Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements in Wyoming

At a glance

Wyoming's health care power of attorney lives inside the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act, the state's version of the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, at Wyo. Stat. §§ 35-22-401 to 35-22-416. The document Wyoming law recognizes is an "advance health care directive," and a power of attorney for health care is the part of it that names an agent to make medical decisions for you when you cannot. This page is about executing that agent appointment.

Two features set Wyoming apart from most states. It lets an emancipated minor — not just an adult — sign, and it gives your agent full authority over life-sustaining treatment and tube feeding by default, with no requirement that the document separately spell that power out. Many states do the opposite on the second point.

Requirements one by one

Governing law and document

The Act tells you what a valid power of attorney for health care must contain (§ 35-22-403) but, unlike California and many other Uniform-Act states, it does not print an optional fill-in statutory form in the code. The Wyoming Advance Health Care Directive forms that hospitals and AARP circulate are practice forms built to satisfy the Act; any writing that meets § 35-22-403 works. A directive can combine the agent appointment with individual treatment instructions (the "living will") in one document (§ 35-22-402(a)(i)).

Who can sign

Wyoming is unusually broad here: § 35-22-403(b) permits an adult or an emancipated minor to execute a power of attorney for health care. The power "must be in writing and signed by the principal or by another person in the principal's presence and at the principal's expressed direction" — the same accommodation other states make for someone who cannot physically sign. Capacity is presumed: § 35-22-412(b) says an individual "is presumed to have capacity ... unless the primary physician has certified in writing that the patient lacks such capacity." The statute sets no requirement that the document be dated.

Witnesses or notary

You have a choice under § 35-22-403(b): the durable power must be acknowledged before a notarial officer or signed by at least two witnesses. A witness must watch you sign, or watch you acknowledge your signature or the document, and each witness signs a declaration "under penalty of perjury" that you are the principal and signed in the witness's presence. You do not need both a notary and witnesses — either path validates the document.

Who can't witness or serve

Section 35-22-403(c) bars four kinds of witness: "[a] treating health care provider or employee of the provider," "[t]he attorney-in-fact nominated in the writing," and the operator or an employee of a community care facility or of a residential care facility. Notably, Wyoming does not disqualify your relatives or heirs from witnessing, and it does not require that any witness be unrelated to you — a real difference from states like California.

Separately, § 35-22-403(b) limits who may serve as agent: unless the person is "related to the principal by blood, marriage or adoption," your agent "may not be an owner, operator or employee of a residential or community care facility at which the principal is receiving care." That is the only categorical bar on choosing an agent.

When the agent can act

By default the authority is springing, but you can change that. Section 35-22-403(d) provides that "[u]nless otherwise specified in a power of attorney for health care, the authority of an agent becomes effective only upon a determination that the principal lacks capacity, and ceases to be effective upon a determination that the principal has recovered capacity." Because it says "unless otherwise specified," you may write in that your agent can act immediately. The capacity determination is made by your primary physician, though "the treating primary health care provider may make the decision if the primary physician is unavailable" (§ 35-22-403(e)).

Agent's powers and limits

Once effective, your agent "may ... make any health care decision the principal could have made while having capacity" (§ 35-22-403(b)). Wyoming's definition of a health care decision expressly includes "[d]irections to provide, withhold or withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration and all other forms of health care" (§ 35-22-402(a)(ix)). So — unlike Nebraska and several other states — a Wyoming agent's power to refuse or stop life support and tube feeding is built in by default; you would have to limit it in the document, not affirmatively grant it. Your agent must follow your directive and known wishes, and otherwise act in your best interest (§ 35-22-403(f)). The Act does not list categorical exclusions such as sterilization or psychosurgery; it does leave involuntary mental-health commitment and psychiatric treatment to separate statutes (§ 35-22-414(e)).

How to revoke

Wyoming treats the agent designation more formally than the rest of the directive. Under § 35-22-404(a), revoking the agent designation requires a signed writing. Everything else in the directive you may revoke "at any time and in any manner that communicates an intention to revoke," with any oral revocation later put in a signed, dated writing (§ 35-22-404(b)). A divorce, annulment, dissolution, or legal separation automatically revokes a spouse-agent unless the decree or the power says otherwise (§ 35-22-404(d)), and a newer directive overrides an older one to the extent they conflict (§ 35-22-404(e)).

Out-of-state directives

Wyoming's Act has no dedicated out-of-state recognition section. The closest provision, § 35-22-403(j), keeps a directive valid "for purposes of this act if it complied with the applicable law at the time of execution or communication," and § 35-22-416 directs courts to construe the Act "to make uniform the law ... among states enacting it." Together these mean a directive you validly executed under the law that applied when you signed it should be honored in Wyoming.

What trips people up

• Your agent can already stop life support — unless you say otherwise. In Wyoming that power is the default (§§ 35-22-403(b), 35-22-402(a)(ix)). If you do not want your agent to be able to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment or tube feeding, you must write that limit into the document.
• You do not need an unrelated witness. Some forms (and even some templates) import a rule requiring one non-family witness. Wyoming's statute does not have that requirement (§ 35-22-403(c)) — but your treating providers and your care facility's staff still cannot witness, and neither can the agent.
• Canceling your agent takes a signed writing. Telling your doctor or tearing up a copy can revoke your treatment instructions, but the agent designation itself is revoked "only by a signed writing" (§ 35-22-404(a)). Sign a new directive to be safe.
• Divorce quietly cancels a spouse-agent. A divorce, annulment, dissolution, or legal separation revokes your spouse's appointment unless the decree or the power says to keep it (§ 35-22-404(d)).

Common questions

Does a Wyoming health care power of attorney have to be notarized? No. You can either acknowledge it before a notary or sign it before two qualified witnesses — your choice (§ 35-22-403(b)).

Can my agent decide to end life support without my document spelling it out? Yes. In Wyoming that authority is part of an agent's default powers unless you limit it (§§ 35-22-403(b), 35-22-402(a)(ix)). If you want to restrict it, write the limit into the directive.

Can a 17-year-old sign one in Wyoming? Only if they are an emancipated minor under Wyoming law; the Act lets "an adult or emancipated minor" execute the power (§ 35-22-403(b)).

How do I cancel the agent I named? Put it in a signed writing (§ 35-22-404(a)). Simply telling someone or destroying a copy can revoke your treatment instructions but is not enough to revoke the agent designation itself.

Statutes and sources

• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-402 — definitions, including "agent," "capacity," and a "health care decision" that covers withholding or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-403 — execution of the power: writing and signature, notary or two witnesses, who may not witness, who may not serve as agent, and when the agent's authority becomes effective. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-404 — revocation: the agent designation only by signed writing, other parts in any manner, and automatic revocation of a spouse-agent on divorce. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-412 — presumption of capacity unless the primary physician certifies otherwise in writing. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-414 — the Act leaves involuntary mental-health commitment and psychiatric treatment to separate statutes. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-416 — uniform application and construction among enacting states. https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-08-20)