Health care directive in Nevada: form, signing and who decides
The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in Nevada.
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Short answer
Power of attorney for health care
- Official form
- Advance Health-Care Directive
- How to sign
- Notarized or signed by two adult witnesses
- Who decides without a directive
- Yes
The document and its form
- Document
- Power of attorney for health care
- Official form
- Advance Health-Care Directive (NRS 162A.855)Published by Nevada Legislature (Legislative Counsel Bureau) - the form is printed in the statuteVersion: Form added by Assembly Bill 414 (2023), effective January 1, 2024; it replaced the earlier statutory health care power of attorney form
You do not have to use it.
- Living will
Declaration governing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment
The living will is a separate document.
An adult of sound mind can sign a declaration about withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment, and may name another adult to make those decisions. It must be signed by you (or another person at your direction) and witnessed by two people. It applies when it has been given to your attending physician or advanced practice registered nurse and you are in a terminal condition and can no longer decide. A health care power of attorney that covers life-sustaining treatment also counts as a declaration.
Law: NRS 162A.855; NRS 449A.433, 449A.436, 449A.439, 449A.442
Signing rules
- How to sign
Sign the document. Then either have your signature acknowledged before a notary public or have two adult witnesses sign. In a nursing home, staff, owners and operators of that home cannot be your witnesses.
- Who signs
Signed by you.
- Notary
- A notary or witnesses (your choice)
- Witnesses
- 2 (instead of a notary)
- Who cannot witness
Witnesses must be adults. If you live in a nursing home, an owner, operator or employee of that nursing home cannot be a witness. The statutory form also tells you that a witness cannot be the person you name as your agent.
- Nursing facilities and special settings
If you live in a nursing home when you sign, neither witness may be an owner, operator or employee of that nursing home.
Law: NRS 162A.790, 162A.855
Who can be your agent and what the agent can do
- Who cannot be your agent
You cannot name your own health care provider, an employee of your provider, or an operator or employee of a health care facility as your agent, unless that person is your spouse, legal guardian or next of kin. In addition, if you live in or are about to move to a hospital, assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility, you cannot name that facility or its owner, operator or employee as agent in any power of attorney, with the same family exceptions.
Law: NRS 162A.840; NRS 162A.220
- When the agent starts
A power of attorney for health care works as soon as it is signed unless it says it starts on a future date or on your incapacity. If it starts on incapacity, it takes effect when an advanced practice registered nurse, physician, psychiatrist or licensed psychologist determines in writing that you are incapacitated.
Law: NRS 162A.810
- Decisions an agent cannot make
Your agent may not consent to commitment or placement in a mental health treatment facility, convulsive treatment, psychosurgery, sterilization, abortion, aversive intervention, experimental treatment or research, or any treatment you say in the document the agent may not consent to. Decisions about life-sustaining treatment must follow your known wishes.
Law: NRS 162A.850
Revoking and conflicting documents
- Revoking your agent
You can revoke your agent's authority or the whole power of attorney for health care. Signing a new power of attorney for health care automatically revokes any earlier one.
Law: NRS 162A.820
- Revoking your instructions
You can revoke a declaration (living will) at any time and in any way, whatever your mental or physical condition. It takes effect when you or a witness to the revocation tells your attending physician or other provider.
Law: NRS 449A.445
- Telling others
The provider must put the revocation of a declaration in your medical record.
Law: NRS 449A.445
- Divorce ends a spouse's authority
- Yes · Divorce rules in Nevada (Divorce Law Map)
- Conflicting documents
Signing a power of attorney for health care automatically revokes any earlier power of attorney to make health care decisions.
Law: NRS 162A.820(5)
Law: NRS 162A.820, 449A.445
If you have no directive
- Who decides without a directive
Nevada's statute on decisions without a document is narrow: if you are in a terminal condition, can no longer decide and have no declaration, these relatives, in this order, may give written consent, witnessed by two people, to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment. If a whole class is unavailable or declines, the next class decides; an equal split in a class does not pass the decision to the next class. A consent is not valid if it conflicts with your expressed wishes.
- Spouse
- An adult child (if more than one, a majority of those reasonably available)
- Parents
- An adult sibling (if more than one, a majority of those reasonably available)
- The nearest other adult relative by blood or adoption who is reasonably available
Law: NRS 449A.454
Other states, registry and medical orders
- Signed in another state
A power of attorney for health care signed in another state is valid in Nevada if it complied with that state's law or with the federal military power of attorney rules. A declaration signed in another state under that state's law or Nevada law is valid.
Law: NRS 162A.790(4); NRS 449A.481
- Registry
Registry of Advance Directives for Health Care (Nevada Secretary of State)
- POLST (medical orders)
Provider Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form
- Mental health directive
An adult of sound mind can make an advance directive for psychiatric care. It must be signed and attested by two witnesses; neither witness may be your attending physician or provider, their employee, an owner or operator of a medical facility where you are a patient or resident, or the person you appoint. It is valid for 2 years unless revoked, and you can revoke it at any time while capable.
Law: NRS 449A.600-449A.645
Law: NRS 449A.700-449A.739; NRS 449A.500-449A.581
Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive
Free help in Nevada
- Find Legal Help (Nevada Supreme Court Self-Help Center list of legal aid and lawyer referral)
- Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada
- Nevada Supreme Court Self-Help Center: Guardianship
- Nevada Self-Help Center: How to Open an Adult Guardianship Case
- Nevada Self-Help Center: Guardianship Forms
- Find free legal aid at LawHelp.org
Report abuse or exploitation
Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division - Adult Protective Services · (702) 486-6930
Questions about powers of attorney in Nevada
How do I sign a health care directive in Nevada?
Sign the document. Then either have your signature acknowledged before a notary public or have two adult witnesses sign. In a nursing home, staff, owners and operators of that home cannot be your witnesses.
Who decides my health care if I have no directive in Nevada?
Nevada's statute on decisions without a document is narrow: if you are in a terminal condition, can no longer decide and have no declaration, these relatives, in this order, may give written consent, witnessed by two people, to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.