to someone else. A health care agency may be limited by you in the form. A parent's power over a minor child's health care is not covered by the statutory form.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-10(c); 755 ILCS 45/4-10(a)
Revoking and conflicting documents
- Revoking your agent
You may revoke a health care power of attorney at any time, whatever your mental or physical condition, by destroying or defacing it, by a signed and dated written revocation (paper or electronic), by telling a witness 18 or older who signs and dates a writing confirming it, or, for an electronic document, by deleting it. If you chose the 30-day delayed revocation option, the revocation takes effect 30 days after you communicate it. Amendments must be in writing, signed and dated.
- Revoking your instructions
A living will may be revoked at any time by the same kinds of methods; the revocation takes effect when it is communicated to the attending physician.
- Telling others
It is up to you or the agent to tell your health care provider about the document and any change. Anyone other than the agent who learns of a revocation must make reasonable efforts to tell the agent promptly.
- Divorce ends a spouse's authority
- Yes · Divorce rules in Illinois (Divorce Law Map)
- Conflicting documents
The statutory health care form revokes all earlier powers of attorney for health care. If you have both a living will and a health care power of attorney, the living will does not operate while an authorized agent is available.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-10(b), 4-11; 755 ILCS 35/3.5
Law: 755 ILCS 45/4-6, 4-7(a), 2-6(b); 755 ILCS 35/5
If you have no directive
- Who decides without a directive
If you lack decisional capacity and have no available health care agent, your attending physician identifies a surrogate in this order of priority. Surrogates at the same level should try to agree; if they disagree, the majority of those available decides, unless the minority starts a guardianship case. A surrogate may agree to forgo life-sustaining treatment only if you have a 'qualifying condition' (terminal condition, permanent unconsciousness, or an incurable or irreversible condition).
- Guardian of the person
- Spouse
- Any adult son or daughter
- Either parent
- Any adult brother or sister
- Any adult grandchild
- A close friend
- Guardian of the estate
- A temporary custodian appointed by the juvenile court, if authorized
Law: 755 ILCS 40/25
Other states, registry and medical orders
- Signed in another state
The Act's rule for powers of attorney signed in another state or country (valid if they complied with the law of the place signed, Illinois law, or the law of your or the agent's home) applies to powers of attorney generally.
Law: 755 ILCS 45/2-4(b), 2-10.6
- POLST (medical orders)
IDPH Uniform Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form
- Mental health directive
A declaration for mental health treatment lets you state wishes about psychotropic medicine, electroconvulsive therapy and admission to a mental health facility for up to 17 days, and name an attorney-in-fact. It must be signed by you and 2 competent adult witnesses; your attending physician or mental health service provider (or their relatives), a facility owner or operator (or relatives), and anyone related to you by blood, marriage or adoption may not witness. It can be invoked within 3 years after signing; if it is in effect when the 3 years end, it stays in effect until you are no longer incapable. IDPH posts the form.
Law: 755 ILCS 43/10, 43/20, 43/65
Law: 755 ILCS 40/65
Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive
Free help in Illinois
- Illinois Legal Aid Online: Adult guardianship
- Illinois Department on Aging Senior HelpLine · 1-800-252-8966
- Illinois Department of Public Health: Advance Directives (forms and explanations)
- Illinois Department on Aging: Legal Forms - Advance Directives
- Circuit Court of Cook County: Adult Guardianship
- Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission
- Find free legal aid at LawHelp.org
Report abuse or exploitation
Illinois Department on Aging, Adult Protective Services · 1-866-800-1409
Questions about powers of attorney in Illinois
How do I sign a health care directive in Illinois?
Sign the form in front of one qualified adult witness and have the witness sign. The form does not need to be notarized.
Who decides my health care if I have no directive in Illinois?
If you lack decisional capacity and have no available health care agent, your attending physician identifies a surrogate in this order of priority. Surrogates at the same level should try to agree; if they disagree, the majority of those available decides, unless the minority starts a guardianship case.