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Maryland Advance Directive

A Maryland Advance Directive is a legal document that lays out your wishes related to medical care, such as your refusal of or request for medical treatment, and/or selection of a chosen healthcare decision maker.

The person making an Advance Directive is known as the "principal," and the people or organizations receiving authority to carry out the principal's wishes are called "agents." Suitable for Maryland residents, this Advance Directive is made for use in Prince George's County, Baltimore County, Montgomery County, and in every other county or municipality in the state. Any Maryland Advance Directive from Rocket Lawyer can be personalized for your unique circumstances. As a result of this document, your healthcare providers will have a record of your preferences, and your representative will be able to provide confirmation that they have been given the authority to act in your interest.

It's very simple to record your medical preferences with a free Maryland Advance Directive template from Rocket Lawyer:

1. Make your Advance Directive - Answer a few general questions, and we will do the rest
2. Send or share - Look over the document with your healthcare agent or ask a legal question
3. Sign and make it legal - Optional or not, notarization and witnesses are a best practice

This solution is, in most cases, notably less time-consuming than working with a traditional provider. If needed, you may start this Advance Directive on behalf of your spouse or another relative, and then help that person sign it when ready. Keep in mind that for this document to be valid, the principal must be mentally competent when they sign. In the event that the principal has already been declared legally incompetent, a court-appointed conservatorship could be required. When managing such a scenario, it's best to connect with an attorney.

Everyone over 18 years old should have an Advance Healthcare Directive (both a Healthcare Power of Attorney and a Living Will) in place. Although it's painful to think about, there might come a day when you are no longer able to make medical decisions on your own. Here are a few common occasions in which you may consider it helpful to make or update your Advance Directive:

• You've been diagnosed with a terminal condition
• You are planning to undergo a medical procedure that requires anesthesia
• You have plans to live in a community care facility
• You are aging or have declining health

Whether your Maryland Advance Directive has been created as a result of a recent change in your health or as part of a forward-looking plan, notarization and/or witnesses will often help to protect your document if its authority is disputed by a third party.

Making an Advance Directive is generally straightforward, but you or your agent(s) could still need advice. Getting a legal professional to check your Maryland Advance Directive may be time-intensive and fairly expensive. A more cost-effective route would be to go through attorney services at Rocket Lawyer. When you become a Premium member, you can get your documents evaluated by an experienced attorney. As always, you can rest assured that Rocket Lawyer is here for you.

The cost of meeting and hiring a legal provider to write an Advance Directive can total between $200 and $1,000. Rocket Lawyer is not a run-of-the-mill Advance Directive template website. With our service, anyone under a Premium membership can take advantage of up to 40% in savings when hiring an attorney from our On Call network.

With a Rocket Lawyer membership, you can edit it, download it as a PDF document or Word file, or print it. To make the Maryland Medical Directive into a legally binding document, you need to sign it. Your agent(s), care providers, and other impacted parties should get copies of the final document.

The guidelines will be different in each state; however, in Maryland, your document needs two witnesses. At least one of the witnesses should be someone who is not your heir or beneficiary. As a general rule, your witnesses must not be under the age of 18, and none of them should also be named as your healthcare agent.

Legal references for an Advance Directive in Maryland: §5–601 to 607