Living Will in WA

Absolutely, but you need to be clear by what you mean by a living will. A living will is also called an Advanced Health Care Directive and is used to tell people what level of care you would like continued in the event that you are unable to communicate in any way and are in a terminal condition. If what you mean is a will that you handwrite, then no, those wills are not recognized in Washington, those are called "holographic" wills, and the ONLY time that one is recognized in a Washington resident is when it is made on the battlefield or if it was made while you were a resident of a state that did recognize holographic wills. For more information on what is needed for a will, please see my website, www.suissalaw.com.

In addition to the fine answer offered by my legal colleague, I suggest you peruse the Columbia Legal Services (also known as Northwest Justice Project) website. It should provide you with additional information as well as references.

"Can I legally prepare a living will in Washington State?"

If you are preparing the document for yourself, then yes.

If you are preparing the document for another person, then you likely will be practicing law without a license (unless you are a licensed attorney).

Besides being generally illegal, practicing law without a license can have unintended consequences (such as voiding or limiting what the unlicensed person can benefit from the document).

Most states have pre defined living wills based upon statutes. In addition there are many living wills that are prepared by health organizations which you can fill in the blanks with your name and choices. Although most state do not require a living will to be notarized or witnessed, its is usually better to have this done in case there is a dispute.

Generally a living will is also associated with a designation of health care surrogate and a HIPAA release. I prefer to have our clients sign a combination living will, designation of healthcare surrogate and HIPAA release so that someone cannot use one document without the other in an attempt to circumvent your desires.