Health care directive in Kansas: form, signing and who decides
The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in Kansas.
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Short answer
Durable power of attorney for health care decisions (and a separate living will declaration)
- Official form
- Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions
- How to sign
- Notarized or signed by two adult witnesses
The document and its form
- Document
- Durable power of attorney for health care decisions (and a separate living will declaration)
- Official form
- Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care Decisions (form in K.S.A. 58-632)Published by Kansas LegislatureVersion: Statutory form, L. 1989, ch. 181, § 8
You do not have to use it.
- Living will
Declaration (living will) under the natural death act
The living will is a separate document.
A declaration says that if two physicians, one your attending physician, certify that you have a terminal condition, life-sustaining procedures should be withheld or withdrawn, with comfort care continued. You must arrange for your attending physician to be told about it. The statutory form says it has no effect while you are pregnant.
Law: K.S.A. 58-632; K.S.A. 65-28,103
Signing rules
- How to sign
Sign and date the durable power of attorney for health care decisions in front of two qualified adult witnesses, or acknowledge it before a notary public. The living will declaration has the same choice: two qualified witnesses or a notary.
- Who signs
Dated and signed by you. A living will declaration can also be signed by another person in your presence at your direction.
- Notary
- A notary or witnesses (your choice)
- Witnesses
- 2 (instead of a notary)
- Who cannot witness
Witnesses must be at least 18. For the durable power of attorney for health care decisions, a witness cannot be your agent, related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, someone who would inherit from you by law or under your will, or someone directly financially responsible for your health care. For the living will declaration, a witness cannot be the person who signed for you, related to you by blood or marriage, someone who would inherit from you, or someone directly financially responsible for your medical care.
Law: K.S.A. 58-629(e); K.S.A. 65-28,103(a)
Who can be your agent and what the agent can do
- Who cannot be your agent
Your treating health care provider, the provider's employee, and an employee, owner, director or officer of a hospital, psychiatric facility, hospice, nursing home or similar institution cannot be your agent unless related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, or a member of the same religious community bound by vows.
Law: K.S.A. 58-629(d)
- When the agent starts
Unless the document says otherwise, the agent's powers take effect only when your attending physician determines you are impaired. The agent's acts for organ donation, autopsy and disposition of the body can continue after your death.
Law: K.S.A. 58-629(b); K.S.A. 58-629(f)
- Decisions an agent cannot make
The agent cannot revoke or invalidate your existing living will declaration. The agent must act consistently with your expressed desires.
Law: K.S.A. 58-629(b); K.S.A. 58-629(c)
Revoking and conflicting documents
- Revoking your agent
The statutory durable power of attorney for health care decisions form says it is revoked by a writing signed, witnessed or notarized in the same way as the original, unless you set out another method in the document. A person who acts in good faith without actual knowledge of a revocation is protected.
Law: K.S.A. 58-628, 58-632
- Revoking your instructions
You can revoke a living will declaration at any time by destroying or defacing it, by a signed and dated written revocation, or by saying you revoke it in front of an adult witness who signs and dates a writing confirming it. A verbal revocation takes effect when your attending physician receives that writing.
Law: K.S.A. 65-28,104
- Telling others
Give the revocation to your attending physician; the physician must record when it was received.
Law: K.S.A. 58-628, 58-632; K.S.A. 65-28,104
Other states, registry and medical orders
- Signed in another state
A durable power of attorney for health care decisions valid under the law of the state where you lived when you signed it is valid in Kansas.
Law: K.S.A. 58-630
Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive
Free help in Kansas
- Kansas Legal Services · 316-267-3975
- Kansas Legal Services: Power of attorney and advance directives
- Kansas Legal Services: Living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care (forms)
- Find free legal aid at LawHelp.org
Report abuse or exploitation
Kansas Department for Children and Families, Adult Protective Services (Kansas Protection Report Center) · 1-800-922-5330
Questions about powers of attorney in Kansas
How do I sign a health care directive in Kansas?
Sign and date the durable power of attorney for health care decisions in front of two qualified adult witnesses, or acknowledge it before a notary public. The living will declaration has the same choice: two qualified witnesses or a notary.