How to Revoke a Living Will in Tennessee

Your advance directive isn't permanent. Life changes — a new diagnosis, a different spouse, updated treatment preferences, a change in who you trust to make medical decisions — and Tennessee law makes revocation straightforward. But "straightforward" doesn't mean you can just tear up the document and assume you're covered.

Methods of Revocation Under Tennessee Law

Under the Health Care Decisions Act (T.C.A. § 68-11-1804), a person with capacity can revoke an Advance Directive for Health Care, but the method differs for the agent designation and the other instructions:

Revoking the agent designation. Use a signed writing or personally inform the supervising healthcare provider. The statute does not require a witness or notary for the signed writing.

Revoking other instructions. You may revoke all or part of the advance directive, other than the agent designation, in any manner that communicates an intent to revoke. Tearing up, burning, or otherwise destroying the document can communicate that intent; accidentally spilling coffee on it does not.

Oral revocation. For the agent designation, personally inform the supervising healthcare provider. For other parts, an oral statement or another act can revoke the instruction if it communicates an intent to revoke.

Executing a new advance directive. A newer advance directive revokes an earlier directive to the extent the two conflict. You don't need to formally revoke the old one first, but you should clearly update conflicting instructions.

What You Need to Do After Revoking

Revocation can be effective under the statute when you communicate or act with the required intent — but practically, everyone who holds a copy of your old directive needs to know it's been revoked. Otherwise, a hospital admitting you during an emergency may rely on the old document.

Notify these people and institutions:

1. Your healthcare agent and alternate agent
2. Your primary care physician and any specialists who have your directive on file
3. Any hospital, nursing facility, or assisted living community where you've provided a copy
4. Family members who may present the document on your behalf
5. If you used the Department of Safety Driver Services emergency-contact acknowledgement, update that information as appropriate

Retrieve or mark old copies. Wherever possible, collect old copies and destroy them. If you can't retrieve a copy (it's in a hospital's electronic medical record, for example), send a written notice of revocation to the facility so they can update their records.

Revoking Part of Your Directive

Tennessee's unified Advance Directive for Health Care combines your healthcare agent appointment and your treatment instructions in one document. You can revoke one without the other:

• Revoke only your agent appointment — use a signed writing, personally inform the supervising healthcare provider, or execute a new directive that names a different agent while keeping the same treatment instructions
• Change only your treatment preferences — execute a new directive that keeps the same agent but updates the advance care plan
• Revoke the agent appointment entirely — use a signed writing or personally inform the supervising healthcare provider; without a named agent, the default surrogate framework may apply

In practice, most people execute a complete new directive rather than trying to partially revoke. A new document with a later date revokes the old one only to the extent of a conflict, so clearly mark or notify people about the parts that changed.

When to Update Rather Than Revoke

Not every life change requires a full revocation. Consider updating (executing a new directive) when:

• You divorce or legally separate from a spouse named as your agent — the divorce or separation generally revokes that designation unless the decree or directive says otherwise
• A new medical diagnosis changes your treatment preferences
• Your designated agent moves away, becomes incapacitated, or you no longer trust their judgment
• You move to Tennessee from another state — your out-of-state directive may be honored, but a Tennessee-specific form eliminates uncertainty
• Your family situation changes (new children, death of a designated agent)

Consider outright revocation (without a replacement) only if you've decided you don't want an advance directive at all — which means accepting that the default surrogate hierarchy under T.C.A. § 68-11-1806 will control your medical decisions.

Capacity Requirements

You must have decision-making capacity to revoke your advance directive. If you've already lost capacity, your healthcare agent cannot revoke the directive on your behalf — they can only make decisions within the authority the directive grants them.

This is why timing matters for updates. If you're facing a progressive condition like dementia, update your directive while you still have capacity. Once a physician determines you lack the ability to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of a healthcare decision, you can no longer execute, revoke, or modify your directive.

The Tennessee Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes revocation guidance and a notification checklist so you know exactly who to contact and what to document when your wishes change.

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