Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements in Arizona
At a glance
| Governing law and document | Living Wills and Health Care Directives Act, A.R.S. Title 36, ch. 32. A § 36-3261 written 'living will' may be part of or instead of a health-care power of attorney, or may disqualify a surrogate. Arizona Attorney General publishes an optional form. |
|---|---|
| Who may make an instruction | An adult (§ 36-3261(A)). Standalone verification requires the signer to appear of sound mind and free from duress under the incorporated § 36-3221 rules. |
| Oral, written, and signature form | Written statement (§ 36-3261). If standalone: dated and signed or marked under § 36-3221; if physically unable, the notary or each witness verifies the adult directly indicated the document expressed the adult's wishes and intended to adopt it. No oral or electronic-specific execution path is stated. |
| Witness, notary, and disqualifications | Notary OR at least one adult witness (§§ 36-3261(B), 36-3221). The notary/witness cannot be the agent or directly involved in current care. If exactly one witness is used, that person also cannot be related by blood/marriage/adoption or inherit from the adult. |
| Covered conditions and trigger | The living will may control health-care treatment decisions made on the adult's behalf (§ 36-3261), and providers locate/follow it when the adult cannot make or communicate treatment decisions (§ 36-3231(A)); no terminal diagnosis or two-physician certification is a statutory prerequisite. The optional state form supplies choices for terminal condition, irreversible coma, and persistent vegetative state. |
| Treatment, nutrition, hydration, and comfort | May control health-care treatment decisions generally (§ 36-3261). The optional state form addresses comfort care, CPR, artificially administered food/fluids, hospitalization, and maximal treatment. A default surrogate who is neither agent nor guardian cannot permanently withdraw artificial food or fluid (§ 36-3203(E)); that is a surrogate limit, not a limit on the adult's own express directive. |
| Pregnancy and other statutory limits | No categorical pregnancy limit appears in the Living Wills and Health Care Directives Act. The optional state form lets the adult choose not to withhold/withdraw treatment during pregnancy if continued treatment could permit live birth. A surrogate cannot authorize an act or omission to which the patient could not lawfully consent (§ 36-3203(B)). |
| Revocation, notice, and registry | Revoke by writing, oral notice to the surrogate or provider, a new directive, or any other act showing specific intent (§ 36-3202); no capacity condition or mandatory record notation is stated. Optional Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry filing. Nonregistration does not affect validity, and failure to notify the registry does not defeat an otherwise valid revocation (§ 36-3293). |
| Provider duties, recognition, and effect | Provider must locate/follow the directive when the adult cannot decide (§ 36-3231), and must comply with surrogate decisions consistent with it (§ 36-3204). A conscience objector promptly discloses refusal and transfers care; treatment, food, or fluids with significant life-sustaining possibility continue until transfer (§§ 36-3204 to -3205). Good-faith reliance is protected. Another-state directive is valid if valid where/when adopted, subject to Arizona criminal law (§ 36-3208). |
Requirements one by one
A standalone living will borrows another document's signing rules
Section 36-3261 allows a living will to stand alone, attach to a health-care power of attorney, or disqualify a surrogate. When it stands alone, it must be verified like a health-care power of attorney under § 36-3221: dated and signed or marked, then notarized or witnessed by at least one adult. If the adult cannot sign or mark, the notary or each witness records the adult's direct indication that the document expresses the adult's wishes and is adopted then.
One witness is enough, but the one-witness route is narrower
Section 36-3221 always bars the agent and anyone directly providing the adult's care from acting as notary or witness. When exactly one witness is used instead of a notary, that witness also must be unrelated and not entitled to inherit. The relationship-and-inheritance restriction is written specifically for a single witness.
The statute is broader than the model end-of-life choices
Section 36-3261 permits the living will to control health-care treatment decisions made on the adult's behalf. Under § 36-3231, a provider must locate and follow it when the adult cannot make or communicate treatment decisions. The statute does not require a terminal diagnosis or two-physician certification before every instruction can operate. The Attorney General's optional form focuses on terminal condition, irreversible coma, and persistent vegetative state and supplies choices for CPR, artificial food and fluids, hospital transfer, comfort, and maximum treatment.
Provider conscience requires prompt transfer
Under § 36-3205, an objecting provider must promptly disclose the unwillingness and promptly transfer responsibility to a willing provider. Under § 36-3204, if the directive requires treatment, food, or fluids with a significant possibility of sustaining life, the provider must ensure they continue until transfer is complete.
Revocation is form-light
Section 36-3202 allows a written revocation, oral notice to the surrogate or a provider, a new directive, or any act demonstrating specific intent. It states no capacity prerequisite, witness/notary formality, effective-on-receipt clause, or mandatory chart notation.
What trips people up
- The living will need not be limited to end-of-life diagnoses. Section 36-3261 is written broadly enough to control treatment decisions made on the adult's behalf; the narrower condition choices come from the optional model.
- Pregnancy is an optional instruction, not a categorical statutory rule. The Attorney General's form offers a possible-live-birth election, but chapter 32 does not compel that selection or suspend every living will during pregnancy.
- The food-and-fluid surrogate limit is not the adult's instruction. The limit in § 36-3203(E) restricts a default surrogate who is neither agent nor guardian; it does not erase the adult's express written living-will choice.
Common questions
Must I use the Attorney General's form?
No. Section 36-3261 authorizes a written living will without prescribing that form. The Attorney General's form is a current optional model.
Is filing in the registry required?
No. Section 36-3293 says failure to register does not affect validity. The Attorney General currently directs voluntary filings to the Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry.
Will a living will signed elsewhere work in Arizona?
Under § 36-3208, Arizona recognizes a directive that was valid where and when adopted, but only to the extent it does not conflict with Arizona criminal law.
Statutes and sources
- A.R.S. §§ 36-3261, 36-3221, and 36-3231 — living-will architecture, execution, witness/notary rules, directed adoption, and incapacity operation. Official § 36-3261, § 36-3221, and § 36-3231 (accessed 2026-07-30).
- A.R.S. §§ 36-3202 to -3205 and 36-3208 — revocation, surrogate limits, provider compliance, transfer, immunity, and out-of-state validity. Official § 36-3202, § 36-3203, § 36-3204, § 36-3205, and § 36-3208 (accessed 2026-07-30).
- A.R.S. § 36-3293 — nonregistration and unreported registry revocation do not affect legal validity. Official section (accessed 2026-07-30).
- Arizona Attorney General, 2026 Living Will form — current optional condition, treatment, nutrition, comfort, and pregnancy choices. Official form (accessed 2026-07-30).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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