Make your health care wishes known
Create an Idaho health care directive with FindLaw’s attorney-created forms and easy step-by-step process.
Choose your Idaho health care directive options
Make your health care wishes known so you stay in control of your treatment with a health care directive. Ensure comprehensive protection for you and your loved ones and secure your future with an estate planning forms package.
Health Care Directive
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Fast, easy, reliable Idaho health care directive forms
No one wants to plan for their own serious injury or incapacitation – but having a health care directive in place during those unfortunate times ensures that your health care treatment preferences are respected. Without a health care directive, your loved ones and doctors might make decisions you would not have preferred. A health care directive – one that adequately documents your health care treatment preferences – avoids this outcome, conveying your crucial choices when they matter most.
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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
Plan for your future with confidence
This free guide will help you:
Learn the most common estate planning terms
Understand the essential estate planning tools
Gather critical information with an estate planning checklist
What’s next to make my Idaho health care directive valid?
Follow these steps to create your health care directive:
Make decisions on future health care treatments
This first step is surveying your health care treatment and anticipate future issues. If you are severely injured or otherwise incapacitated, what medical treatments do you consent to receive? Which treatments do you not agree to? These are the types of considerations that need to be made before you draft your Idaho health care directive.
Anticipate the types of life-sustaining care you would want to receive in instances including but not limited to the following:
- Artificial hydration and nutrition
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
- Artificial respiration
- Other life-prolonging procedures that extend or prevent the natural dying process
Once you survey these treatments and feel secure in your long-term health care decisions, you can move forward with drafting your health care directive.
Choose your agent
It is not required to name an agent in your Idaho health care directive, but it’s always a good idea. An agent is your advocate if you become so seriously injured or incapacitated that you cannot convey your own medical wishes.
Choose someone you trust and whom you are comfortable with advocating for your medical decisions. Additionally, it would be best to choose a few backup agents should your original agent be unable or unwilling to serve. This sometimes occurs in an emergency where your original agent cannot be reached. If you decide to name agents in your health care directive, your document must include a form called “Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.” That form will need to have the following information:
- The names of each agent
- Their addresses
- Their phone numbers
Sign your health care directive according to Idaho law
Idaho requires that you be at least 18 years of age to draft a valid health care directive. In order to maintain your health care directive in accordance with Idaho law, this document must be:
- Created at a time when you possess the mental capacity to understand and communicate your health care wishes
- In writing
- Signed and dated by you
In Idaho, health care directives do not need to be witnessed or notarized in order to be found legally valid in a court of law. Note that these laws vary from state to state. In the event that you move to a different state, consult that new state’s laws and regulations to ensure your health care directive stays in compliance.
Store your health care directive in a secure place and provide copies to all necessary parties
Once you have your completed, signed health care directive, make multiple copies for safekeeping and provide them to interested parties. Keep the original document secure in a safe or lockbox, and consider providing copies to the following people:
- Your health care provider
- Your agent
- Your backup agents
- Your loved ones
Commonly asked questions about Idaho health care directives
Sometimes referred to as advance directives or living wills, health care directives are helpful documents that convey your health care treatment wishes to your health care provider if you become seriously injured or suffer from a debilitating illness. These documents can avoid uncertainty for both your doctors and your family at a critical time.
These vital documents convey your wishes regarding the administration or refusal of life-sustaining treatment to your doctors. They go into effect when you are unable to communicate or incapable of making your own decisions.
You are not required to have a health care directive. But having one can save you and your loved ones from significant burden later on.
Suppose you suffer a traumatic injury that leaves you in a prolonged vegetative state. Without a health care directive, your doctors and family members may make decisions about your life that you would not have wanted. This can lead to infighting, indecision, and additional worry piled onto a tragic situation.
A health care directive bundled with a durable power of attorney can avoid this uncertainty. Drafting your form with a service like FindLaw can provide the peace of mind you and your loved ones deserve.
Yes. While the terms sound similar, these documents accomplish different goals. A last will and testament (or simply a “will”) determines who gets your possessions and assets when you die.
Living wills, also known health care directives, do not deal with possessions or assets at all, and they serve no purpose after you die. Living wills are for conveying your life-sustaining treatment preferences if you are unable to make decisions on your own behalf.
In Idaho, you can make changes to your health care directive at any time. It is always best to have your revocation documented in writing. Upon making changes to your health care directive, be sure to provide updated copies to your agents, health care provider, and any other parties you deem necessary.
You should make copies of all estate planning documents, both for yourself and any necessary parties. These parties should include agents, health care practitioners, and loved ones—store personal copies in a secure shelter such as a safe or lockbox. Ensure that any stored copies can be easily accessed by the appropriate parties in the event of your incapacitation.
The laws governing advance directives for health care and living wills vary from state to state. For this reason, it’s important to consult with local laws if you spend a lot of time outside Idaho.
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