Health care directive in West Virginia: form, signing and who decides
The form, who can witness, who can be your agent and who decides if you have no directive in West Virginia.
Checked against official sources: October 31, 2026.
Short answer
Medical power of attorney, living will, or combined medical power of attorney and living will (West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act)
- Official form
- State of West Virginia Living Will; Medical Power of Attorney; Combined Medical Power of Attorney and Living Will
- How to sign
- Notarized and signed in front of two witnesses
- Who decides without a directive
- Yes
The document and its form
- Document
- Medical power of attorney, living will, or combined medical power of attorney and living will (West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act)
- Official form
- State of West Virginia Living Will; Medical Power of Attorney; Combined Medical Power of Attorney and Living Will (statutory forms in W. Va. Code 16-30-4(g)-(i))Published by West Virginia Legislature (official West Virginia Code; the three optional forms are printed in section 16-30-4)Version: Forms as amended by SB 470 (2022); the section applies to documents signed, amended or adjusted on or after January 1, 2023, and earlier documents remain in effect
You do not have to use it.
- Living will
Living will
The living will is a separate document.
A living will states that life-prolonging intervention be withheld or withdrawn if a physician who examined you certifies a terminal condition and you cannot communicate. It has the same signing rule: two qualified witnesses plus a notary. It can stand alone or be combined with a medical power of attorney on the combined form.
Law: W. Va. Code § 16-30-4; W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-3, 16-30-4(g), (i)
Signing rules
- How to sign
Sign and date the living will, medical power of attorney or combined form in front of two qualified adult witnesses, who also sign. The witnesses' signatures and attestations must be acknowledged before a notary public (the statutory forms' notary certificate covers you and both witnesses). Both the witnesses and the notary are required.
- Who signs
In writing and dated, signed by you (or by another person in your presence at your express direction if you are physically unable).
- Notary
- Required
- Witnesses
- 2
- Who cannot witness
Two or more witnesses at least 18 years old must see you sign and must sign and attest; their signatures and attestations must be acknowledged before a notary public. A witness cannot be: the person who signed for you; related to you by blood or marriage; entitled to part of your estate under your will (unless unaware of it); directly financially responsible for your medical care; your attending physician; or your medical power of attorney representative or successor representative.
- Nursing facilities and special settings
When you are admitted to a health care facility you must be told about these forms and offered help completing them, but admission cannot depend on having one.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-4(e)
Law: W. Va. Code § 16-30-4(a), (b)
Who can be your agent and what the agent can do
- Who cannot be your agent
These people cannot be your medical power of attorney representative or successor: a treating health care provider; an employee of a treating provider who is not related to you; an operator of a health care facility serving you; or an employee of such an operator who is not related to you.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-4(c)
- When the agent starts
The statutory medical power of attorney form says it becomes effective only upon your incapacity to give, withhold or withdraw informed consent. Incapacity is determined and recorded by the attending physician, a physician, a qualified psychologist, a physician assistant or an advanced practice registered nurse who personally examined you; age, disability or a mental illness or intellectual disability diagnosis alone does not create a presumption of incapacity.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-4(h), 16-30-7
- Decisions an agent cannot make
If your own expressed directives conflict with the representative's or surrogate's decisions or a POST form, your directives are followed.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-5(b)
Revoking and conflicting documents
- Revoking your agent
A living will or medical power of attorney can be revoked only by you or at your express direction: (1) by destroying it (or having it destroyed in your presence at your direction); (2) by a signed and dated written revocation, effective when delivered to your attending physician; or (3) by saying you revoke it in front of an adult witness who signs and dates a writing confirming it, effective when communicated to your attending physician. A final divorce decree automatically revokes the designation of a former spouse as medical power of attorney representative or successor representative.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-18(a); W. Va. Code 16-30-18(c)
- Revoking your instructions
The same methods apply to a living will.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-18(a)
- Telling others
It is your (or your representative's) responsibility to notify your attending physician and other providers of the document or its revocation; providers must put it in your medical record. No one is liable for failing to act on a revocation they did not actually know about.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-4(d); W. Va. Code 16-30-18(b)
- Divorce ends a spouse's authority
- Yes · Divorce rules in West Virginia (Divorce Law Map)
- Conflicting documents
If two advance directives conflict, the most recent controls only to the extent needed to resolve the inconsistency.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-5(c)
Law: W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-4(d), 16-30-18
If you have no directive
- Who decides without a directive
If you are incapacitated and have no available medical power of attorney representative or court-appointed guardian, your attending physician or advanced nurse practitioner selects a health care surrogate in writing, in this order of priority. Within a level, the person best qualified is chosen, and the physician may choose a lower-ranked person who is best qualified if the reasons are documented. Your treating providers and health care facility operators and their unrelated employees cannot be your surrogate. A ranked person can challenge the selection in circuit court. For people with psychiatric mental illness, intellectual disability or addiction, a second opinion on incapacity is required before a surrogate is selected.
- Your spouse
- Your adult children
- Your parents
- Your adult siblings
- Your adult grandchildren
- Your close friends
- Any other person or entity designated in Department of Health rules (such as public agencies or public guardians)
Law: W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-8, 16-30-24
Other states, registry and medical orders
- Signed in another state
A living will, medical power of attorney, mental health advance directive, POST form, DNR card or similar document made in another state is valid if it complies with West Virginia law or the law of the state where it was made.
Law: W. Va. Code 16-30-21
- POLST (medical orders)
Portable Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) form (bright pink)
Law: W. Va. Code § 16-30-25
Free notice: revoke or change a health care directive
Free help in West Virginia
- Legal Aid of West Virginia · 1-866-255-4370
- West Virginia Judiciary: Guardianship/Conservatorship Forms
- West Virginia Code Chapter 39B (Uniform Power of Attorney Act)
- West Virginia Code Article 16-30 (Health Care Decisions Act), forms in 16-30-4
- Find free legal aid at LawHelp.org
Report abuse or exploitation
Questions about powers of attorney in West Virginia
How do I sign a health care directive in West Virginia?
Sign and date the living will, medical power of attorney or combined form in front of two qualified adult witnesses, who also sign. The witnesses' signatures and attestations must be acknowledged before a notary public (the statutory forms' notary certificate covers you and both witnesses).
Who decides my health care if I have no directive in West Virginia?
If you are incapacitated and have no available medical power of attorney representative or court-appointed guardian, your attending physician or advanced nurse practitioner selects a health care surrogate in writing, in this order of priority.