Living Will vs Advance Directive in Maine: What's the Difference?

The terms "living will," "advance directive," and "healthcare proxy" get used interchangeably online, which creates real confusion when you sit down to actually complete your documents. In Maine, the distinction is simpler than most states — but understanding it matters because filling out the wrong form (or only part of the right one) can leave gaps in your coverage.

Maine Uses One Combined Document

Unlike states that treat the living will and healthcare proxy as separate legal documents, Maine rolls everything into a single instrument: the advance health care directive, authorized under the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act (Title 18-C, Section 5-801 et seq.).

This one document has multiple parts:

Part 1: Healthcare Agent Designation (the "proxy" part). This is where you name a person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you can't make them yourself. Maine calls this person your "healthcare agent" — other states use "healthcare proxy," "surrogate," or "patient advocate," but the function is identical. You can also name an alternate agent.

Part 2: Individual Instructions (the "living will" part). This is where you document your preferences for life-sustaining treatment — ventilators, feeding tubes, CPR, dialysis, pain management. These instructions guide your agent and your doctors when you can't speak for yourself.

Part 3: Anatomical Gifts. Organ and tissue donation preferences.

Part 4: Designation of Agent for Disposition of Remains. Burial and cremation authority (requires notarization if included).

Why the Distinction Still Matters

Even though Maine uses a combined document, the living will portion and the healthcare agent portion do different things — and one without the other leaves a gap.

Agent without instructions: Your agent has authority to decide, but no guidance on what you'd want. This puts the full burden on them to guess your preferences during a crisis. The agent must act in your "best interest," which is subjective and can lead to family disagreements.

Instructions without an agent: Your treatment preferences are documented, but there's no designated person to advocate for them. If your written instructions don't cover a specific scenario — and they can't cover everything — doctors fall to Maine's statutory surrogate hierarchy (spouse, then adult children, then parents, then siblings). If the people at the top of that list disagree, the entire class can be disqualified from deciding.

Both together: Your agent knows what you want and has the legal authority to enforce it across any medical scenario, including ones you didn't specifically anticipate. This is the strongest protection.

What's Not Included in the Advance Directive

The advance directive covers healthcare decisions only. It does not cover:

• Financial decisions. You need a separate durable power of attorney for finances, which must be notarized under Maine law.
• Emergency resuscitation orders. A living will tells your hospital what you want long-term, but paramedics responding to a 911 call are legally required to perform CPR unless they see a signed POLST form or Maine EMS Comfort Care/DNR order. Your advance directive alone won't stop them.
• Probate and estate distribution. That's your will or trust.

Do You Need a Separate Living Will?

No. If you complete all parts of Maine's advance health care directive, you've covered both the healthcare agent designation and the living will. There's no legal benefit to executing a standalone living will document in Maine — and doing so could create confusion if the standalone document contradicts your advance directive.

The Maine Advance Directive & Living Will Kit walks you through every section of the combined document with plain-language prompts, so you don't miss the living will provisions or the agent designation.

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