Advance Directive and Living Will in Wyoming: What Adult Children Need to Know

Your parent just got discharged from the hospital, and nobody at the facility would tell you anything about their treatment plan. That wall of silence hits thousands of Wyoming families every year — and the fix is a single legal document most people never complete.

Wyoming combines the living will and healthcare proxy into one instrument: the Advance Health Care Directive under W.S. § 35-22-401 et seq. Understanding how this document works, and how to get it signed correctly, can mean the difference between coordinating your parent's care and being locked out entirely.

What an Advance Directive Actually Does in Wyoming

Unlike states that separate the living will from the healthcare power of attorney, Wyoming rolls both into a single statutory form. The advance directive lets your parent:

• Name a healthcare agent who can make medical decisions if they lose capacity
• Spell out individual instructions (the "living will" portion) covering life-sustaining treatment, artificial nutrition, hydration, and CPR preferences
• Grant HIPAA authorization so the agent can access protected health information

Under W.S. § 35-22-403(d), the healthcare agent's authority kicks in only when a physician certifies in writing that your parent lacks the capacity to make their own medical decisions. If your parent recovers capacity, the agent's authority stops immediately.

Execution Requirements: Notarization or Two Witnesses

Wyoming gives families a choice for making the advance directive legally valid:

Option A — Notarization. Your parent signs before a notary public. No witnesses needed.

Option B — Two qualified witnesses. Your parent signs in front of two adults who are not:

• The person named as healthcare agent
• A treating healthcare provider or their employee
• An operator or employee of the care facility where your parent lives

Either option works. Notarization is simpler if your parent can get to a bank or UPS store. The witness route works well for parents who are homebound — a neighbor and a friend of the family can serve.

Your parent can also direct someone else to sign on their behalf, as long as that person signs in your parent's "conscious presence" and at their express direction. This matters when a parent has the mental clarity to make decisions but physically cannot hold a pen.

The Healthcare Agent Restriction Most Families Miss

W.S. § 35-22-403 bars certain people from serving as healthcare agent. If your parent lives in an assisted living facility or nursing home, no employee or operator of that facility can be named as agent — unless the person is also a family member.

This catches families off guard when a parent has grown close to a particular caregiver at their facility. The restriction exists to prevent conflicts of interest, and violating it can void the appointment entirely.

How the Living Will Portion Works

The individual instructions section lets your parent state preferences on:

• Life-sustaining treatment — whether to continue mechanical ventilation, dialysis, or other interventions when recovery is not expected
• Artificial nutrition and hydration — tube feeding and IV fluids
• Pain management — even if it may hasten death
• CPR and resuscitation — though a separate WyoPOLST form is used for emergency medical technicians

These instructions bind healthcare providers. Under W.S. § 35-22-408, a provider who refuses to comply with a valid directive must make a reasonable effort to transfer the patient to a provider who will honor it.

Revoking or Updating the Directive

Your parent can revoke an advance directive at any time while they still have capacity. Wyoming accepts revocation by:

• A written, signed statement
• An oral statement to a primary healthcare provider
• Executing a new advance directive that conflicts with the old one

The revocation is not effective against any third party until they receive actual notice. If your parent changes their mind about end-of-life preferences or wants to name a different agent, it is worth sending written notice to every provider who has the old directive on file.

Why This Matters for Coordinating Care

Without an advance directive, hospitals and nursing facilities in Wyoming default to the state's consent hierarchy, which may not align with what your family needs. An estranged spouse could technically outrank a devoted adult child in the decision-making chain. The advance directive puts your parent's chosen agent in control — and the living will portion ensures their treatment preferences are followed even if no family member is available.

The Wyoming Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit walks you through completing both the healthcare directive and the financial power of attorney, with step-by-step instructions for the execution requirements, HIPAA authorization language, and the specific facility-employee restrictions that apply in Wyoming.

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