Wyoming Advance Directive: What the Form Covers and How to Sign It Correctly

If you end up in a Wyoming hospital unable to speak for yourself and you haven't signed an advance directive, state law — not your family — decides who makes your medical decisions. Wyoming's default surrogate hierarchy under W.S. § 35-22-406 hands that power to a ranked list of relatives, and when two people at the same rank disagree, the provider follows the majority. That is a recipe for a bedside stalemate exactly when your family is least able to handle one.

Wyoming solves this with a single combined document: the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD), governed by the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act (W.S. § 35-22-401 et seq.). Unlike states that make you sign a separate living will and a separate medical power of attorney, Wyoming folds everything into one form. Here's what's actually in it and how to execute it so hospitals honor it.

The Four Parts of the Wyoming Advance Directive

Part 1 — Power of Attorney for Health Care. This names your health care agent: the person who makes medical decisions for you if you lose capacity. You can (and should) name a primary agent plus at least one alternate. One important Wyoming restriction: your agent generally cannot be an owner, operator, or employee of a residential or community care facility where you receive care, unless they're related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption.

Part 2 — Instructions for Health Care. This is the "living will" section. It records your specific treatment choices: whether you want CPR, mechanical ventilation, artificially administered nutrition and hydration, and comfort care if you're terminally ill or permanently unconscious. Your agent's authority works best when these instructions are specific — "keep me comfortable but do not intubate" beats a vague "no heroic measures."

Part 3 — Donation of Organs at Death. States your anatomical gift wishes. Properly documented donation choices in the directive cannot be overridden by family members after death, though it's smart to also register with the state donor registry.

Part 4 — Primary Physician. Names the doctor you want primarily responsible for your care.

Signing Rules Under the Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act

This is where most do-it-yourself directives fail. The Wyoming Health Care Decisions Act sets precise execution requirements in W.S. § 35-22-403:

• The document must be in writing, dated, and signed by you while you have capacity. If you can't physically sign, you can direct someone else to sign in your presence.
• Your signature must be either acknowledged before a notary public or witnessed by two competent adults. Notarization is usually the easier path — no witness-eligibility questions.
• If you use witnesses, they cannot be: your treating healthcare provider or its employees, your designated agent, or an owner/operator/employee of a community or residential care facility providing your care.

There's no state filing requirement and no fee. The directive lives with you, your agent, and your providers — not at a courthouse.

One more Wyoming quirk worth knowing: the directive's instructions are legally suspended while you're pregnant, and a divorce, annulment, or legal separation automatically revokes your spouse's appointment as agent unless the decree or directive says otherwise.

Who Makes Decisions If You Never Sign One

Without a directive, W.S. § 35-22-406's default hierarchy kicks in, in this order: spouse (unless legally separated), adult children, parents, grandparents, adult siblings, adult grandchildren. Two problems in practice. First, the list may not match who you'd actually pick — a long-term partner isn't on it. Second, when several people share a rank (three adult children, say), the provider follows the majority, and an even split can end up in front of a District Court judge under W.S. § 35-22-415. A signed Part 1 eliminates both problems in about ten minutes.

Advance Directive vs. WyoPOLST

The advance directive is a planning document — it speaks for you in the future. The WyoPOLST (Portable Medical Orders, W.S. § 35-22-501 et seq.) is an active medical order for people already facing a terminal illness with a life expectancy under one year, or severe frailty. It's signed by a licensed clinician (MD, PA, or APRN), printed on gold cardstock, and follows the patient across settings. Most healthy Wyoming adults need the AHCD now; the WyoPOLST comes later, if ever. Our guide to the Wyoming POLST form covers that document in detail.

Making Sure It's Actually Honored

A signed directive in a drawer protects no one. Once executed:

1. Give copies to your primary agent, alternate agent, and primary care doctor.
2. Ask your local hospital's registration desk to add it to your file before any planned procedure.
3. Tell your family what you chose and why — an agent who understands your reasoning enforces it far better than one reading it cold.
4. Review it after any divorce, diagnosis, or move. Revoking the instructions portion is easy (any clear communication of intent works, with oral revocations documented in writing afterward), but revoking the agent appointment requires a signed writing under W.S. § 35-22-404.

If you want the whole process in one place — the statutory form, witness and notary checklists that walk every signature block, an agent-conversation worksheet, and a storage-and-distribution log so the right people actually have copies — the Wyoming Advance Directive & Living Will Kit packages it into a step-by-step system. Free templates give you a blank form; the kit makes sure the form you sign is the one that gets honored.

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