Health care directive in Utah: form, signing and who decides

The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in Utah.

Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.

Short answer

Advance health care directive (power of attorney for health care and/or health care instruction)

Official form: Advance Health Care Directive - optional form
How to sign: Signed in front of one witness (no notary)
Who decides without a directive: Yes

The document and its form

Document

Advance health care directive (power of attorney for health care and/or health care instruction)

Official form

Advance Health Care Directive - optional form (Utah Code 75A-9-110)Published by Utah State LegislatureVersion: Statutory text effective January 1, 2026 (Laws of Utah 2025, ch. 439)

You do not have to use it.

Living will

Health care instruction

Part of the directive.

A health care instruction states your goals, preferences and wishes about future health care. It can be written or not, can be in the same document as a power of attorney for health care, and a health care professional you give it to must record it in your medical record. A newer instruction revokes an older one to the extent they conflict.

Law: Utah Code § 75A-9-110; Utah Code §§ 75A-9-101(12), 75A-9-106

Signing rules

How to sign: To name a health care agent, sign the power of attorney for health care with one qualified adult witness present (in person, by video, or in some cases by phone). No notary is needed. Health care instructions alone do not have to be written or witnessed, but the optional statutory form asks for a witness when you name an agent.
Who signs: A power of attorney for health care must be in a record and signed by you.
Notary: Not required
Witnesses: 1
Who cannot witness: One adult witness who reasonably believes you are acting voluntarily and knowingly, and who is present when you sign or when you say the document reflects your wishes. The witness cannot be your agent, your agent's spouse or cohabitant, or (if you live or receive care in a nursing home or assisted living facility) the facility's owner, operator, employee or contractor.
Nursing facilities and special settings: If you live or receive care in a nursing home or assisted living facility, its owner, operator, employee or contractor cannot be your witness, and cannot be your agent unless they are your family member, cohabitant or a descendant of your cohabitant.
Electronic signing: The witness counts as present if in the same place, by real-time audio-video, or by real-time audio if the witness knows you or can confirm your identity by your answers. A directive, a revocation or a signature cannot be denied legal effect just because it is electronic.

Law: Utah Code §§ 75A-9-101(12), 75A-9-107(4), (5), 75A-9-115(3)

Who can be your agent and what the agent can do

Who cannot be your agent

A person cannot act as your health care agent if a court finds they pose a danger to your well-being, or if they own, operate, work for or contract with a nursing home or assisted living facility where you live or receive care, unless they are your family member, cohabitant or a descendant of your cohabitant.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-107(2)

When the agent starts

Unless your power of attorney for health care says the agent's power starts right away, it starts when you are found (under the Act's procedure or by a court) to lack capacity to make a health care decision, and stops if you are later found to have capacity or you object to the finding.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-117(1), (3)

Decisions an agent cannot make

Your agent cannot consent to your voluntary admission to a mental health facility unless your written directive specifically allows it, and then only for the number of days you set. Your agent cannot consent to a nursing home stay intended to last more than 100 days if another living arrangement is feasible, you object, or you are not terminally ill, unless your written directive specifically allows it. If you have a long-term disability and routinely use tube feeding, fluids or a ventilator, the agent may stop them only in the situations the law lists.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-117(5)-(7), 75A-9-118

Revoking and conflicting documents

Revoking your agent

You can revoke the appointment of an agent by any act that clearly shows you intend to revoke, including telling a health care professional, unless a court (or a confirmed finding under the Act) says you lack capacity to revoke.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-114(1), (2)

Revoking your instructions

Health care instructions can be revoked in whole or in part the same way, by any act that clearly shows your intent.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-114

Telling others

An agent or default surrogate who learns of a revocation must tell a responsible health care professional as soon as reasonably feasible, and the professional must record it in your medical record.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-116(5), 75A-9-120(4)

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Utah (Divorce Law Map)

Conflicting documents

A later advance health care directive revokes an earlier one to the extent they conflict. Special rules apply between a mental-health-only directive and other directives.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-109, 75A-9-114(3)

Law: Utah Code § 75A-9-114

If you have no directive

Who decides without a directive: If you lack capacity and have no available agent or guardian with health care authority, a default surrogate can decide, in this order of priority, unless your directive says otherwise. If members of the same class disagree, the professional follows the majority. You can disqualify someone in a signed record or by telling them, another person or a health care professional. A professional may ask the surrogate for a declaration under penalty of perjury.
An adult you identified (other than in a power of attorney for health care) to decide for you
Your spouse (not if a divorce, annulment or separation is filed or decreed, you agreed in a record to separate, or the spouse deserted you for more than one year)
Your adult child or parent
Your cohabitant
Your adult sibling
Your adult grandchild or grandparent
An adult who routinely helped you with supported decision-making in the last six months
An adult stepchild you actively parented and still have a relationship with
An adult who has shown special care and concern for you and knows your values
A physician designated under the law's procedure (in a health care institution, with ethics committee consensus)

Law: Utah Code §§ 75A-9-111, 75A-9-112, 75A-9-113

Other states, registry and medical orders

Signed in another state

A directive made outside Utah is valid if it complies with the law of the state named in it (or where it was made) or with Utah's Act. Directives made before January 1, 2026 stay valid if they complied with this chapter or with the law where and when they were made.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-115(1), 75A-9-128

POLST (medical orders)

Provider Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)

Mental health directive

You can make an advance mental health care directive covering only mental health care, with instructions (for example about facilities, medications, admission and crisis care) and/or an agent only for mental health decisions. A later mental-health-only appointment does not revoke an earlier general agent appointment.

Law: Utah Code 75A-9-108, 75A-9-109

Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive

Date of the letter (required)

Your full name (required)

Your phone or email (optional)

Your mailing address (required)

What do you want to tell the provider?

Date of the directive (required)

Name of the agent you are revoking (optional)

Supervising doctor or health care provider (required)

How will you deliver it?

Provider's address (required)

Also send a copy to (optional, one per line)

Names and addresses of people and facilities that should know. They go into your letter only.

Anything else to add (optional, in English)

Other formats

Sign the letter and keep a copy. This tool does not check whether your document is valid, and it is not legal advice.

Free help in Utah

Report abuse or exploitation

Utah Division of Aging and Adult Services - Adult Protective Services · 1-800-371-7897

Questions about powers of attorney in Utah

How do I sign a health care directive in Utah?

To name a health care agent, sign the power of attorney for health care with one qualified adult witness present (in person, by video, or in some cases by phone). No notary is needed. Health care instructions alone do not have to be written or witnessed, but the optional statutory form asks for a witness when you name an agent.

Who decides my health care if I have no directive in Utah?

If you lack capacity and have no available agent or guardian with health care authority, a default surrogate can decide, in this order of priority, unless your directive says otherwise. If members of the same class disagree, the professional follows the majority.

Health care directive in Utah: form, signing and who decides

Short answer

The document and its form

Signing rules

Who can be your agent and what the agent can do

Revoking and conflicting documents

If you have no directive

Other states, registry and medical orders

Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive

Free help in Utah

Report abuse or exploitation

Questions about powers of attorney in Utah

More for Utah