How to Revoke an Advance Directive in Maryland

You Can Change Your Mind at Any Time

A Maryland advance directive is not permanent. Under the Health Care Decisions Act (Md. Code, Health-General § 5-604), you can revoke your advance directive at any time, as long as you have decision-making capacity at the moment of revocation.

Maryland provides four separate methods to revoke:

Method 1: Written Revocation

Sign and date a written statement that you are revoking your advance directive. This revocation does not need to follow any specific format — a simple, clear statement is sufficient. It does not need witnesses or notarization, though having a witness sign can prevent disputes later.

Method 2: Destroy the Document

Physically destroying or defacing the original advance directive constitutes revocation. This includes tearing, shredding, or marking through the document in a way that makes the intent to revoke clear.

The risk with this method: if copies exist with your healthcare agent, physician, or on MyDirectives.com, destroying only the original can create confusion. Anyone holding an older copy may not know it has been revoked.

Method 3: Oral Revocation

You can revoke your advance directive by orally informing your attending physician. The physician is required to document the oral revocation in your medical record. This method is designed for situations where you are hospitalized and cannot physically sign a written revocation.

Oral revocation is legally effective, but it creates the highest risk of disputes. Family members who were not present during the oral statement may challenge whether you had capacity or whether you clearly expressed the intent to revoke.

Method 4: Execute a New Advance Directive

Signing a new advance directive automatically supersedes the previous one. This is the cleanest method because it simultaneously revokes the old document and establishes your updated preferences. The new document must meet all standard execution requirements — your signature, two adult witnesses, and the proper disinterested witness rule.

The Critical Rule About Incapacity

Here is the part of Maryland law that most guides skip: you can include a clause in your advance directive that expressly waives your right to revoke the document during a period of certified mental incapacity.

This provision exists for a specific scenario. Imagine you complete an advance directive while fully competent, specifying that you do not want life-sustaining treatment if you enter a persistent vegetative state. Later, during a period of dementia-related confusion, you verbally tell a nurse that you want everything done to keep you alive. Without the waiver clause, that confused statement could be treated as an oral revocation — undoing the carefully considered decision you made while competent.

By initialing the waiver clause, you ensure that revocation can only occur when you have verified decision-making capacity, preventing confusion-driven statements from overriding your planned preferences.

After You Revoke: Clean Up

Revoking your advance directive is the first step. You also need to:

1. Notify your healthcare agent that they no longer have authority
2. Inform your physician so the old directive is removed from your medical record
3. Remove from MyDirectives.com or any other digital repository
4. Retrieve or destroy all distributed copies — from your agent, backup agents, hospital, and any family members who hold copies
5. Execute a new advance directive if your intent is to change your preferences rather than simply eliminate all directives

Leaving old copies in circulation after a revocation creates a dangerous situation where medical personnel may follow outdated instructions.

The Maryland Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes a distribution tracking checklist, so when you need to revoke or update, you know exactly where every copy is and who needs to be notified.

See more Maryland guides →