Advance Care Planning Alberta: Personal Directives, Agents, and Registration

What Advance Care Planning Means in Alberta

Advance care planning in Alberta is the process of documenting a person's wishes for future personal, health, and end-of-life decisions — and appointing someone to carry them out when the person can no longer speak for themselves.

The legal instrument for this is the Personal Directive, governed by the Personal Directives Act. Unlike some provinces that use multiple documents for different types of decisions, Alberta consolidates everything non-financial into one document. A Personal Directive can cover medical treatment consent, residential placement, social activities, diet, clothing, and personal legal matters.

The financial side is handled separately through an Enduring Power of Attorney under the Powers of Attorney Act. A complete advance care plan requires both documents.

Personal Directive vs. Living Will

Alberta does not legally recognize "living wills." The term is commonly used in conversation and by out-of-province resources, but under the Personal Directives Act, a living will has no statutory standing in Alberta.

The key differences:

Living will (informal/other jurisdictions): A written statement of treatment preferences, typically limited to end-of-life scenarios. It does not appoint anyone to make decisions. It is a statement, not an authority transfer.

Personal Directive (Alberta's legal instrument): Appoints a named agent to make personal and healthcare decisions within the authority the maker grants. It can include specific instructions (values, treatment preferences, care goals) but also empowers the agent to make decisions the maker could not have anticipated. The agent's authority is legally enforceable on healthcare providers and care facilities.

Families who move to Alberta from provinces or states that use living wills should execute an Alberta Personal Directive. A living will from another jurisdiction may inform the agent's decisions, but it does not grant the legal authority that Alberta institutions require.

How to Make a Personal Directive

Creating a valid Personal Directive in Alberta requires:

1. The maker must have capacity. Alberta law presumes every adult has capacity unless there are reasonable grounds to believe otherwise. The maker must understand the nature and effect of the document and appreciate the consequences of signing it.

2. Choose your agent. The agent is the person who will make personal and healthcare decisions when you can no longer make them yourself. You can appoint one agent, multiple co-agents (acting jointly, severally, or jointly and severally), or successive agents who step in if the primary agent cannot act.

3. Include instructions or leave it open. A Personal Directive can be entirely instructional ("I want comfort care only, no CPR, no hospital transfer"), entirely delegational ("my agent decides everything based on what they believe I would want"), or a combination. Most effective Personal Directives combine broad delegation with a few specific instructions about values and treatment limits.

4. Execute the document properly. The Personal Directive must be in writing, dated, and signed by the maker in the presence of a qualified witness. The witness signs in the maker's presence. Wet-ink signatures only — no electronic signatures.

5. Witness restrictions. The witness cannot be the appointed agent, the agent's spouse or adult interdependent partner, the maker's spouse or adult interdependent partner, anyone signing on the maker's behalf, or anyone under 18.

Appointing an Agent

The agent's role begins only when the maker loses capacity to make personal decisions. Until that point, the maker retains full autonomy regardless of what the Personal Directive says.

Choosing well:

• Pick someone who understands your values, not just someone geographically convenient
• Discuss your preferences explicitly — agents make better decisions when they know what you would have wanted
• Consider naming an alternate in case your primary agent cannot act when needed
• The agent does not need to live in Alberta, but proximity to the parent helps with hands-on care decisions

What the agent can decide: Medical treatment consent or refusal, residential placement (home care vs. care facility), hiring and firing of personal care workers, social activities, diet, clothing, participation in research studies, and personal legal matters unrelated to finances.

What the agent cannot decide: Any financial or property matter (that requires an EPA), and specific decisions the maker explicitly reserved or excluded in the Personal Directive.

Registration with the OPGT

The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee maintains a voluntary Personal Directives Registry. Registration is not required for the document to be legally valid, but it provides a critical benefit: when a parent is admitted to hospital unconscious or confused, healthcare providers can contact the OPGT registry to determine whether a Personal Directive exists and who the appointed agent is.

How to register:

• Submit the completed Personal Directive (or a copy) to the OPGT at the address specified on their current submission form
• There is no fee for registration
• If the maker revokes or updates the Personal Directive, submit the new version and notify the OPGT that the previous one is superseded

Why it matters: Without registration, the OPGT registry cannot help a healthcare provider verify whether a Personal Directive exists. If no copy is available, they may default to the Specific Decision-Making process under Section 96 of the AGTA, selecting a relative from the statutory hierarchy — who may not be the person the parent actually wanted making those decisions.

Connecting the Personal Directive to the Clinical System

A Personal Directive grants legal authority. The clinical system translates that authority into specific medical orders through the Goals of Care Designation (GCD), documented on the AHS Green Sleeve.

Once the agent is activated (typically after a Declaration of Incapacity), they work with the parent's physician or nurse practitioner to set the GCD — Resuscitation (R), Medical (M), or Comfort (C) — based on the parent's expressed values and the agent's understanding of what the parent would want.

The agent does not need the Personal Directive to be formally activated to participate in a GCD conversation. Healthcare teams routinely involve family members in care planning discussions, and the agent's role as the named decision-maker carries weight even before formal activation.

Our Alberta Power of Attorney & Personal Directive Kit walks through the full advance care planning process — Personal Directive creation, agent appointment, OPGT registration, and Green Sleeve coordination — in a single structured workflow.

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