Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements in West Virginia

At a glance

West Virginia uses the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act, W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-1 to -25. A person may sign a standalone medical power of attorney or a combined medical power of attorney and living will. The statute supplies forms, but their use is optional; the execution formalities are mandatory.

Requirements one by one

Governing law and document

The medical power of attorney appoints one representative and may name a successor. The representative can make health-care decisions when the principal cannot. Section 16-30-4(h) supplies an optional form, but another form can include additional directions consistent with the Act.

Who can sign

Any competent adult may execute the document. For this Act, “adult” includes a person age 18 or older, a legally emancipated minor, or a “mature minor” whose capacity has been determined by an authorized clinician (§ 16-30-3). The principal normally signs. If physically unable, another person may sign in the principal's presence and at the principal's express direction (§ 16-30-4(a)).

Witnesses and notary

West Virginia requires both. The document must be signed in the presence of at least two witnesses age 18 or older. Those witnesses sign and attest, and their “signatures and attestations shall be acknowledged before a notary public” (§ 16-30-4(a)). Notarization is not an alternative to witnesses.

Who cannot witness or serve

A witness cannot be the person who signed for a physically unable principal, a blood or marriage relative, a will beneficiary, someone directly responsible for the principal's medical bills, the attending physician, the representative, or the successor (§ 16-30-4(b)). An unaware will beneficiary does not invalidate the document solely because of that unknown status.

The representative cannot be the treating provider or the facility operator. Unrelated employees of the treating provider or facility operator are also barred (§ 16-30-4(c)).

When the representative can act

Authority springs into effect when incapacity is determined under § 16-30-7 and ends when capacity returns (§ 16-30-6(d)). The determination may be made after a personal examination by an attending or other physician, qualified psychologist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse. It must be recorded contemporaneously with the basis, cause, nature, and expected duration if known (§ 16-30-7(a)-(b)).

Powers and limits

The representative may release medical records and make “any and all health care decisions” unless the document clearly limits the grant (§ 16-30-6(c)). That scope includes medical and surgical treatment, life-prolonging intervention, psychiatric treatment, hospitalization, nursing-home care, home health care, and organ or tissue donation (§ 16-30-3).

Known wishes, religious and moral beliefs, and values control. If they cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence, the representative uses the person's best interests (§ 16-30-9). Express written directions take priority when they conflict with the representative's decision (§ 16-30-5(b)).

How to revoke

The principal may revoke by destroying the document, by a signed and dated written revocation delivered to the attending physician, or orally before an adult witness who signs and dates a confirmation. An oral revocation becomes effective when communicated to the attending physician (§ 16-30-18(a)).

A final divorce decree automatically revokes a former spouse as representative or successor (§ 16-30-18(c)). People are not liable for failing to act on a revocation they do not actually know about (§ 16-30-18(b)), so delivery matters.

Out-of-state directives

West Virginia recognizes a medical power of attorney executed elsewhere if it complies either with West Virginia law or with the law of the state where it was executed (§ 16-30-21).

What trips people up

• The notary is not optional. Two witnesses alone are insufficient under the statute; their signatures and attestations must also be acknowledged before a notary (§ 16-30-4(a)).
• The witness list excludes relatives and heirs. A spouse or other blood or marriage relative cannot witness, and neither can a known will beneficiary or the attending physician (§ 16-30-4(b)).
• An oral revocation still needs a record and delivery. It must be expressed before an adult witness who signs a dated confirmation, then communicated to the attending physician (§ 16-30-18(a)(3)).

Common questions

Do I need both witnesses and a notary? Yes. Use at least two qualified adult witnesses, and have their signatures and attestations acknowledged before a notary (§ 16-30-4(a)).

Can a family member witness? No. A witness may not be related to the principal by blood or marriage (§ 16-30-4(b)(2)).

Who decides whether I lack capacity? An authorized physician, qualified psychologist, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse who personally examines you and records the basis for the determination (§ 16-30-7).

Will a document signed in another state work? Yes, if it complied with that state's law or with West Virginia law (§ 16-30-21).

Statutes and sources

• W. Va. Code § 16-30-1 — names the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-1/ (accessed 2026-08-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-3 — adult, mature-minor, incapacity, health-care-decision, and representative definitions. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-3/ (accessed 2026-07-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-4 — signing, witnesses, notarization, witness and agent bars, notification duty, and optional forms. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-4/ (accessed 2026-07-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-5 — priority for the person's expressed directives and the later-directive conflict rule. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-5/ (accessed 2026-08-16)
• W. Va. Code §§ 16-30-6 and 16-30-7 — authority, springing effect, and the incapacity determination. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-6/ and https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-7/ (accessed 2026-07-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-9 — decision standard. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-9/ (accessed 2026-07-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-18 — revocation and former-spouse rule. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-18/ (accessed 2026-07-16)
• W. Va. Code § 16-30-21 — reciprocity. https://code.wvlegislature.gov/16-30-21/ (accessed 2026-07-16)