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Colorado Healthcare Power of Attorney Requirements

Colorado stands out for attaching no signing formality at all to its Medical Durable Power of Attorney: the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act requires neither a witness nor a notary for the document to take legal effect.

Introduction

Colorado stands out for attaching no signing formality at all to its Medical Durable Power of Attorney: the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act requires neither a witness nor a notary for the document to take legal effect. Created by that Act, found at Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-503 through 15-14-509, with the core authority described in Section 15-14-506, this document 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. A financial power of attorney covers money and property, but this document is limited to health care decisions. It has no bearing on your money, property, or bills. It also works differently than people often assume: your agent's authority to actually make decisions applies once you lack decisional capacity, meaning you are unable to give informed consent to or refuse treatment yourself. Colorado law does not spell out a specific certification procedure for that determination the way some other states do. Colorado is also unusual among states in a specific way worth knowing upfront: its Medical Durable Power of Attorney statute does not require the document to be signed before witnesses or notarized to be legally valid, and it does not restrict who may serve as your agent. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment publishes an optional sample form, and the state also operates a statewide Advance Directives Registry where health care providers can store a copy, though using either is optional, not required for the document to work.

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Key Things to Know

  1. 1

    Colorado's Medical Durable Power of Attorney, created under the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-503 to 15-14-509), needs no witness and no notary to be legally effective; it simply 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.

  2. 2

    Your agent's authority applies once you lack decisional capacity, meaning you cannot give informed consent to or refuse medical treatment yourself (Section 15-14-505(4), 15-14-506(3)). Colorado law does not require a specific written physician certification process to trigger this.

  3. 3

    Colorado does not require this document to be signed before witnesses or notarized. This is different from many other states and is worth knowing before you sign.

  4. 4

    Colorado law does not bar your treating physician, residential care provider, or their employees from serving as your agent, unlike several other states.

  5. 5

    Your agent is treated as your designated representative for medical records purposes and has the same right to view your records that you have (Section 15-14-506(3)).

  6. 6

    You can revoke your agent's authority at any time. If you later divorce, dissolve, annul, or legally separate from a spouse named as your agent, that spouse's authority ends automatically unless your document says otherwise (Section 15-14-506(5)(c)).

  7. 7

    The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment offers an optional Medical Durable Power of Attorney sample form in English and Spanish, but Colorado law does not require you to use any particular form.

  8. 8

    Colorado operates a statewide Advance Directives Registry where a health care provider can store a copy of your document, but registering is optional. Your document is legally binding whether or not it is uploaded.

  9. 9

    This is a different document from Colorado's Uniform Power of Attorney Act, which covers property and financial decisions, not health care.

Key decisions before you file

Before you file a Healthcare Power of Attorney in Colorado, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Healthcare Power of Attorney guide walks through them.

Open the Healthcare Power of Attorney guide

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COLORADO MEDICAL DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY - STATE EXECUTION TEMPLATE

NOTICE: Under Colorado's Patient Autonomy Act (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-503 to 15-14-509), this document functions as a Medical Durable Power of Attorney. Signing it allows you, the "principal," to name someone you trust, your "agent," who can make health care decisions on your behalf if you are ever unable to make them yourself. Money, property, and other financial matters are outside its scope.

  1. Designation of Agent I, [Principal Name], of [County], Colorado, appoint [Agent Name], of [Agent Address and Phone], as my agent to consent to or refuse medical treatment on my behalf, including artificial nourishment and hydration. If my agent is unable or unwilling to act, I appoint the following alternate agent(s), in order: [Alternate Agent 1]; [Alternate Agent 2].

  2. Grant of Authority and Medical Records Access My agent may make any and all health care decisions for me, subject to any directive, condition, or limitation I state below. My agent must act according to my known wishes or, if my wishes are unknown, in my best interest, and must confer with my attending physician about my medical condition. My agent is a designated representative of mine and has the same right to access my medical records that I have.

  3. When My Agent's Authority Begins My agent may make medical treatment decisions for me once I lack decisional capacity, meaning I am unable to give informed consent to or refuse medical treatment. Colorado law does not require a specific written physician certification process to trigger my agent's authority. My agent may never consent to or refuse treatment over my own objection while I retain capacity to object.

  4. Agent Eligibility Colorado law does not bar my health care provider, residential care provider, or their employees from serving as my agent. I may name anyone I trust as my agent.

  5. Revocation I may revoke my agent's authority at any time. Unless I state otherwise in this document, if I later divorce, dissolve, annul, or legally separate from a spouse named as my agent, that spouse's authority as agent is automatically revoked, though the rest of this document remains in effect.

EXECUTION Colorado's Patient Autonomy Act does not require this document to be signed before witnesses or a notary public for it to be legally effective. Signature before a notary public is available as an option if I want added assurance that health care providers and institutions will accept this document without question, but it is not required under Colorado law.

Note: This page covers Colorado's agent-designation, activation, and execution rules only. For decisions about money and property, see Colorado's separate Durable (Financial) Power of Attorney.

Once your Healthcare Power of Attorney is ready, you can check whether it needs to be notarized in Colorado in about a minute, and notarize it online through DocDraft if it does.

Colorado Requirements for Healthcare Power of Attorney

Designation of Agent (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506)

Section 15-14-506 authorizes the principal to appoint an agent to consent to or refuse medical treatment on the principal's behalf. Colorado law does not prescribe a required statutory form for this designation, unlike some other states, so the document may name a primary agent and one or more alternate agents in succession as long as the appointment itself is clear.

Agent Authority Scope (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(3))

An agent appointed under a Medical Durable Power of Attorney may provide informed consent to or refuse medical treatment on the principal's behalf once the principal lacks decisional capacity, and is a designated representative of the principal with the same right to access the principal's medical records that the principal has.

HIPAA Authorization (45 CFR Section 164.508)

Federal HIPAA regulations govern how the agent can be authorized to access the principal's protected health information once the document is in effect.

Effective on Decisional Incapacity (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(3))

The agent's authority to make treatment decisions applies once the principal lacks decisional capacity. Colorado's Medical Durable Power of Attorney does not need a separate durability election the way Colorado's financial power of attorney does under Section 15-14-704.

Definition of Decisional Capacity (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-505(4))

Section 15-14-505(4) defines decisional capacity as the ability to provide informed consent to or refusal of medical treatment. Colorado's statute does not require certification by one or two physicians, or any written certification procedure at all, to establish that a principal lacks decisional capacity.

Scope of Agent Authority Over Life-Sustaining Treatment (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(1))

Section 15-14-506(1) lets the document include any directive, condition, or limitation on the agent's authority, which is the basis for agent authority over life-sustaining treatment, including artificial nutrition and hydration.

Optional Anatomical Gift Statement (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-506(3.5), 15-19-205)

A Medical Durable Power of Attorney may include an optional written statement, in the principal's own words, indicating a decision about organ and tissue donation, executed consistent with the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act at Section 15-19-205, per the internal cross-reference at Section 15-14-506(3.5). This is the principal's own donor statement.

Non-Supersession of Behavioral Health Treatment Law (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(4)(b))

Section 15-14-506(4)(b) states that nothing in the Medical Durable Power of Attorney statute supersedes Colorado Revised Statutes Title 25 Article 1 or Title 27 Articles 10.5 or 65 (Colorado's civil commitment and behavioral health treatment statutes). This means the Medical Durable Power of Attorney does not override the state's separate involuntary mental health treatment and commitment procedures.

Statutory Priority for Guardian Appointment (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-310(1)(c))

Section 15-14-310(1)(c) provides that if court guardianship proceedings ever become necessary for the principal, the agent appointed under a Medical Durable Power of Attorney under Section 15-14-506 receives statutory priority for appointment as guardian, ranked after a person specifically nominated in a durable power of attorney and ahead of an agent under a general financial power of attorney or other family members.

Revocation Provisions (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(4)(a), (5)(d))

The principal's right to revoke an agent's authority at any time is confirmed at Section 15-14-506(4)(a), and Section 15-14-506(5)(d) confirms that an agent's appointment is revoked if the principal revokes it or the agent becomes unable or unwilling to serve, without disturbing the rest of the document. Colorado's statute does not specify a required revocation method such as oral or written notice.

Agent's Duty to Act According to Principal's Wishes (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(2))

Section 15-14-506(2) describes the agent's duty to act according to the terms, directives, conditions, or limitations in the document and the principal's known wishes, or, absent known wishes, in the principal's best interest as the agent determines it. It does not contain a formal agent acceptance or acknowledgment mechanism.

Reliance Protection and Immunity (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-508)

Section 15-14-508, titled Immunities, confirms a health care provider or facility that in good faith complies with an agent's decision under a Medical Durable Power of Attorney is not subject to civil or criminal liability or regulatory sanction.

Interstate Recognition (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-509)

Section 15-14-509, Interstate Effect of Medical Durable Power of Attorney, presumes a Colorado Medical Durable Power of Attorney is intended to be recognized by courts of other states, and presumes a similar instrument executed in another state complies with Colorado's requirements and may be relied on in good faith by a Colorado provider.

Compliance with Patient Self-Determination Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1395cc(f))

Facilities that participate in Medicare and Medicaid must inform patients of their rights under state law to make advance directives, including a Medical Durable Power of Attorney.

Religious and Spiritual Healing Considerations (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-504(2), 15-14-506(2))

Section 15-14-504(2) is a legislative declaration that the state does not intend to interfere with any method of religious or spiritual healing otherwise permitted by law, and Section 15-14-506(2) requires the agent to act according to the principal's known wishes, which may include stated religious or moral beliefs. Colorado does not have a dedicated statutory section requiring a religious beliefs statement.

Combining with a Living Will Declaration (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-18-104(7), 15-14-506(6)(b))

Section 15-18-104(7) provides that a declaration under the Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act, the living will, may be combined with a Medical Durable Power of Attorney into a single document, provided it satisfies both the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act's requirements and Article 18's requirements. Separately, when the two remain separate documents, Section 15-14-506(6)(b) provides that the Medical Durable Power of Attorney does not modify or affect the terms of an existing living will declaration unless the Medical Durable Power of Attorney expressly states otherwise.

Does your Healthcare Power of Attorney need to be notarized in Colorado?

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Frequently Asked Questions

A Medical Durable Power of Attorney in Colorado is a legal document, created under the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-503 to 15-14-509), that lets you name a trusted adult, your agent, to make health care decisions for you if you become unable to make them yourself. Your agent may consent to or refuse medical treatment on your behalf and has the same right to access your medical records that you have, once you lack decisional capacity to make those choices yourself.

A Medical Durable Power of Attorney covers only health care decisions. Colorado's Uniform Power of Attorney Act (Colorado Revised Statutes Sections 15-14-701 and following) covers property and financial matters instead, such as banking or real estate, and by law does not apply to health care decisions at all. The two also differ in structure: a financial power of attorney created in Colorado on or after January 1, 2010 is durable by default, meaning it survives your incapacity automatically unless you state otherwise, while the Medical Durable Power of Attorney simply ties your agent's authority to whether you actually lack decisional capacity, with no separate durability election to make.

No. Colorado's Patient Autonomy Act does not require this document to be signed before witnesses or acknowledged by a notary public for it to be legally valid. Colorado's witness and notary rules for powers of attorney live in a separate part of the law that governs financial powers of attorney and expressly does not apply to health care decisions. You can still choose to have the document notarized if you want added assurance that providers and institutions will accept it without question.

Colorado law does not bar your treating physician, your residential care provider, or their employees from serving as your health care agent. This is different from several other states, which disqualify a person's own health care provider from acting as their agent. Colorado's Patient Autonomy Act contains no such restriction.

Yes. Colorado operates a statewide electronic Advance Directives Registry, established under Colorado Revised Statutes Title 25, Article 54, and implemented through a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulation (5 CCR 1006-3). A Medical Durable Power of Attorney is one of the document types the registry accepts. Uploading your document to the registry is optional. Your document remains legally binding whether or not it is registered.

Colorado law confirms you keep the right to revoke your agent's authority at any time (Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(4)(a)), but it does not spell out a required revocation procedure such as written or oral notice. Because the statute is silent on the exact mechanics, it is a good idea to notify your agent and your health care providers directly and in writing when you revoke, even though Colorado law does not mandate a specific method.

If you named your spouse as your agent and you later divorce, dissolve the marriage, annul it, or legally separate, your spouse's authority as agent ends automatically under Colorado Revised Statutes Section 15-14-506(5)(c), unless your document expressly says otherwise. The rest of your document, including any alternate agents you named, stays in effect.