Connecticut Living Will Form: How to Create One That Hospitals Actually Honor

A living will in Connecticut is not a standalone document. Under C.G.S. § 19a-575a, it is one section of a combined advance directive that also covers your health care representative appointment, conservator designation, and anatomical gift preferences. Filling out the wrong form — or executing it incorrectly — means a hospital can legally ignore your end-of-life wishes during a crisis.

Here is exactly how to complete a legally valid Connecticut living will, what the state requires, and the mistakes that invalidate documents most often.

What a Connecticut Living Will Actually Covers

A Connecticut living will provides written instructions about life-sustaining treatment — specifically what you do or do not want if you are terminally ill, permanently unconscious, or in an end-stage condition and cannot communicate.

It covers decisions about:

• Mechanical ventilation
• Artificial nutrition and hydration (feeding tubes)
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• Dialysis and similar interventions

A living will does not cover day-to-day medical decisions while you are competent, financial matters, or situations short of the statutory trigger conditions. For financial authority, you need a separate durable financial power of attorney — which has different execution requirements (two witnesses plus notarization, compared to the living will's two witnesses only).

The Correct Form to Use

Connecticut's Office of the Attorney General publishes the official combined advance directive form. This single document includes all four components: living will, health care representative appointment, conservator designation, and organ donation wishes.

Do not use a generic template from a national form site. Connecticut requires specific statutory language under C.G.S. § 19a-575a, and documents missing that language can be challenged in probate court.

The state form is free to download from the Attorney General's portal at portal.ct.gov. However, the raw PDF comes without instructions on how to properly execute it, which is where most errors happen.

Execution Requirements: Witnesses and Notarization

Connecticut's witness rules for a living will are straightforward but strict:

Required: Your signature plus two adult witnesses who watch you sign. The witnesses must be 18 or older and present when you sign the document.

Prohibited witness: Your appointed health care representative cannot serve as a witness. If they do, the entire document can be challenged.

Notarization: Not legally required for the living will itself. However, Connecticut offers an optional witness affidavit under C.G.S. § 19a-578. When your witnesses sign this affidavit before a notary, it creates prima facie evidence of validity — meaning if anyone challenges your directive in probate court, the burden of proof shifts to them.

For comparison, a financial power of attorney in Connecticut requires both two witnesses and notarization. This is one of the most common sources of confusion — people assume the same rules apply to both documents.

When the Living Will Takes Effect

Your living will only activates when two conditions are met simultaneously:

1. You lack the capacity to communicate your own medical decisions
2. Your condition meets one of three statutory thresholds: terminal illness, permanent unconsciousness, or end-stage condition

Until both conditions exist, the document sits inactive. Your attending physician makes the capacity determination, and the terminal/end-stage diagnosis typically requires confirmation from a second physician.

This is a critical distinction from a MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), which takes effect immediately as an active medical order signed by your clinician. If you are facing an imminent medical crisis — hospice transition, upcoming surgery, advanced frailty — a living will alone may not provide the coverage you need.

Common Mistakes That Invalidate Connecticut Living Wills

Using the wrong form. Generic living will templates from national sites often miss Connecticut-specific statutory language. The state's combined advance directive format is the safest option.

Having the health care representative witness the document. Connecticut explicitly prohibits this. It is one of the most frequent execution errors.

Failing to complete the witness affidavit. While optional, skipping the notarized witness affidavit under C.G.S. § 19a-578 leaves the document vulnerable to challenges. The affidavit costs a few dollars at any notary and provides significant legal protection.

Assuming it covers financial matters. A living will addresses medical decisions only. You need a separate financial POA with its own stricter execution requirements.

Not distributing copies. Connecticut does not have a state registry for advance directives. You are responsible for giving copies to your health care representative, primary physician, hospital, and any long-term care facility where you reside.

The Pregnancy Restriction

Connecticut law includes a provision that many people miss: if you are pregnant, instructions in your living will directing the withholding or withdrawal of life-support systems are legally invalid unless the fetus is not viable or your document contains highly specific custom instructions addressing the situation.

If you are of childbearing age, discuss this provision with your physician and consider adding explicit language to your directive.

What to Do After Completing the Form

Once your living will is signed and witnessed:

1. Make copies. Give one to your health care representative, your primary care physician, and any hospital or care facility.
2. Complete the optional witness affidavit. Take it to a notary with your two witnesses.
3. Consider a MOLST. If you have a serious illness, talk to your doctor about completing a MOLST form for immediate medical orders.
4. Store the original safely. Keep it accessible — not in a safe deposit box that family cannot reach in an emergency.
5. Review periodically. Update your directive after any major health event, marriage, divorce, or if you move out of Connecticut.

The Connecticut Advance Directive & Living Will Kit walks through every section of the combined form with plain-English instructions, witness eligibility rules, and a document distribution checklist to make sure your wishes are actually honored when they matter.

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