Free Minnesota Advance Directive Template

Minnesota’s statute does not use the phrase advance directive. Chapter 145C calls the document a health care directive, so a Minnesota advance directive and a Minnesota health care directive mean the same thing.

That document can carry health care instructions, a health care power of attorney, or both at once. The Minnesota Attorney General publishes a form built around the chapter.

Section 145C.03 lists six conditions for legal sufficiency, and each one is easy to satisfy.

The Six Conditions

A Minnesota health care directive must be in writing, carry a date, and state your name. Someone with the capacity to do so must execute it, and it carries your signature or that of a person you authorized to sign for you. Verification of that signature has to appear on the document. Finally, it must contain a health care instruction, a health care power of attorney, or both.

Verification: Notary or Witnesses

Either a notary public or a set of witnesses can supply that verification. You choose one route, and the date goes on when the notary or the witnesses complete their part.

Who Cannot Verify Your Signature

Your health care agent, and any alternate agent, may not act as a witness or as the notary.

At least one witness must not be a health care provider giving you direct care, and must not be an employee of one, on the day you sign. A notary, in contrast, may be an employee of a health care provider giving you direct care.

Who Cannot Serve as Your Agent

Anyone you appoint to determine your decision-making capacity is ineligible to act as your agent.

A health care provider attending you, or an employee of one, is also ineligible. Two exceptions apply. The first covers anyone related to you by blood, marriage, registered domestic partnership, or adoption. Saying otherwise in the directive supplies the second.

Directives From Other States

A health care directive from another state still counts in Minnesota, provided it complies with the law of the state or jurisdiction where you signed it.

Either one, never both. Minnesota treats the two routes as equally valid, so a Minnesota advance directive stands on whichever one you complete.

The witness route needs two people. Only one of the two may be a health care provider or an employee of a provider giving you direct care on the day you sign. That leaves the other witness to come from outside your care team.

The notary route needs one person, and Minnesota sets a looser bar on who that person can be. A notary who works for the provider giving you direct care may still verify your signature.

So the practical question is availability. If you are signing at home, two neighbors or colleagues will do. Inside a clinic or a care setting, a staff notary is often the faster path.

Tip: You must be at least 18 to sign, and you must have decision-making capacity at the time. Sign sooner rather than later, while there is no question about either.

1. Write your full name at the top and check that you are at least 18.
2. Name your health care agent, plus any alternates, and confirm none of them is ineligible.
3. Ask each of them whether they are willing to act.
4. Write your health care instructions, your power of attorney, or both.
5. Choose your verification route: a notary public, or two qualifying witnesses.
6. Sign, then have the notary or the witnesses complete and date their section.
7. Give copies to your agent and your medical team, since no state office keeps one for you.

Create your Minnesota advance directive now and download it in PDF or Word.

Chapter 145C sets the frame and leaves the content largely to you.

Start with the appointment. Name your agent, name an alternate, and give contact details for both. Say plainly how much room they have to depart from your written wishes.

Then write the instructions. Cover the treatments you would accept and refuse, your priorities for comfort and pain relief, and the outcomes you would find unacceptable. Name the place you would want to receive care, too.

Keep the language plain. People read a directive quickly, often under pressure, so short sentences serve you better than legal phrasing.