Where to File and Store Your Advance Directive in Maine

Signing your advance directive is only half the job. If no one can find it during a medical crisis, it's legally useless — emergency responders will default to full resuscitative measures, and hospital staff will turn to the statutory surrogate hierarchy instead of your designated healthcare agent.

Maine does not maintain a centralized state advance directive registry. Unlike some states that offer an electronic database, Maine puts the entire burden of storage and distribution on you. That means your completed directive needs to be in the right hands and the right places before an emergency happens.

Who Needs a Copy

Distribute your signed advance directive to each of the following:

Your healthcare agent and alternate agent. They need the original or a high-quality copy so they can present it to medical staff and prove their authority. Give them a physical copy and a digital scan.

Your primary care physician. Call your doctor's office and ask them to add it to your electronic medical record (EMR). Most practices in Maine use systems like Epic or Cerner and can scan the document directly into your patient file.

Your local hospital. MaineHealth, Northern Light Health, and other hospital systems accept advance directive copies through their Health Information Management (HIM) departments. Call the main number, ask for HIM or medical records, and they'll tell you how to submit — typically by mail, fax, or in-person delivery.

Any long-term care facility where you reside. If you live in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or residential care facility, your directive should be in your admissions file and medical chart.

Your attorney, if you have one. An estate planning attorney can keep a copy in your file alongside your will and power of attorney documents.

Close family members. Even family members who aren't your designated agent should know the directive exists and where to find it. This prevents disputes and delays if your agent is temporarily unreachable.

Where to Keep the Original

The original signed directive should be somewhere accessible — not locked in a safe deposit box that your family can't access on a weekend or holiday. Good options:

• A fireproof home safe or filing cabinet that your agent knows about
• With your healthcare agent directly
• In a clearly labeled folder in your home office or bedroom

Keep a photocopy in your wallet or purse alongside your health insurance card. Some people also carry a wallet card noting that an advance directive exists and listing the healthcare agent's contact information.

Digital Backup Options

Since Maine has no state registry, creating your own digital backup is important:

• Scan the signed directive as a PDF and email it to your healthcare agent, alternate agent, and close family
• Store it in a shared cloud folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud) that your agent can access
• Some hospitals now accept uploads through patient portals — check whether your provider supports this

A digital copy isn't a substitute for filing the original with your doctor and hospital, but it ensures someone can pull up your wishes from a phone in an emergency room.

Updating Your Records After Changes

If you revoke or update your advance directive, you must replace every distributed copy. Under Maine law, you can revoke a directive verbally by telling your physician, in writing with a signed revocation, or by executing a new directive. But the old copies don't self-destruct — you need to physically or digitally replace them.

Contact every person and institution on your distribution list, provide the new document, and ask them to destroy the old version. Mark any copies you still control as "REVOKED" with the date and your signature.

The Maine Advance Directive & Living Will Kit includes a distribution checklist and filing letter templates you can send to hospitals and physicians, making the distribution process straightforward.

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