How to Fill Out and Sign an Arizona Advance Directive

To fill out an Arizona advance directive, download the free Life Care Planning Packet from the Arizona Attorney General’s office, complete the forms that fit your situation (naming a healthcare agent, spelling out treatment wishes, and addressing mental health or DNR instructions if they apply), and sign each form in front of a notary or a qualifying adult witness. Arizona recognizes four separate directive forms, and you can complete one, several, or all of them.

Where to Get the Forms

The Arizona Attorney General’s office provides the full Life Care Planning Packet at no cost. You can download it from the AG’s website, pick up printed copies at the Phoenix or Tucson offices, or call (602) 542-2123 or (800) 352-8431 to request a packet by mail.¹ The packet’s forms are drafted to meet Arizona’s statutory requirements, which avoids formatting problems later. You can use any other form that meets the relevant statute, but the AG’s packet is the simplest starting point.

Decide Which Forms You Need

Four forms come in the packet:²

Health Care Power of Attorney — names an agent to make medical decisions when you can’t, and is the broadest of the four forms.
Living Will — a written statement of your wishes about life-sustaining treatment like ventilators, feeding tubes, and CPR. It can stand alone or attach to the Health Care Power of Attorney.
Mental Health Care Power of Attorney — authorizes an agent to make mental health decisions, including inpatient psychiatric admission, which a standard Health Care Power of Attorney does not automatically cover.³
Pre-Hospital Medical Directive (DNR) — instructs paramedics and ER staff to withhold CPR if you go into cardiac or respiratory arrest. Must be printed on an orange background.⁴

Most people start with the Health Care Power of Attorney because it covers the widest range of decisions and includes a built-in living will section. The mental health and DNR forms address specialized situations and can be added later.

Filling Out the Health Care Power of Attorney

The statutory sample form in A.R.S. § 36-3224 walks through several sections you fill in one at a time.⁵

Name Your Agent

Write your full legal name as the principal, then name the adult you want as your primary healthcare agent, with their address and phone number. Below that, name at least one alternate who steps in if your first choice is unavailable or unwilling to serve. Pick people you trust to follow your wishes under pressure. Unless you write in specific limitations, your agent’s authority is broad and covers virtually all medical decisions the moment you lose the ability to make or communicate them.⁶

Living Will Section

The form asks whether you have attached a living will. If you check “I have,” complete the attached living will portion. That’s where you spell out your preferences for life-sustaining treatment: feeding tubes, ventilators, CPR, artificially administered fluids, in situations like a terminal condition, irreversible coma, or persistent vegetative state. You can also address comfort care such as pain medication and spiritual support. Be specific. Vague language like “no heroic measures” leaves too much room for interpretation and puts your agent in a difficult spot.

Organ Donation

The optional organ donation section gives you four choices: decline donation entirely, reference an existing donor card or agreement, donate any needed organs or parts, or limit your donation to specific organs or purposes such as transplant only, research, or any legally authorized use.⁵ Leave it blank and your agent and family keep that authority under Arizona law; filling it in removes the ambiguity.

Autopsy

A short section lets you consent to, refuse, or delegate autopsy decisions to your agent. Initial the line that matches your preference.

Optional Physician Review

The form also includes an optional physician affidavit where your doctor can confirm they reviewed the document with you and discussed the medical consequences of your choices. It isn’t required for validity, but having your doctor sign off makes the directive harder to challenge later on competency grounds.

Filling Out the Mental Health Care Power of Attorney

The mental health form follows a similar structure but focuses on behavioral health treatment. You name an agent and alternate who can make decisions about mental health medications, outpatient services, and, if you initial the relevant line, inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.⁷ The hospitalization consent is opt-in: your agent cannot admit you to a psychiatric facility unless you specifically grant that power by initialing the designated line.

If you skip this form, an agent named in your standard Health Care Power of Attorney can still make mental health treatment decisions, but with more limited authority.³ Anyone with a history of mental health conditions or concerns about future episodes should consider completing it separately.

Filling Out the Pre-Hospital Medical Directive

The Pre-Hospital Medical Directive is Arizona’s out-of-hospital DNR. It instructs paramedics and emergency department staff to withhold CPR, including chest compressions, intubation, defibrillation, and emergency cardiac drugs, if you experience cardiac or respiratory arrest.⁴ It does not stop responders from providing other care like IV fluids, oxygen, or pain management.

The form has a unique physical requirement: it must be printed on an orange background in letter or wallet size. Emergency responders aren’t required to honor a directive that doesn’t meet this format, and if they have any doubt about validity or the medical situation, they must proceed with resuscitation. The orange form in the AG’s packet satisfies the requirement. If you’re already unable to sign, your healthcare agent or court-appointed guardian can sign on your behalf.

Signing the Forms

A directive that isn’t properly signed is just a piece of paper. Arizona law sets out specific execution rules.

Health Care Power of Attorney

Date and sign the document while you are of sound mind and acting voluntarily. Your signature must then be either notarized or witnessed by at least one adult.⁸ The notary or witness must affirm they were present when you signed and that you appeared to be of sound mind and free from duress.

If you use only one witness instead of a notary, that witness cannot be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption and cannot be entitled to any part of your estate. With two or more witnesses, the family-member restriction applies only to a single-witness setup, so a relative can serve as one of several. Regardless of how many witnesses you use, these people can never witness your signature:

Anyone named as your healthcare agent or alternate agent.
Anyone directly involved in providing your healthcare at the time you sign.

If you’re physically unable to sign, the notary or witness can verify on the document that you directly indicated the power of attorney expresses your wishes and that you intended to adopt it. Using a notary is the simplest route, since it avoids all the witness-eligibility questions and typically costs no more than $10 per signature in Arizona.

Mental Health Care Power of Attorney

The mental health form must also meet execution requirements under A.R.S. §§ 36-3281 and 36-3282. The sample form in the AG’s packet includes its own signature and witness/notary lines.⁷ Use the same notary-or-witness approach described above to be safe.

After You Sign

Register With AzHDR

Arizona maintains a statewide registry through AzHDR (Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry), part of the state’s health information exchange. Download the registration forms from AzHDR’s website and follow the step-by-step process. Once your documents are accepted, you’ll receive login information to set up an account and instructions to complete a wallet card with a link and QR code that your agents, family, and medical providers can use to view your documents.² Registration isn’t legally required, but a directive locked in a filing cabinet doesn’t help if you’re brought to an emergency room unconscious.

Give Copies to the Right People

Even with registry access, hand out copies. Each agent should have one so they can present it to medical staff immediately. Give a copy to your primary care physician for your medical file. Tell close family where the originals are stored, whether in a fireproof safe or a clearly labeled folder someone can grab quickly. Federal law requires hospitals and long-term care facilities to ask whether you have an advance directive on admission, so having a copy on hand speeds up that conversation.

Revoke or Update

You can revoke an Arizona directive at any time and in any manner that communicates your intent, in writing, speaking, or any other clear expression. The revocation takes effect when you or someone acting for you communicates it to your attending physician or healthcare provider, who must record it in your medical record.⁹

One detail that catches people off guard: if you revoke a directive, your spouse is automatically disqualified from acting as your surrogate or agent unless you re-designate them after the revocation. So if you revoke and redo your directive naming the same spouse, execute the new document from scratch. Life events like marriage, divorce, a new diagnosis, or a move should prompt a review. When you update, destroy the old copies, distribute the new version, and update your AzHDR registration.

If You Spend Time in Another State

Arizona recognizes directives executed in another state, district, or U.S. territory as long as the document was valid where and when it was created and does not conflict with Arizona criminal law.¹⁰ An Arizona directive taken out of state depends on that state’s laws. If you split time between Arizona and somewhere else, completing a separate set of directives for each state is the most reliable approach.

1
Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Life Care Planning
2
Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry. How to Register Your Advance Directives
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3281 – Mental Health Care Power of Attorney; Scope; Definition
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3251 – Prehospital Medical Care Directives; Form; Effect; Immunity
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3224 – Sample Health Care Power of Attorney
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3223 – Agents; Powers and Duties; Removal; Responsibility
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3286 – Sample Mental Health Care Power of Attorney
8
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3221 – Health Care Power of Attorney; Scope; Requirements; Limitations; Fiduciaries
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 36-3202 – Revocation of Health Care Directive; Disqualification of Surrogate
10
Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Life Care Planning Packet