Arkansas Healthcare Power of Attorney Requirements
In Arkansas, only one of your two signing witnesses has to clear the state's extra disqualification test, not related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and not standing to inherit any part of your estate; the other witness just needs to be a competent adult not named elsewhere in the document.
Introduction
In Arkansas, only one of your two signing witnesses has to clear the state's extra disqualification test, not related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and not standing to inherit any part of your estate; the other witness just needs to be a competent adult not named elsewhere in the document. That two-tier witness rule belongs to Arkansas's Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, the legal document that lets you name someone you trust, called an agent, to make health care decisions for you if you are ever unable to make them yourself. The Arkansas Department of Health also publishes the same document under a simpler name, the "Appointment of Health Care Agent" form, both referring to the same instrument under the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act (Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 20-6-101 through 20-6-118). Despite the word "durable" in its official name, this document does not work like Arkansas's general financial power of attorney. Your agent's authority never starts the moment you sign. It begins only after a licensed physician determines, using reasonable medical judgment, that you lack the capacity to make your own health care decisions, and it ends automatically if you later recover capacity. Until a physician makes that determination, you keep making your own health care decisions. Arkansas gives you two ways to make the document legally valid: sign it in front of two qualified witnesses, or sign it before a notary public. There is no state registry to file it with, so you simply keep the original and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any alternate agent.
Key Things to Know
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Arkansas requires two witnesses to sign this document, but only one of them has to meet the state's extra disqualification test, not related to you and not in line to inherit from your estate; the document itself is Arkansas's Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, which lets you (the principal) name a trusted adult (the agent) to make health care decisions for you if you become unable to make them yourself.
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Despite the word durable in its name, your agent's authority does not start the moment you sign. It begins only after a licensed physician determines, and records in your clinical record, that you lack capacity, and it ends automatically if you later recover capacity (Ark. Code Ann. Sections 20-6-103, 20-6-108).
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You can sign in front of two competent adult witnesses, with at least one meeting extra qualifications, such as not being related to you and not entitled to any part of your estate, or sign before a notary instead. You do not need both.
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Arkansas's Healthcare Decisions Act does not bar your treating physician or a health care facility employee from being your named agent. That kind of restriction in Arkansas applies only to a surrogate, the backup decision-maker chosen when you have not named an agent in writing.
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You can revoke this document at any time you have capacity, in any manner that shows your intent to revoke, whether oral, written, or by signing a later document.
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If you name your spouse as agent and later divorce, annul the marriage, or legally separate, your spouse's authority as agent ends automatically unless your document says otherwise.
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Arkansas has no central state registry for this document. Keep the signed original and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any alternate agent.
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This is a different document from Arkansas's General (Financial) Power of Attorney, which covers property and financial decisions, not health care, and which, unlike this document, is durable and effective immediately by default unless it states otherwise.
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An agent authorized to make your health care decisions may also make an anatomical gift, such as an organ or tissue donation, on your behalf unless you prohibit it in this document or another signed record.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Healthcare Power of Attorney in Arkansas, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Healthcare Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
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Arkansas Requirements for Healthcare Power of Attorney
The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care must comply with the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act (Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 20-6-101 through 20-6-118, enacted as Act 1264 of 2013, effective October 1, 2013), which provides the current legal framework for creating and enforcing this document in Arkansas.
The document must clearly designate a health care agent authorized to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf when the principal lacks capacity, using Arkansas's statutory definitions of agent and durable power of attorney for health care (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-102). The Arkansas Department of Health's official Appointment of Health Care Agent form implements this requirement.
The Healthcare Decisions Act itself does not separately mandate an alternate agent.
The document must specify the health care decisions the agent may make. By Arkansas's statutory definition, a durable power of attorney for health care identifies an agent authorized to make health care decisions on the principal's behalf, and health care is broadly defined to include any care, treatment, service, or procedure affecting the principal's physical or mental condition, unless the principal limits that authority in the document.
The agent's authority becomes effective only after a licensed physician determines the principal lacks capacity, and that authority automatically ends if the principal later recovers capacity, per Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-103 and the capacity-determination procedure in Section 20-6-108. Arkansas's own statutory name for this document includes the word durable, but that describes the Act's naming convention, not a drafting choice about when authority begins. Unlike Arkansas's General (Financial) Power of Attorney, there is no option to make agent authority immediately exercisable while the principal is still competent.
The principal signs in the presence of two competent adult witnesses, or alternatively signs before a notary public, with no witnesses required in that case. Only one of the two witnesses must additionally not be related to the principal by blood, marriage, or adoption and must not be entitled to any part of the principal's estate. The other witness need only be a competent adult who is not the principal, agent, or alternate agent, per the Arkansas Department of Health's official form.
Arkansas law does not merely recommend notarization as an enhancement. It offers notarization as a full alternative to the two-witness signing method. The principal may sign and have the signature acknowledged before a notary public instead of signing before two witnesses, per Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-103 and the Arkansas Department of Health's official form, which states that either the witness block or the notarization block must be completed.
Federal HIPAA regulations govern how the agent can be authorized to access the principal's protected health information once the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is in effect.
Unless the principal limits the grant of authority in the document, the agent's authority extends to life-sustaining treatment decisions, including artificial nutrition and hydration, because Arkansas's statutory definition of health care broadly covers any care, treatment, service, or procedure affecting the principal's physical or mental condition.
Because Arkansas's statutory definition of health care is broad and unqualified, an agent's authority extends to mental health treatment decisions, including psychiatric medication and inpatient treatment, unless the principal limits that authority in the document. Principals who want to specifically address mental health treatment should still state so explicitly in the document, even though the general health care grant already covers it by default.
Under the Arkansas Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, an agent authorized to make the principal's health care decisions may also make an anatomical gift, such as an organ or tissue donation, on the principal's behalf, unless the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or another signed record expressly prohibits it (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-17-1204).
The principal may revoke the document at any time while having capacity, in any manner that communicates an intent to revoke, including a written revocation, physical destruction of the document, or an oral declaration of intent to revoke (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-104(a)). If the agent is the principal's spouse, that designation is automatically revoked by a decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or legal separation, unless the decree or the document states otherwise (Section 20-6-104(b)). A provider informed of a revocation must promptly communicate it to the supervising provider and any facility where the patient is receiving care (Section 20-6-104(d)).
Agents and surrogates who make health care decisions in good faith face no civil, criminal, or professional-discipline liability for those decisions, and a person who designates a surrogate in good faith likewise faces no liability for that designation (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-111).
If a court later needs to appoint a guardian for the principal, the court must take into consideration any preference the principal expressed about who should be appointed, which can include a preference stated in this document, though the statute does not make that preference automatically binding on the court (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 28-65-204(c)).
An advance directive, including a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, that is executed outside Arkansas is given effect in Arkansas if it complies with either Arkansas's own Healthcare Decisions Act or the law of the state where it was executed (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-103).
The agent must act according to the principal's individual instructions and known wishes. Where the principal's wishes are not known, the agent must make the decision based on the agent's determination of the principal's best interest (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 20-6-103).
The Healthcare Power of Attorney must comply with the federal Patient Self-Determination Act, which requires health care facilities to provide information about advance directives and respect patients' rights to make health care decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care in Arkansas is a legal document, created under the Arkansas Healthcare Decisions Act (Arkansas Code Annotated Sections 20-6-101 through 20-6-118), that lets you name a trusted adult, your agent, to make health care decisions for you if you ever become unable to make them yourself. The Arkansas Department of Health publishes the same document under a simpler name, the Appointment of Health Care Agent form. Your agent's authority takes effect only after a licensed physician determines that you lack the capacity to decide for yourself.
A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care covers only health care decisions. Arkansas's General (Financial) Power of Attorney, governed by the Uniform Power of Attorney Act (Arkansas Code Annotated Section 28-68-101 and following), covers property and financial matters instead, such as banking or real estate, and by law cannot authorize health care decisions. The two documents also start differently. The financial power of attorney is durable and effective immediately by default from the moment it is signed, unless it states that it ends on incapacity. The health care document is also called durable, but that name describes Arkansas's own labeling convention, not an immediate-effect option. Your health care agent's authority always waits for a physician's capacity determination, with no immediate-effect choice available.
No. Arkansas's official Appointment of Health Care Agent form requires two competent adult witnesses, but only one of them must also clear an extended qualification, meaning that witness cannot be related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, and cannot be entitled to any part of your estate. The other witness only needs to be a competent adult who is not you, your agent, or your alternate agent.
Yes, in most cases. Arkansas's Healthcare Decisions Act does not bar your treating physician, another health care provider, or a facility employee from serving as your named agent under a written Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. That kind of restriction exists in Arkansas law, but it applies only to a surrogate, the backup decision-maker chosen for you when you have not named an agent in writing, not to an agent you name yourself.
No. Arkansas does not operate a central advance-directive registry. You keep the signed original yourself and give copies to your physician, your agent, and any alternate agent so they have it when needed.
You can revoke it at any time you have the capacity to do so, in any manner that communicates your intent to revoke, including an oral statement to your agent or provider, a written notice, or signing a later Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. No specific form is required.
If your spouse is your named agent, a decree of annulment, divorce, dissolution of marriage, or legal separation automatically ends your spouse's authority as agent, unless your document or the decree specifically says otherwise.
Yes. Under the Arkansas Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, an agent authorized to make your health care decisions may also make an anatomical gift, such as an organ or tissue donation, on your behalf, unless your Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or another signed record expressly prohibits it.