Power of attorney, health care directive and guardianship in Washington

Financial power of attorney in Washington

Law and official form

Law

Washington Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Uniform Power of Attorney Act

Yes (effective January 1, 2017)

Law: RCW 11.125.010, 11.125.903; Laws of 2016, ch. 209

Signing rules

How to sign

Sign and date the power of attorney. Then either acknowledge your signature before a notary public or have two qualified witnesses sign it in your presence. A notarized signature is presumed genuine, and businesses' duty to accept a power of attorney applies to acknowledged (notarized) ones.

Who signs

Signed and dated by you. If you are physically unable to sign, you can sign by a mark or follow RCW 64.08.100.

Law: RCW 11.12.030

Notary

A notary or witnesses (your choice)

Witnesses

2 (instead of a notary)

Who cannot witness

Witnesses must be competent and sign in your presence at your request. They cannot be related to you or to your agent by blood, marriage or state registered domestic partnership. They cannot be your home care provider or a care provider at an adult family home or long-term care facility where you live.

Law: RCW 11.125.050, 11.125.190, 11.125.200

Durable and springing

Is it durable?

Washington is different from most Uniform Power of Attorney Act states: a power of attorney ends if you become incapacitated unless it says it continues, for example 'This power of attorney shall not be affected by disability of the principal,' or says it becomes effective upon your disability.

Law: RCW 11.125.040

Durable unless it says otherwise?

No: it continues after incapacity only if it says so.

Starting later (springing)

A power of attorney is effective when signed unless it says it starts at a future date or event. You can name a person to decide in writing that the event has happened. If it starts on incapacity and nobody you named decides, a physician or licensed psychologist who has examined you and is not related to you or the agent can determine it in writing.

Law: RCW 11.125.090

What an agent can and cannot do

Needs express permission

• Create, amend, revoke or terminate a living (inter vivos) trust
• Make a gift
• Create or change rights of survivorship
• Create or change a beneficiary designation
• Delegate authority under the power of attorney
• Waive your right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan
• Exercise fiduciary powers you can delegate
• Exercise a power of appointment in favor of anyone other than you
• Create, amend or revoke a community property agreement
• Cause a trustee to make distributions of trust property as you could
• Make other provisions for nonprobate transfer at death
• Make health care decisions for you or give informed consent for you

No power of attorney can

No rights under Washington's Death with Dignity Act can be exercised through a power of attorney. Unless the document says otherwise, an agent who is not your ancestor, spouse, state registered domestic partner or descendant cannot use even an express grant to give themselves (or someone they must support) an interest in your property.

Law: RCW 11.125.420; RCW 11.125.240(4)

Law: RCW 11.125.240(1)

Agent duties, pay and court review

Agent duties

• Act according to your reasonable expectations if known, and otherwise in your best interest
• Act in good faith and only within the authority the document gives
• Act loyally for your benefit and avoid conflicts of interest
• Act with care, competence and diligence
• Keep a record of all receipts, payments and transactions
• Cooperate with your health care decision-maker
• Try to preserve your estate plan if known and in your best interest
• Give records within 30 days when asked in writing by you, a guardian, conservator, other fiduciary or a protective government agency

Agent pay

Unless the power of attorney says otherwise, the agent is entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses and to reasonable compensation.

Law: RCW 11.125.120

Asking a court to review an agent

You, the agent, your spouse or registered domestic partner, your guardian, a person asked to accept the power of attorney, and other interested persons (who meet conditions) can ask the superior court to decide whether it is in effect, compel an accounting, remove the agent, order a bond and more. If you have capacity, the court must dismiss the petition on your motion.

Law: RCW 11.125.160

Law: RCW 11.125.140

When it ends and how to revoke it

It ends when

• You die
• You become incapacitated, if the power of attorney is not durable
• You revoke it
• The document says it ends
• Its purpose is accomplished
• The agent dies, becomes incapacitated, resigns or is revoked and no other agent is named
• A divorce, annulment or legal separation action is filed between you and your spouse or registered domestic partner agent, unless the document says otherwise

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Washington (Divorce Law Map)

How to revoke

You can revoke a power of attorney, or a particular agent's authority, while you have capacity. The Act does not prescribe a method. Washington Law Help's revocation form uses a written notice to the agent, and it does not have to be notarized. Signing a new power of attorney does not revoke an older one unless the new one says so.

Telling others

Give copies of the revocation to the agent and to banks, medical providers and others who have the old power of attorney. An agent or business that acts in good faith without actual knowledge of the revocation is protected.

Law: RCW 11.125.100; RCW 11.125.100(1)(c), (2)(a), (5), (7)

Banks, other states and real estate

Banks and other businesses

A person asked to accept a notarized (acknowledged) power of attorney must accept it, or ask for an agent's certification or an English translation, within 7 business days, and then accept within 5 business days after getting it. They cannot demand their own form. Refusal is allowed only for listed reasons (for example, a good faith belief the power is invalid, or a report of suspected abuse to DSHS). A wrongful refusal can lead to a court order and payment of attorney's fees and costs.

Law: RCW 11.125.190, 11.125.200

Signed in another state

A power of attorney signed outside Washington is valid here if its signing followed the law of the state it names (or where it was signed), or the federal military power of attorney rules. A photocopy or electronically sent copy has the same effect as the original.

Law: RCW 11.125.060(3), 11.125.070; RCW 11.125.060(4)

Health care directive in Washington

The document and its form

Document

Durable power of attorney for health care (and a separate health care directive under the Natural Death Act)

Official form

Health Care Directive (suggested form in RCW 70.122.030)Published by Washington State LegislatureVersion: Statutory text as amended by Laws of 2025, ch. 56 (pregnancy clause removed)

You do not have to use it.

Living will

Health Care Directive

The living will is a separate document.

A health care directive says whether you want life-sustaining treatment withheld or withdrawn if you are in a terminal condition or a permanent unconscious condition, and whether you want artificially provided nutrition and hydration. It is separate from the durable power of attorney for health care. You can add other specific directions.

Living will

Law: RCW 70.122.030

Signing rules

How to sign

Each document is signed and then either acknowledged before a notary public or signed in front of two qualified witnesses. The witness rules for the health care directive and for the durable power of attorney for health care are different.

Who signs

Health care directive: signed by you (the declarer). Durable power of attorney for health care: signed and dated by you, as for any power of attorney.

Notary

A notary or witnesses (your choice)

Witnesses

2 (instead of a notary)

Who cannot witness

Health care directive witnesses cannot be related to you by blood or marriage, cannot be people who would inherit from you under your will or by law, cannot have a claim against your estate, and cannot be your attending physician, the physician's employee, or an employee of a health facility where you are a patient. Durable power of attorney witnesses cannot be related to you or your agent by blood, marriage or registered domestic partnership, and cannot be your home care provider or a care provider at an adult family home or long-term care facility where you live.

Nursing facilities and special settings

For a power of attorney, a care provider at an adult family home or long-term care facility where you live cannot be a witness.

Law: RCW 11.125.050

Law: RCW 70.122.030(1); RCW 11.125.050

Who can be your agent and what the agent can do

Who cannot be your agent

Your physicians, their employees, and the owners, administrators or employees of a health care facility or long-term care facility where you live or get care cannot be your health care agent unless they are your spouse, state registered domestic partner, parent, adult child, brother or sister.

Law: RCW 11.125.400(3)

When the agent starts

A durable power of attorney for health care takes effect when signed unless it says it starts later, for example on incapacity. If it starts on incapacity and no one you named makes the decision, a physician or licensed psychologist who examined you and is unrelated to you or the agent can determine incapacity in writing. Health care authority must be expressly granted in the power of attorney.

Law: RCW 11.125.090; RCW 11.125.240(1)(l)

Decisions an agent cannot make

A health care agent's authority has the same limits as a guardian's: for example, without a court order the agent cannot consent to electroconvulsive therapy, psychosurgery or other psychiatric procedures restricting freedom of movement, unless you consented in a mental health advance directive. No rights under the Death with Dignity Act can be exercised through an agent.

Law: RCW 11.125.400(3), 11.130.335; RCW 11.125.420

Revoking and conflicting documents

Revoking your agent

You revoke a durable power of attorney for health care in the same way as any power of attorney; an agent's authority also ends when a divorce, annulment or legal separation action is filed between you and a spouse or registered domestic partner agent, unless the document says otherwise.

Law: RCW 11.125.100

Revoking your instructions

You can revoke a health care directive at any time, whatever your mental state, by destroying it (or having someone destroy it in your presence at your direction), by a signed and dated written revocation, or by telling someone verbally. A written or verbal revocation takes effect when it is communicated to your attending physician.

Law: RCW 70.122.040

Telling others

Tell your attending physician. The physician must record the revocation in your medical record.

Divorce ends a spouse's authority

Yes · Divorce rules in Washington (Divorce Law Map)

Law: RCW 70.122.040; RCW 11.125.100

If you have no directive

Who decides without a directive

This is a priority list. A provider goes to the next group only if no one in a higher group is reasonably available. No one can consent if a person in a higher group refused, or if people in the same group do not all agree. The decision-maker must first decide what you would want; if that cannot be known, they decide in your best interest.

1. Your guardian, if any
2. Your agent under a durable power of attorney that covers health care
3. Your spouse or state registered domestic partner
4. Your adult children
5. Your parents
6. Your adult brothers and sisters
7. Your adult grandchildren who are familiar with you
8. Your adult nieces and nephews who are familiar with you
9. Your adult aunts and uncles who are familiar with you
10. A close adult friend who signs a declaration under penalty of perjury (not your doctor, a facility owner or employee, or a paid caregiver)

Law: RCW 7.70.065(1)

Other states, registry and medical orders

Signed in another state

A health care directive made in another state is valid to the extent Washington law and federal constitutional law allow. A power of attorney (including one for health care) signed in another state is valid if signed under the law it names or where it was signed.

Law: RCW 70.122.030(3); RCW 11.125.060

POLST (medical orders)

Portable Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST)

Official page

Mental health directive

You can make a mental health advance directive under chapter 71.32 RCW. It must be in writing, dated and signed, and either notarized or witnessed in writing by at least two adults who know you and were present when you signed. If it names an agent, it must include words showing the agent's authority continues if you become incapacitated.

Law: RCW 71.32.060

Law: RCW 70.122.130; RCW 43.70.480

Guardianship and conservatorship in Washington

What guardianship or conservatorship is

What it is called

Guardian for an adult (full or limited), conservator (full or limited), protective arrangement instead of guardianship or conservatorship

When a court may appoint one

The court may appoint a guardian only if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the adult cannot meet essential requirements for physical health, safety or self-care, even with supportive services, technology or supported decision making; that appointment is needed to prevent significant risk of harm; and that a protective arrangement or other less restrictive alternative cannot meet the need. Age, eccentricity, poverty or a medical diagnosis alone is not enough. The court may not order a full guardianship if a limited one or a less restrictive alternative would work. A conservator for money and property follows a similar standard.

Law: RCW 11.130.265; RCW 11.130.360

Kinds

• Full guardianship
• Limited guardianship
• Full or limited conservatorship
• Emergency guardian or conservator
• Protective arrangement instead of guardianship or conservatorship

Law: RCW 11.130.265, 11.130.270, 11.130.305, 11.130.360

Who can ask, which court and your own choice

Who may ask

Any person interested in the adult's welfare, including the adult. The attorney general may petition when no private party is able and willing.

Law: RCW 11.130.270, 11.130.170

Court

Superior court in the county.

Choosing your own

You can nominate a guardian or conservator in a power of attorney. The court gives priority to your most recent nomination, after a guardian already acting in another state, and appoints according to your most recent nomination in a power of attorney except for good cause or disqualification.

Law: RCW 11.125.080(1), 11.130.095, 11.130.305

Effect on a power of attorney

A guardian cannot revoke or amend your power of attorney. Unless the court orders otherwise, your agent's decisions take precedence over the guardian's, and the agent must also account to a conservator. Only the court can limit, suspend or revoke the power of attorney.

Law: RCW 11.130.335(1), 11.125.080

Cost, fee waiver and forms

Filing fee

The superior court filing fee is set by RCW 36.18.020 and collected by the county clerk. No filing fee is charged if the petition says the adult's total assets are under $3,000.

Law: RCW 11.130.170(2)

Fee waiver

The petition form (GDN C 102, section 11) lets you ask the court to waive the filing fee: the adult has total assets under $3,000, payment would be a hardship for the adult, or the petitioner is the attorney general.

Forms

• GDN C 102 Petition for Guardianship, Conservatorship, and/or a Protective Arrangement (06/2024)
• GDN C 101 Notice of Petition (06/2026)
• GDN C 105 Notice of Rights (06/2024)
• GDN C 104 Order Appointing Full or Limited Guardian/Conservator (07/2025)
• GDN E 301 Emergency Guardianship/Conservatorship Petition (01/2022)

Steps

Steps

Other options and where to report abuse

Supported decision-making

Supported decision-making agreements

Effective January 1, 2022

An adult with a disability can choose a supporter to help them get information, understand options and communicate their own decisions. The supporter cannot make decisions for the adult. Signing an agreement cannot be used as evidence for a guardianship. The statute sets out a form the agreement must substantially follow.

Written and dated, signed by the adult with a disability and the supporter in front of two adult witnesses or a notary public. Witnesses cannot be a supporter, a supporter's employee or agent, a paid service provider, or someone who does not understand how the adult communicates (unless an interpreter for that communication is present).

Source: Official text

Less restrictive options

• Supported decision-making agreement: A supporter helps the adult make their own decisions; no court is involved.
• Protective arrangement instead of guardianship or conservatorship: The court orders a specific, limited protection (for example, for one transaction or to restrict contact with a person) without appointing a guardian or conservator.
• Durable power of attorney for finances and/or health care: The adult names an agent while able to do so.
• Health care decision by a family member under RCW 7.70.065: Family members in priority order can give informed consent for health care without a court order.

Report abuse or exploitation

Adult Protective Services (DSHS Aging and Long-Term Support Administration)

Call or text the Eldercare Locator to find your local adult protective services: 1-800-677-1116 · eldercare.acl.gov

Law: RCW 11.130.710, 11.130.715, 11.130.740, 11.130.745, 11.130.915

Good to know in Washington

• Unlike most states that adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, Washington powers of attorney are NOT durable unless they say so.

  Law: RCW 11.125.040

• Witnesses to a power of attorney cannot be related to you or to your agent, and cannot be your home care provider or a care provider where you live.

  Law: RCW 11.125.050

• Filing for divorce, annulment or legal separation ends a spouse or registered domestic partner agent's authority unless the document says otherwise; it is restored if the case is dismissed by agreement or withdrawn.

  Law: RCW 11.125.100(2)(c), (3)

• Since 2025, the suggested health care directive form no longer says it has no effect during pregnancy.

  Law: Laws of 2025, ch. 56

Changes in 2024–2026

Laws of 2025, ch. 56 removed the pregnancy clause from the suggested health care directive form in RCW 70.122.030. Laws of 2026, ch. 101 amended RCW 11.125.050 to add subsection (4): a limited power of attorney used only to transfer a vehicle to an insurer after payment of damages does not need notarization and may be signed electronically. Laws of 2024, ch. 267 amended the adult guardianship petition contents; Laws of 2026, ch. 177 amended RCW 11.130.300 (access to reports).

Law: HB 1215; RCW 11.130.270

Questions about powers of attorney in Washington