Make your health care wishes known
Create an Arkansas health care directive with FindLaw’s attorney-created forms and easy step-by-step process.
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Arkansas health care directives without leaving home
In the event that you were ever terminally ill and unable to communicate, your doctors and loved ones might not know what treatment choices to make for you. To spare your loved ones from agonizing over these medical decisions, you can provide a health care directive. A health care directive specifies your wishes for end-of-life issues such as the withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures. With your health care directive in hand, your loved ones will know that your medical care wishes are being carried out according to your preferences.
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How it works
The process takes less than an hour, and you can complete it from the comfort of your home.
Create an account
Create a secure account which is accessible through an easy dashboard you can access any time
Gather information
Decide who will be your health care agent/proxy, which treatments you would request or refuse and release your records
Complete your document
Answer all questions, then we’ll generate your digital documents for downloading, printing, and signing
Make it legal
Print and sign your document according to instructions. Give copies to your doctors and agent/proxy
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What’s next to make my Arkansas health care directive valid?
Decide on your treatment options
Your health care directive, also known as an Appointment of Health Care Agent in Arkansas, will require you to make choices on some specific end-of-life health care hypotheticals. Through your health care directive, you will make legally binding decisions on these issues. You will specify whether you would want life-sustaining treatment to prolong your death if you had an irreversible condition. You will also choose whether you would want artificial hydration, artificial nutrition, and other life-support procedures. Whether you would choose to withdraw or maintain these medical treatments is a very personal health care decision. Each person must make this choice according to their unique needs and personal values. However, it may be helpful to seek advice from your primary care doctor or loved ones if you have trouble making these difficult decisions.
Choose a trusted person as your health care agent
A durable power of attorney for health care is another type of advance directive. With a durable power of attorney (a “POA”), you can appoint health care agent to make treatment decisions on your behalf. Your agent will only exercise this power if you become medically incapacitated. A healthcare proxy or surrogate is a person who has authority to make treatment decisions on your behalf if you are unable to. When you are choosing a health care agent, be sure that they know you, your end-of-life treatment preferences, and are willing to carry out the terms of your health care directive. It’s a good idea to name an alternate agent in case your original choice becomes unable to carry out these duties.
Sign your health care directive
You need to sign your health care directive or direct someone to sign it for you. There should be two witnesses present, who must also sign. If you are naming a health care agent, this person should not act as a witness. Further, one of your witnesses should be someone who is not related to you, and who does not stand to gain any inheritance from you. If you cannot sign in the presence of witnesses, you need to get your health care directive notarized.
Distribute your health care directive
Once you have signed your health care directive, you need to make sure that it’s in the right hands. Most importantly, you should give a copy of it to your health care agent. They should keep it and store it in a safe place. It’s also a good idea to give a copy to your close loved ones just in case they accompany you during a medical emergency. As a contingency plan, you could consider creating an account with an online health care directive registry. These services allow medical professionals to access your health care directive electronically.
Update your health care directive
You should review and update your health care directive from time to time. A good practice is to do a review at least every few years. You should also review your choices if you go through major life changes. Examples of these might be divorce, a new diagnosis, or an out-of-state move. These life situations could cause you to change your preferences. In the case of divorce, you may wish to name a new health care agent. Remember that if you create your health care directive through FindLaw, you can make unlimited updates to your health care directive for a year after purchase.
Arkansas health care directive common questions
A last will and testament (a “will”) is a key estate planning document that allows you to provide for the distribution of your assets as you see fit. By making a testamentary will, you can make choices about who will receive your assets after your death, and you can name guardians for minor children.
A health care directive, or Appointment of Health Care Agent, on the other hand, is a binding health care document. You use it to specify your choices on what treatments you would like to receive or withhold in the event that you had a terminal condition. You cannot use a health care directive to describe your wishes for the distribution of your assets. Both a health care directive and a will are important documents in a comprehensive estate plan. It is a good idea to have both.
There are a few legal requirements that Arkansas health care directives must meet to be valid. These requirements are spelled out in Title 20 of the Arkansas code:
- You must be age 18 or older
- You must sign your health care directive
- When you sign, you must be of sound mind
- Two witnesses should sign your health care directive or you should notarize it
Note that there are additional restrictions on your witnesses if you are naming a health care agent in your health care directive:
- Neither of your witnesses should be your health care agent
- You should have at least one witness who is not related to you by blood or adoption. Further, this person must not stand to gain any inheritance from you
Yes, an out-of-state health care directive is valid under Arkansas law if you created it in accordance with the laws of that state.
Although your out-of-state health care directive may be valid in Arkansas, it’s a good idea to update your estate planning documents when you move. You should really review your estate planning documents and advance directives from time to time even if no significant life events have transpired. By reviewing and revising your documents, you can make sure that they reflect your current preferences and are following state laws. Rest assured that if you get a health care directive through FindLaw, you can update it as much as you need to for a year after purchase.
Your health care directive does not become effective merely because you are hospitalized or enduring a medical emergency. Your health care providers will only act on the provisions in your health care directive under serious medical circumstances. A health care directive becomes effective if your doctor and another doctor determine that you are:
- Permanently unconscious; or
- In a terminal medical condition and no longer able to give informed consent on your treatment
You may revoke your health care directive at any time and in any manner under Arkansas law. You can always revoke a health care directive by creating a new one. If you need to revoke a health care directive, you can create a new one on FindLaw without needing to leave home.
Whenever you revoke estate planning documents like a health care directive, make sure to let the right people know about it. Don’t forget to provide your health care agent and loved ones with a copy of your new documents. That way, they will have documentation of your most up-to-date wishes at hand in case they need them.
You may want to speak with a lawyer if:
- Your family disagrees with your medical choices
- You don’t know who to appoint as your agent
- You have questions about life prolonging measures
- You want legal review of your completed document
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