An advance health care directive — often called a living will — lets you spell out your wishes for medical treatment if you’re ever unable to communicate them yourself. It’s one of the more emotionally significant documents I’m involved with, and it also happens to be executed a little differently than most of the documents that cross my table.
Witnesses, not necessarily a notary
Kansas law generally requires a living will to be signed in the presence of two witnesses, rather than requiring notarization outright. This surprises people who assume every serious legal document needs a notary — in this specific case, witnesses are the primary requirement under state law.
Why notarization is still often used alongside witnesses
Even where witnesses satisfy the legal minimum, plenty of people choose to have the document notarized as well — sometimes because a specific hospital system or form requests it, sometimes simply for the extra layer of certainty a notarized signature provides if the document is ever questioned. There’s nothing wrong with doing both; it’s not required, but it’s not redundant either.
Who can’t serve as a witness
- Someone who would inherit from you or otherwise benefit financially from your estate
- Your treating physician or their direct employees, in most circumstances
- Anyone directly responsible for your health care at the time of signing
These restrictions exist for the same reason financial-interest restrictions apply to notarial witnesses generally: to keep the people confirming your wishes free of any incentive to influence them.
A living will only works when it’s needed if it was executed correctly to begin with. Getting the witnessing requirement right at signing matters more here than almost anywhere else, since there’s no opportunity to fix it later.
Where this fits into a larger estate plan
Living wills are often executed alongside a medical power of attorney and, separately, a financial power of attorney — documents with different execution requirements from each other. I’ve mapped out the fuller picture of which end-of-life documents need what in a broader end-of-life planning article.
Working on an advance directive?
We’ll help make sure the execution requirements are met, whether that’s witnesses, notarization, or both.