Advance Directive Wisconsin: Living Will, Healthcare POA, and Final Disposition

People use "advance directive" as if it means one document. In Wisconsin, it's actually a set of three separate legal forms, each covering a different type of decision. Getting them confused — or filling out only one — leaves gaps that surface at the worst possible time.

The Three Documents That Make Up a Wisconsin Advance Directive

A complete advance directive in Wisconsin consists of:

1. Power of Attorney for Health Care (Form F-00085) — This names an agent to make medical decisions when your parent is clinically incapacitated. It covers everything from choosing doctors to consenting to surgery. Under Wis. Stat. ch. 155, the agent has no authority until two physicians (or one physician and one advanced practice clinician) certify in writing that the principal cannot make their own decisions.

2. Declaration to Physicians / Living Will (Form F-00060) — This states your parent's wishes about life-sustaining treatment, but it only activates in two narrow situations: terminal illness or persistent vegetative state. A living will cannot appoint anyone to make decisions — it simply records instructions for physicians to follow.

3. Authorization for Final Disposition (Form F-00086) — This names someone to handle burial, cremation, and funeral arrangements. Without it, Wisconsin law defaults to a priority list of family members, which creates problems when siblings disagree.

Living Will vs. Healthcare POA — Why You Need Both

The most common mistake is assuming a living will covers everything. It doesn't.

A living will only speaks to end-of-life scenarios — "pull the plug" decisions. It says nothing about a broken hip that needs surgery, a medication change, or whether your parent should move from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility. If your parent has a stroke and loses capacity but isn't terminal, the living will is silent.

A healthcare POA, on the other hand, covers any medical decision once capacity is lost. Your agent can consent to surgery, choose between treatment options, access medical records, and authorize facility admissions — as long as the right checkboxes were marked on the form.

Both documents together cover the full spectrum: the healthcare POA handles day-to-day medical decisions during incapacity, and the living will provides guidance for the specific scenarios where life support is the question.

Execution Requirements for the Healthcare POA

Wisconsin's witnessing rules for the healthcare POA (Wis. Stat. § 155.10(2)) are stricter than for a financial POA:

• Two adult witnesses must be present at signing — a notary alone is not sufficient.
• Witnesses cannot be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption.
• Witnesses cannot have a known claim on the principal's estate.
• Witnesses cannot be directly financially responsible for the principal's care.
• Witnesses cannot be a healthcare provider treating the principal or an employee of that provider.

Finding two qualifying witnesses in a hospital setting can be surprisingly difficult. Plan ahead.

The Checkboxes That Families Miss

Form F-00085 contains specific checkboxes that most families skip or don't understand. Without explicit "Yes" initials on these items, the agent cannot:

• Consent to admission to a nursing home or Community-Based Residential Facility (CBRF)
• Authorize the withdrawal or withholding of non-medically indicated feeding tubes or hydration

If your parent doesn't initial "Yes" for long-term care placement, and they later need to move into a nursing home, the healthcare agent cannot sign the admission papers. The family would need to pursue a court-ordered protective placement under Chapter 55 — a process that involves a guardian ad litem, a formal hearing, and ongoing annual reviews.

When to Complete These Documents

The only time these documents can be executed is while your parent still has the cognitive capacity to understand what they're signing. A dementia diagnosis alone doesn't remove capacity — the legal standard is whether the person can understand the nature and consequences of the document at the moment of signing. But capacity fluctuates and eventually closes.

The living will has no activation requirement beyond terminal illness or vegetative state. The healthcare POA sits dormant until two clinicians certify incapacity. Neither document costs anything to execute — just the time to fill them out correctly and find qualifying witnesses.

Your Next Step

If your parent hasn't completed all three documents, the window to act is now. Our Wisconsin Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit includes step-by-step instructions for each form, a witness qualification checklist, and guidance on the critical checkbox decisions that determine whether the healthcare POA actually works when you need it.

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