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Hawaii Advance Directive

A Hawaii Advance Directive is a legal document that lays out your preferences regarding health care, such as your request for or refusal of a certain medical treatment, and/or appointment of a trusted healthcare decision maker.

The person making an Advance Directive is called the "principal," while the person or organization obtaining authority to carry out the principal's wishes is known as the "agent." Designed for Hawaii residents, this free Advance Directive is made for use in Hawaii County, Maui County, Honolulu County, and in every other part of the state. Any Hawaii Advance Directive from Rocket Lawyer can be customized for your particular situation. As a result of having this legal document, your healthcare institutions will have a point of reference for your decisions, and your representative(s) will be able to offer confirmation that they have been given the authority to make choices for you.

It is very easy to document your medical preferences with a free Hawaii Advance Directive template from Rocket Lawyer:

1. Make the document - Provide a few basic details, and we will do the rest
2. Send and share it - Discuss the document with your healthcare agent or ask a lawyer
3. Sign it and make it legal - Optional or not, witnesses/notarization are a best practice

This solution, in most cases, would be notably less expensive and less time-consuming than finding and working with a conventional attorney. If needed, you can prepare this Advance Directive on behalf of an elderly parent, a spouse, or another relative, and then have that person sign once you've drafted it. Please remember that for an Advance Directive to be valid, the principal must be mentally competent when they sign. In the event that the principal has already been declared incompetent, a court-appointed conservatorship could be necessary. When managing this situation, it's best for you to work with a lawyer.

If you are over 18 years old, you should have an Advance Healthcare Directive (both a Living Will and a Healthcare Power of Attorney). Although it's painful to acknowledge, there could come a day when you cannot make medical decisions on your own. Here are some typical circumstances where you may consider it useful to make or update your Advance Directive:

• You expect to be in the hospital for a surgical procedure
• You are getting older or have declining health
• You've been given a terminal diagnosis
• You are planning to live in a residential care facility

Whether this Hawaii Advance Directive has been created as a result of a change in your health or as part of a forward-looking plan, notarization and witnesses will often help to protect your agent if anyone disputes their privileges and authority. In Hawaii, you'll want to note that Advance Directives are not legally binding when the principal is pregnant.

Making an Advance Directive is typically easy to do; however, you or your agent(s) may still need legal advice. Seeking out an attorney to proofread your Hawaii Advance Directive might be fairly time-intensive. An easier and more cost-effective alternative would be to request help from Rocket Lawyer attorney services. With a Premium membership, you can get your documents looked at by an experienced attorney. As always, you can rest assured that Rocket Lawyer will be here to support you.

The cost of hiring an attorney to draft an Advance Directive might total anywhere from $200 to $1,000, depending on where you are located. Rocket Lawyer is not your average Advance Directive template provider. With our service, anyone under a Rocket Lawyer Premium membership can take advantage of up to 40% in savings when hiring an On Call attorney.

After completing this Advance Directive on Rocket Lawyer, you can see it on any device, anytime. You are encouraged to engage with it in any of these ways: making edits, downloading it, printing it out, and signing it. Attached to each Hawaii Advance Directive, there will be a checklist of directions that you will need to finalize the document. You should ensure that your agent(s) and care providers receive a copy of your fully executed document.

The specifications will be different in each state; however, in Hawaii, your Advance Directive needs to be acknowledged by a notary public or signed by two witnesses. Witnesses must not be your healthcare provider or an employee of your healthcare provider's facility. At least one of the witnesses should be someone who is not your relative, spouse, adoptee, heir, or any other beneficiary. As a basic principle, witnesses must be over 18 years old, and none of them should simultaneously be acting as your agent.

See legal references for an Advance Directive in Hawaii: § 327E-3