Your Rhode Island Health Care Directive and Living Will in No Time
Experienced attorneys have partnered with FindLaw to create health care directive and living will forms you can complete quickly and easily from home. With FindLaw’s easy guided process, it takes less than an hour to get your attorney-approved legal document that protects your wishes for end-of-life medical care.
Start your form for free. If you’re not satisfied, there’s no obligation to buy.
Attorney-approved Rhode Island Health Care Directives and Living Wills
If you ever become medically incapacitated, you may not be able to communicate your treatment choices. Your family members and doctors may then make medical decisions for you that you would not have wanted. If you would like to make your own choice on the refusal of life support in the event of a terminal condition, you can do so through a health care directive and living will. Although this can be unpleasant to consider, it ensures that you do not receive unwanted future treatments.
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
Rhode Island Health Care Directive and Living Will Options for Everyone
Health Care Directive & Living Will
For One Person
A do-it-yourself health care directive & living will that’s easy to personalize.
THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE FOR LESS
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 Rhode Island Health Care Directive and Living Will Valid?
Follow these steps: See full process
Make decisions on your medical care.
A health care directive and living will is a type of advance healthcare directive (“advance directive“). You can use a health care directive and living will to make your own choice about the administration or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment that would only prolong the dying process. This decision would go into effect in the event that you become unable to make your own decisions and have a terminal condition.
It can be difficult to make these serious medical choices, but it’s worth the effort. It may save your loved ones from family turmoil if you make your end-of-life wishes known in advance. With a health care directive and living will, you can potentially spare your family members from arguments over conflicting views on your medical choices. If you have trouble making these decisions, it may be helpful to discuss them with a trusted doctor and close loved ones before finalizing your document.
Choose a healthcare agent.
Under Title 23 of Rhode Island statutes, you have the option of choosing a health care agent who can make medical decisions for you if you become unable to do so for yourself. The legal document you would use to name your healthcare agent is called a durable power of attorney for health care (a “POA”). It is also sometimes referred to as a health care power of attorney. This is another type of advance directive in addition to a health care directive and living will. You are under no obligation to name a healthcare agent. But it can give you peace of mind to know that a trusted person will make your health care decisions if you cannot make them for yourself.
If you would like to choose a health care agent, you should consider this choice carefully. You need to make sure that you trust this person to carry out the terms of your health care directive and living will and to act in your best interests on medical decisions that are not covered by yourhealth care directive and living will. Another important consideration is whether this person will be willing to be assertive with family members and medical staff to advocate for your wishes. Also, consider whether your healthcare agent lives within close proximity and will be able to be by your side at short notice.
Many people choose a close family member for this role. Common choices include a sibling, a spouse, an adult child, or other family member. Before finalizing your choice of a healthcare agent, you should talk to this person and make sure they are willing to take on this major responsibility.
Sign your health care directive and living will.
The requirements on health care directive and living will signatures are described in Rhode Island’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.
To make your health care directive and living will legally valid, you must sign it or direct someone to do so on your behalf. There must be two witnesses present when you sign. The witnesses must also sign the document. Neither of the witnesses should be related to you by blood or marriage.
Distribute your health care directive and living will.
After you sign your advance directives, you need to make sure that the right people have them. First of all, you should provide your health care agent with a copy. This will give them a better idea about your end-of-life treatment preferences.
Make sure to give your advance directives to your health care providers too. They will not be able to act on the instructions in your advance directives if they do not have copies of them. Finally, be sure to provide any close loved ones with your health care directive and living will and put a copy in a safe place that they know about and can access.
Update your health care directive and living will.
You should review your advance directives from time to time to make sure that you still agree with the selections you had previously made. There are also certain life events that may make it necessary to revise your advance directives. If you have gone through a divorce, an interstate move, received a new diagnosis, or simply had a change of heart, you may need to update your advance directives. In the event of a divorce, you may want to name a new health care agent to replace your former spouse.
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 Rhode Island healthcare directive & living will? It’s free to start.
Create My FormRhode Island Health Care Directive and Living Will FAQs
A last will and testament (a “will”) is the foundation of a good estate plan. You can use your will to provide for the distribution of your assets after your death as you see fit. If you have minor children, you can name guardians for them in a will too.
A living will is not a will in the traditional sense. It is a document you use to describe your wishes regarding medical treatment in the event that you become medically incapacitated with a terminal condition. You cannot use this document to name beneficiaries or describe who should receive your property.
A good estate plan contains both a living will and a will. By having both documents, you can make your wishes known regarding both your future health care and your property.
According to the Rhode Island law, there are certain minimum requirements for every health care directive and living will:
- You must be a competent individual 18 years old or older
- You must sign your document or direct someone to do so for you
- There must be two witnesses present at the time you sign.
Note that you may not choose anyone who is related to you by blood or marriage to act as a witness.
After you give your health care provider a copy of your advance directives, it is their responsibility to make them a part of your medical record.
Yes. Under Rhode Island law, your out-of-state health care directive and living will is valid if you created it in compliance with that state’s laws.
However, state laws are subject to change, so it’s a good policy to create advance directives that are tailored to Rhode Island law. If you have recently moved to Rhode Island from another state, it’s a good time to review your estate plan, including your advance directives. This will help to ensure that your instructions continue to reflect your wishes.
Through FindLaw, you can create a Rhode Island health care directive and living will in under an hour without needing to leave the comfort of home.
Your health care directive and living will does not go into effect just because of a medical emergency or an overnight hospital stay. It only becomes operative in more serious medical circumstances.
Under Rhode Island’s health care statutes, your health care directive and living will only goes into effect in the event that you become unable to consent to treatment, have a terminal condition, and your attending physician is aware of your health care directive and living will.
Your doctors may not act on the directions in your health care directive and living will if you are still able to communicate your treatment preferences. Your doctors must consult with you directly about your treatment choices as long as you are able to understand your options and give informed consent about medical treatment.
If your doctor is unwilling to carry out the terms of your health care directive and living will, Rhode Island statutes state that the doctor must transfer you to another health care provider who is willing to act on your wishes.
Under Rhode Island law, you can revoke your health care directive and living will or your POA document at any time and in any manner you are able to. This might include creating a new writing to revoke your prior advance directives or physically destroying your documents.
A good way of revoking your health care directive and living will is to create a new one that more accurately reflects your wishes. With FindLaw, you can create a new health care directive and living will that revokes all prior ones quickly and for only $35.
It’s important that you inform your health care providers immediately of your revocation. They will not be held liable in Rhode Island for acting on your health care directive and living will unless they were actually aware that you had revoked it.
In addition to informing your medical staff of a revocation, you should also let your healthcare agent and loved ones know. If you revoke your POA, you need to make your healthcare agent aware that you no longer need their services.
Already Have an Account?
Sign In
Sign into your Legal Forms and Services account to manage your estate planning documents.
Sign InCreate an Account for all Your Estate Planning Needs
Create an account allows to take advantage of these benefits:
- Access state-specific content curated especially for you
- Save your information as you go. Work on your documents in your own time
- Download, print, or edit your stored documents
Your account is secured by Thomson Reuters, one of the world's most trusted providers of answers.
