Wyoming: Health Care Power of Attorney Requirements

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: "[a]n adult or emancipated minor may execute a
power of attorney for health care" (§ 35-22-403(b)). 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, stated in § 35-22-403(b): the power "must be acknowledged
before a notarial officer or must be signed by at least two (2) 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), you may revoke "the designation of an agent only by 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 2026-07-16)
• 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 2026-07-16)
• 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 2026-07-16)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-412 — presumption of capacity unless the primary physician
  certifies otherwise in writing.
  https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-07-16)
• 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 2026-07-16)
• Wyo. Stat. § 35-22-416 — uniform application and construction among enacting
  states.
  https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title35.pdf (accessed 2026-07-16)