Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements in Maine

At a glance

Maine's Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, 18-C M.R.S. article 5, part 8, governs the appointment. A power of attorney for health care may stand alone or appear with treatment instructions in a combined advance health care directive. Section 5-805 publishes a form, but expressly makes it optional.

Requirements one by one

Governing law and document

The power of attorney is the designation of an agent with capacity to make health care decisions (§ 5-802(14)). The optional statutory form combines that appointment with individual instructions, but a different writing may be used (§ 5-805).

Who can sign

An adult or emancipated minor with capacity may execute the power (§ 5-803(2)). Capacity includes understanding the diagnosed condition, treatment benefits, risks and alternatives, the consequences of declining treatment, and the consequences of naming an agent (§ 5-802(3)). The ordinary rule requires the principal to sign; Maine provides a narrow directed-signature exception only for specified facility isolation circumstances (§ 5-803-A).

Witnesses or notary

The writing must be signed by the principal and two witnesses. All three signatures must be made in person, not electronically (§ 5-803(2)). Maine does not offer notarization as an alternative, so a notary alone does not satisfy the two-witness rule.

Section 5-803-A supplies a narrow exception when an infectious disease confines a principal to an isolation room or ward in a hospital or residential health care facility. The principal may direct someone elsewhere in that facility to sign, and real-time two-way audiovisual technology may be used for the direction and witnessing. The exception does not apply in other settings.

Who cannot witness or serve

Part 8 does not disqualify a witness because the person is related, an heir, the agent, or connected to a provider. It simply requires two witness signatures, made in person (§ 5-803(2)); the optional form adds no eligibility attestation (§ 5-805).

An agent must be an individual with capacity (§ 5-802(2)). Unless related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption, an owner, operator, or employee of the residential long-term health care institution where the principal receives care cannot serve (§ 5-803(2)).

When the agent can act

Authority is springing by default: it begins when the principal is determined to lack capacity and ends upon recovery, unless the power specifies another rule (§ 5-803(3)). The primary physician or a court ordinarily makes the determination. A person qualified to conduct the specified mental-health examination may make it for a directive authorizing mental-health treatment (§ 5-803(4)). The optional form expressly lets the principal choose immediate authority (§ 5-805).

Powers and limits

The agent may make any health-care decision the principal could make, subject to the document (§ 5-803(2)). Maine expressly includes selecting institutions, approving or refusing tests, surgery, medication, and DNR orders, and providing, withholding, or withdrawing artificial nutrition, hydration, and life-sustaining treatment (§ 5-802(6)). Known instructions and wishes control; otherwise the agent uses the principal's best interest and known personal values (§ 5-803(5)).

Part 8 recognizes directives authorizing mental-health treatment, but special psychiatric-admission rules apply. Admission over the person's present objection requires express advance authorization, and the informal stay under that rule may not exceed five working days (34-B M.R.S. § 3831(6)).

How to revoke

The agent designation has a stricter revocation rule than treatment instructions. A principal with capacity may revoke the agent only through a signed writing or by personally informing the supervising health care provider (§ 5-804(1)). Other parts of the directive may be revoked in any manner communicating intent (§ 5-804(2)).

A later directive revokes an earlier one to the extent of conflict. A decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution, or legal separation revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or power says otherwise (§ 5-804(4)-(5)).

Out-of-state directives

A directive works if it complies with Maine's Part 8 regardless of where it was executed or communicated, or if it was valid under the law of the state where executed (§ 5-803(8)).

What trips people up

• A notary does not replace the witnesses. The statute requires the principal and two witnesses to sign; it states no notary alternative (§ 5-803(2)).
• The ordinary signatures cannot be electronic. Maine expressly requires in-person signatures. The audiovisual process is confined to the infectious- disease isolation circumstances in § 5-803-A.
• The agent designation cannot be revoked in just any manner. Destruction or notice only to the agent is not one of § 5-804(1)'s two methods.

Common questions

Can I use a notary instead of witnesses? No. Maine requires two witnesses and gives no notary substitute (§ 5-803(2)).

Do my witnesses have to be unrelated or disinterested? Part 8 states no such requirement. The statutory rule requires two in-person, non-electronic witness signatures (§ 5-803(2)).

Can my agent act immediately? Yes, if the power says so. Otherwise authority begins only upon the statutory capacity determination (§ 5-803(3)-(4)).

Will a directive signed elsewhere work in Maine? Yes, if valid under the law of the state where it was executed (§ 5-803(8)).

Statutes and sources

• 18-C M.R.S. § 5-802 — capacity, agent, power, and health-care-decision definitions. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec5-802.html (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 18-C M.R.S. § 5-803 — execution, agent eligibility, activation, powers, mental-health directives, and out-of-state validity. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec5-803.html (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 18-C M.R.S. § 5-803-A — narrow facility-isolation signing procedure. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec5-803-A.html (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 18-C M.R.S. § 5-804 — agent-designation revocation and spouse-agent rule. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec5-804.html (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 18-C M.R.S. § 5-805 — optional combined form. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/18-C/title18-Csec5-805.html (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 34-B M.R.S. § 3831 — special psychiatric-admission conditions. https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/34-B/title34-Bsec3831.html (accessed 2026-07-16)