How to Revoke a Living Will in Washington: Three Legal Methods

Circumstances change. A new diagnosis, a new spouse, a shift in your values about end-of-life care — any of these can make your existing living will wrong for who you are today. Washington law makes revocation straightforward, but the follow-through is where most people fail.

The Three Legal Methods of Revocation

Under RCW 70.122.040, Washington recognizes three ways to revoke a Health Care Directive (living will):

1. Physical Destruction

Burn, tear, shred, or otherwise obliterate the document. This is the most definitive method — there's no ambiguity about your intent when the original no longer exists.

The catch: you need to destroy or recall every copy. If your physician, hospital, and healthcare agent all have copies and you only destroy the original in your filing cabinet, those copies may still be treated as valid.

2. Written Revocation

Write a dated, signed statement declaring that you revoke your Health Care Directive. You don't need to use specific legal language — a clear statement of intent is sufficient. But dating and signing it establishes when the revocation took effect.

This method is better when you can't track down every copy. The written revocation supersedes the directive as of its execution date, regardless of whether copies of the old directive still exist somewhere.

3. Verbal Revocation in Front of a Physician

You can verbally tell your attending physician that you revoke your directive. The physician must then document the revocation in your medical record. This is the emergency option — useful when you're already in the hospital and need to change course immediately.

Note: verbal revocation in front of a family member, nurse, or social worker doesn't satisfy the statute. It must be communicated directly to the attending physician.

The Step Most People Skip: Notification

Revoking the directive is the legal act. But making sure everyone who has a copy knows about the revocation is what actually prevents it from being followed. After revoking:

1. Notify your healthcare agent — they need to know they should no longer rely on the revoked document
2. Notify your primary care physician — have the revocation documented in your electronic health record
3. Notify your hospital — contact the admitting department of any hospital where you filed copies
4. Notify your specialists — any doctor who has a copy on file
5. Retrieve or destroy distributed copies where possible

A revocation is legally effective the moment it happens. But if a physician in an emergency relies on a copy of the old directive that they reasonably believe is current, they may follow it in good faith — and they're protected from liability under RCW 70.122.051 for doing so.

Revoking vs. Replacing

In most cases, people revoke an old directive because they want a new one — not because they want no directive at all. If that's your situation:

1. Execute the new Health Care Directive first (following all signing and witness requirements under RCW 70.122.030)
2. Include language in the new document stating it supersedes all prior directives
3. Then formally revoke the old directive using one of the three methods above
4. Distribute the new directive to everyone who had the old one

This sequence ensures you're never without coverage. If you revoke first and then something delays the new document — a scheduling conflict with the notary, a witness who backs out — you're unprotected during the gap.

Special Situations

Capacity and revocation. Under Washington law, you're presumed to have capacity to revoke your directive unless a physician or court has determined otherwise. If you've already been determined to lack capacity, revocation is more complex — it depends on whether you elected to retain the right to revoke while incapacitated at the time you originally signed the directive (per RCW 71.32.080).

Divorce. Under RCW 11.125.085, divorce automatically revokes your former spouse's authority as your healthcare agent in the DPOA-HC. But it does not automatically revoke your Health Care Directive (living will) itself. You need to separately revoke and re-execute the directive if your end-of-life treatment instructions have changed.

Moving out of state. A Washington directive revoked in Washington is revoked everywhere. But if you've moved to another state and want to create new documents under that state's law, check whether your new state requires you to formally revoke prior out-of-state directives.

Washington's advance directive kit includes guidance on the revocation process and templates for both execution and replacement, so you can update your documents without creating gaps in coverage.

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