How to Revoke an Advance Directive or Living Will in New Mexico

Your advance directive is not permanent. Under NMSA 1978 § 24-7A-4, you can revoke or change it at any time — as long as you have the mental capacity to do so. But how you revoke it matters, because an old copy floating in a hospital's electronic health record can override your current wishes if nobody knows it's been cancelled.

Two Ways to Revoke

1. Written Revocation

Sign a new written statement that explicitly revokes your previous advance directive. This can be:

• A new advance directive that replaces the old one (most common — you update your wishes and agent designation at the same time)
• A standalone revocation letter

If you physically cannot sign, another person can sign the written revocation at your direction. In this case — and only this case — two adult witnesses must be present, and both must sign in each other's presence. This is a hard statutory requirement.

2. Verbal Revocation

Tell your supervising healthcare provider directly that you want to revoke your advance directive. The provider must document the revocation in your medical record.

A verbal revocation is immediately effective once communicated to the treating clinician. You don't need witnesses for a verbal revocation (unless someone else is speaking on your behalf due to physical limitations — the same two-witness rule applies).

Critical Follow-Up Steps

Revoking the directive in one place doesn't automatically revoke all copies. Take these steps:

1. Notify your healthcare agent and alternate agent in writing that their authority is revoked
2. Contact your primary care physician and request that the old directive be removed from your medical record and replaced with the new one (or marked as revoked)
3. Notify every hospital or healthcare system where your directive is on file — Presbyterian, UNM Health, Lovelace, or any facility that scanned a copy during a previous admission
4. Destroy all physical copies of the old document that you can locate
5. Retrieve your copy from whoever stores your original — if it's with your attorney, your agent, or filed with a county clerk (though New Mexico has no filing requirement)

The danger with missed copies: a physician consulting your chart at 3 a.m. will follow whatever advance directive they find in the system. If the old one is still there and the new one isn't, your outdated instructions could be followed.

When to Revoke and Re-Execute

Major life changes should trigger a review:

• New diagnosis — especially a terminal or progressive illness that changes your treatment preferences
• Marriage or divorce — your spouse may be your named agent, or the default surrogate hierarchy shifts
• Death of your healthcare agent — your document still works through your successor agent, but this is the right time to review everything
• Move from another state — while New Mexico recognizes out-of-state directives under § 24-7A-16(C), executing a New Mexico-specific form eliminates any clinical hesitation
• Change of mind — your values around life-sustaining treatment, artificial nutrition, or organ donation may evolve

Partial Revocation

You can revoke part of your directive without canceling the whole thing. For example, you could revoke your healthcare agent designation (replacing your agent with someone else) while keeping your living will instructions intact, or vice versa. Write clearly which sections you're revoking and which remain in effect.

Can Someone Else Revoke It for You?

Your healthcare agent cannot revoke your advance directive. Only you — the person who created it — can revoke it, either directly or by directing someone to sign a written revocation on your behalf. If you've lost decision-making capacity, your directive stays in effect as written.

This is by design. The directive protects your wishes specifically in situations where you can't communicate them. Allowing an agent to revoke the document they're authorized to enforce would undermine the entire system.

The New Mexico Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes a revocation template and a distribution tracker that helps you manage who has copies of your current directive — making a clean revocation straightforward.

See more New Mexico guides →