Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements in Utah

At a glance

Utah replaced its former advance-directive law on January 1, 2026 with the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act. The current law does not limit an adult to a formal living will. It recognizes a health care instruction—a direction, whether or not in a record, stating goals, preferences, or wishes about providing, withholding, or withdrawing health care.

Requirements one by one

An instruction may be oral or recorded

Under § 75A-9-101 and § 75A-9-106, an instruction may be communicated orally or placed in a written or electronic record. A health-care professional who receives it documents both the instruction and its date in the medical record. The instruction may also share a record with a health-care power of attorney.

An instruction by itself has no mandatory signature, witness, notary, or date- on-document formality. Utah's optional form includes a signature and date, but its own witness instruction says a witness is needed if the form names an agent. When it does name an agent, § 75A-9-107(4) requires the individual's signature and one qualified adult witness; the witness may be present physically, by live audio-video, or in the authenticated live-audio circumstances stated in the statute.

Capacity is decision-specific and supported communication counts

An instruction may be made by an adult or emancipated minor. Under § 75A-9-102, the individual must be able to communicate independently or with appropriate services, technology, supported decision making, or another reasonable accommodation, and must understand the instruction's nature, consequences, primary risks, and benefits. § 75A-9-103 presumes capacity unless a court finds otherwise or the statute's professional finding process rebuts it.

The adult chooses the future trigger

A health-care instruction may be designed to take effect if a specified condition arises, but the Act does not require a terminal diagnosis, permanent unconsciousness, or incapacity for every instruction. Providers comply with the instruction according to its terms. A capable adult's current health-care decision remains controlling whether or not an advance directive exists.

The optional form in § 75A-9-110 offers choices for three recurring settings: a noncurable condition expected to cause death soon even with treatment; unconsciousness with no expected return to consciousness; and a nonrecoverable condition preventing communication with cared-about people, self-care, and recognition of family and friends. These are form choices, not mandatory statutory activation findings.

Treatment, tube feeding, and pain relief remain separate

The form asks separately about medical treatment needed to keep the person alive, food and liquids delivered by tube or other means for the rest of life, and pain relief that may shorten life. Each section offers the three condition settings, an always/never option where applicable, and space for other instructions.

Under § 75A-9-118(1), a surrogate generally cannot withdraw routinely accepted artificial nutrition, hydration, or ventilation from an individual with a long- term disability unless one of the statute's alternatives applies. One alternative is the individual's own express, unrevoked health-care instruction authorizing withholding or withdrawal. This limitation regulates surrogate authority without erasing the adult's express instruction.

The current Act has no pregnancy-specific rule

The complete current chapter contains no pregnancy suspension, viability test, live-birth condition, or special pregnancy checkbox. Section 75A-9-126 states that the Act does not authorize mercy killing, assisted suicide, or euthanasia and creates no presumption about a person who did not make a directive.

Revocation is informal but capacity-dependent

Under § 75A-9-114, an individual may revoke an instruction wholly or partly unless a court has found lack of capacity or the professional capacity process has done so, with the special confirmation rule when the individual objects. Subject to that capacity limit, any act clearly showing intent works, including an oral statement to a health-care professional. A later conflicting instruction or directive revokes the earlier one to the extent of conflict.

The provider records information about the instruction, revocation, and any record copy under § 75A-9-120. Electronic form alone cannot defeat a revocation's effect. The current Act establishes no advance-directive registry.

Compliance has defined refusal and transfer exceptions

Section 75A-9-120 directs professionals and institutions to comply with the individual's instruction. Refusal is limited to a timely disclosed institutional conscience policy, unavailable care, a professional religious or moral ground permitted by other law, generally accepted standards, a court order, or other law.

The refusal procedure in § 75A-9-120(7) requires the provider to inform the individual and surrogate as soon as reasonably feasible and immediately make a reasonable transfer effort. Depending on the refusal ground, life-sustaining and comfort care continues until transfer, or until transfer or at least ten days when transfer is reasonably believed impossible.

Under § 75A-9-115, an out-of-state directive is valid if it complies with the law named in it, the law where created when none is named, or Utah law. An electronic directive, revocation, or signature cannot be denied effect solely for electronic form, and §§ 75A-9-124 and 75A-9-126 include the copy and construction rules; § 75A-9-124 gives physical and electronic copies the same effect as originals.

What trips people up

• Old Utah forms are obsolete. The former Title 75 chapter 2a rules were replaced on January 1, 2026.
• The witness rule belongs to the agent appointment. A treatment instruction alone needs no witness; a combined record naming an agent needs one qualified adult witness.
• The form's conditions are optional choices. The Act permits the adult to define another trigger or give an instruction not dependent on incapacity.
• Revocation now requires capacity. The method is broad, but the new Act's capacity limitation must not be omitted.
• Long-term nutrition, hydration, and ventilation receive special protection. Express instructions matter because they are one statutory route allowing a surrogate to withhold or withdraw routinely accepted treatment.

Common questions

Does a Utah treatment instruction need witnesses or notarization? No, not by itself. One adult witness is required only if the same record also creates a health-care power of attorney.

Can the instruction be oral? Yes. The definition expressly covers a direction whether or not in a record, and the receiving professional documents the instruction and date.

Does Utah require a terminal diagnosis before an instruction applies? No. An instruction may specify its own future condition. The statutory form's three condition settings are optional choices, not mandatory triggers for every instruction.

Can a Utah instruction be revoked orally? Yes, if the individual has the capacity required by § 75A-9-114. Any clear act works, including an oral statement to a health-care professional.

Statutes and sources

• Utah Code §§ 75A-9-101–129 — complete current Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, effective January 1, 2026: instructions, capacity, optional form, revocation, treatment limits, provider duties, electronic effect, and foreign directives. https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title75A/Chapter9/C75A-9_2026010120250507.pdf (accessed 2026-07-31)