Quickly create your New York Health Care Directive and Living Will
You can complete FindLaw’s attorney-created health care directive and living will forms in less than an hour at home. Our guided process takes you through a few easy steps and includes a free HIPAA release form. You’ll be able to download, print and sign your documents in no time.

Find the estate planning form that’s right for you
Do you want to talk to a lawyer about your estate planning needs?
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- Being part of a blended family
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Speaking with
a FindLaw Attorney
- Being part of a blended family
- Caring for children with special needs
- Establishing and maintaining trusts
- …and any other concerns you have!

Do you have a large estate or an interest in more advanced estate planning tools like trusts?
Speaking with
a FindLaw Attorney
- Being part of a blended family
- Caring for children with special needs
- Establishing and maintaining trusts
- …and any other concerns you have!

Are you looking to have your estate planning basics covered?
Do you have minor children?
Do you have pets?
Do you want to leave gifts to people or a charity?
Do you own a business?
Do you want to decide how your property is distributed when you pass away?
Do you want someone to handle your health care decisions if you are unable?
Do you want to specify someone who can make financial decisions for you if you are unavailable or incapacitated?
Do you want to specify someone who can make financial decisions for you if you are unavailable or incapacitated?
Do you want someone to handle your health care decisions if you are unable?
Do you want to specify someone who can make financial decisions for you if you are unavailable or incapacitated?
Do you want to specify someone who can make financial decisions for you if you are unavailable or incapacitated?
Speaking with
a FindLaw Attorney
- Being part of a blended family
- Caring for children with special needs
- Establishing and maintaining trusts
- …and any other concerns you have!

Estate Planning Package
For One Person
- Last will and testament
- Health care directive & living will
- Financial power of attorney
- Free HIPAA release form
- A comprehensive plan — for less
- Free changes and revisions for one full year after purchase
Financial Power of Attorney
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Health Care Directive & Living Will
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your health care directive and living will before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Last Will and Testament
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a last will and testament that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your will for a full year after purchase
Estate Planning Package
For Two People
- Two wills, health care directives & living wills, and financial powers of attorney
- Two free HIPAA release forms
- You and your loved one create your own estate plans tailored to your individual needs
- Attorney-approved documents customized to your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions for one full year after purchase
Financial Power of Attorney
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create an attorney-approved power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Health Care Directive & Living Will
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy.
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create an attorney-approved document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Last Will and Testament
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create two wills customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your wills for a full year after purchase
Health Care Directive & Living Will + Financial Power of Attorney
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your health care directive and living will before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
- Create your state-specific documents before you buy
- Create a power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
Last Will and Testament + Financial Power of Attorney
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a last will and testament that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your will for a full year after purchase
- Create your state-specific documents before you buy
- Create a power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Last Will and Testament + Health Care Directive & Living Will
For One Person
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create a last will and testament that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your will for a full year after purchase
- Create your health care directive and living will before you buy
- Create a document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Health Care Directive & Living Will + Financial Power of Attorney
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy.
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create an attorney-approved document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy
- Create an attorney-approved power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
Last Will and Testament + Financial Power of Attorney
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create two wills customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your wills for a full year after purchase
- Create an attorney-approved power of attorney that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
Last Will and Testament + Health Care Directive & Living Will
For Two People
- Try our easy step-by-step guide
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy
- Only purchase if you are satisfied with your estate planning documents
- Create two wills customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free changes and revisions to your wills for a full year after purchase
- Create your state-specific, attorney-approved documents before you buy.
- Create an attorney-approved document that’s customized to your wishes and your state’s laws
- Free HIPAA release form
- Free changes and revisions to your document for a full year after purchase
The benefits of having a New York Health Care Directive and Living Will
A health care directive and living will protects your autonomy. Also known as advance directives, these documents state your health care wishes and name a person to act in your place when you cannot. These documents prevent unwanted medical treatments and solidify the health care methods you desire, putting your fate in your hands.
FindLaw provides everything you need:
- Learn about your options for a DIY health care directive and living will
- Use the guided process to create a personalized health care directive and living will
- Find out how to make your health care directive and living will valid
- Find answers to common questions about health care directives and living wills
New York Health Care Directive and Living Will Options to Suit Your Needs
Health Care Directive & Living Will
For One Person
A do-it-yourself health care directive & living will that’s easy to personalize.
BEST VALUE
Estate Planning Package
For one person
All the forms you need to create a personal estate plan
How It Works
Create your health care directive & living will in under an hour.
Answer Some Questions
Decide who will be your health care agent/proxy and which medical treatments you would request or refuse.
Create an Account
Creating an account is easy, quick, and secure. Save your information as you go and return when you have time.
Complete Your Document
Once you answer the relevant questions, we do the hard part and create your unique document.
Print, Sign & Make It Legal
Print and sign your document according to the instructions. Give a copy to your doctors and agent/proxy.
What’s Next To Make My New York Health Care Directive and Living Will Valid?
Follow these steps:
If you want to, sign a do not resuscitate order.
A do not resuscitate order is a legal document used for end-of-life planning. A terminal condition, severe car accident resulting in your being rendered unconscious, or a rapidly deteriorating medical condition may make you incapable of adequately expressing your wishes. By creating this document and planning ahead, you can relieve your family of the burden of making these tough decisions during a tragic time.
Decide what kind of care and treatment you will receive.
A living will or advance directive directs family members and health care professionals regarding emergency medical care. Among the types of care and life decisions a health care directive and living will covers are whether you want to receive:
- Feeding tubes
- Blood transfusions
- Moving into a long-term care facility
- Life-prolonging treatments
- The use of mechanical respiration
- The use of cardiac resuscitation
- The use of mouth resuscitation
- Palliative care
- Hospice care
Choose your health care agent.
The health care agent, also known as a health care proxy, plays a vital role in advance care planning. Your health care decisions are made by this person based on what you have requested. The health care proxy form can be found on the NYS Department of Health website and allows you to name a primary and alternate agent.
Sign and notarize.
Sign your health care directive and living will in front of a witness and have it notarized.

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
Ready to get started on Your New York healthcare directive & living will? It’s free to start.
Create My FormNew York Health Care Directive and Living Will FAQs
“Advance care planning” refers to the process of stating your wishes in writing about end-of-life or life-sustaining care should you become incapable of making such decisions for yourself.
Every advance care plan should include a health care directive and living will. If you become unable to communicate, this document directs health care professionals regarding the treatment you wish to receive.
State law does not require specific language before a health care directive and living will is deemed valid in New York. New York state law, however, specifies who can create a legally valid health care directive and living will and what wishes it may convey.
Any person 18 years of age or older may create a living will in New York. A health care directive and living will specifies the health care agent must be another adult. The health care agent is the person you’ve chosen to carry out the wishes stated in your living will. Your health care directive and living will must be:
- In writing
- Notarized
- Observed by a witness in New York state
Neither the notary nor the witness may be named as the health care agent.
Should you become incapacitated without a health care agent, the courts will appoint a surrogate to make medical decisions on your behalf under New York state law. Your wishes will be carried out by the surrogate if your wishes are known. If the surrogate is not aware of your desires, the decision will be based on what the surrogate believes is best for the patient. As a patient, what the surrogate believes is best for you medically and what you want to do might conflict. That is why it is best to express your desires before you become incapacitated.
Do-not-resuscitate orders (also called DNRs) are legal documents that confirm the patient does not wish to undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or any other life-saving code and wishes to allow natural death to occur. DNRs are an integral part of advance care planning. With the help of this document, patient autonomy can be respected even if the patient cannot advocate for themselves.
New York state law requires medical facilities to follow the Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment statute (MOLST). Per MOLST, health care facilities must tell patients with severe medical conditions that they can refuse treatment if they choose. Patients who must be informed include:
- Those who want to avoid or would like to receive any or all life-sustaining treatment.
- Those who can reasonably be expected to die within one year.
It is wise for you to keep the original health care directive and living will in a safe and easily accessible location like a lockbox or a safe deposit box. But make copies to share with your health care agent, your medical provider, and loved ones.
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