Wills and living wills have confusingly similar names, but they are very different legal documents.

A living will is not a will in the traditional sense. You cannot use it to describe your wishes about the distribution of your property after your death. A living will allows you use to make a declaration about your medical preferences in the event that you ever become terminally ill and unable to express your treatment choices.

A last will and testament (a “will”) is the primary estate planning document. You can use it to name beneficiaries who will receive your assets after your death. If you have minor children, you can use a will to name trusted guardians for them just in case.

However, you cannot use a will to give instructions on future health care issues. If you would like to specify your preferences on life support and life-prolonging treatments, you need to create a living will.

Technically, yes. Under Missouri law, you can create a legally valid handwritten health care directive and living will. Legally, a health care directive and living will does not need to be witnessed in Missouri if it is entirely in your handwriting.

However, you should not rely on handwritten documents unless you absolutely must. Handwriting can be difficult to interpret and verify. This could cause your medical providers to question the validity and authenticity of your document.

A better policy is to sign a printed health care directive and living will in front of two adult witnesses if possible. You can create a customized health care directive and living will through FindLaw in less than an hour from any location that is convenient to you.

Under Missouri law, your doctors will only act on your health care directive and living will’s instructions if you have a terminal condition and are unable to make your own healthcare decisions. However, a Missouri health care directive and living will is not effective during pregnancy.

A medical condition is only defined as “terminal” if it is irreversible, and the attending physician believes it will result in death within a short period of time.

As long as you are able to communicate your medical choices, your doctors must consult with you directly about your care. Any decisions you make while you have the capacity to do so will take precedence over the provisions in your health care directive and living will.

A health care directive and living will is a legally binding document that your health care providers have a duty to honor, even if that means transferring you to another medical provider. If your attending physician becomes unwilling to carry out the terms of your health care directive and living will, they must make reasonable efforts to transfer you to a doctor who will act on your instructions.

Under Missouri law, the same is true of a medical facility itself. If your health care directive and living will conflicts with the policies of your health care facility, the facility must take reasonable measures to transfer you to a provider who can carry out the terms of your advance directives.

You have the right to change your mind about your advance directives at any time during your life. Your physical or mental condition has no impact on your ability to perform a revocation in Missouri.

If you would like to completely revoke your health care directive and living will, you can do so in any manner you are able to. This might include physically destroying your document or creating a new writing that makes your revocation clear. If your health care directive and living will contains a revocation provision, you can sign and date this provision as a revocation.

Whichever method you choose, it must clearly convey your intention to revoke. A good way to accomplish this is to create a new health care directive and living will that revokes all prior ones. With FindLaw, you can create a Missouri health care directive and living will customized to your needs in under an hour for $35.

After you revoke a health care directive and living will or create a new one, you should be sure to let the right people know about the change. You should tell your health care providers immediately. If you named a health care agent, you should tell them about the changes so that they are aware of your updated wishes. Finally, be sure to tell your loved ones about your updates or revocation.