California Power of Attorney for
Health Care

California made major revisions to its health care power of attorney law in 2000 allowing for a more simplified power of attorney document.

Based on that law, we created a simplified Power of Attorney for Health Care form. In 2003, we updated our form to deal with recently-effective "HIPAA" privacy law provisions.

In 2008 we made changes required by revisions to California notary rules. Our simplified form is not appropriate for every person or every situation.

If you have signed a Power of Attorney for Health Care, pull it out and make sure it still names the agent(s) and expresses the wishes that you want. In general, health care powers of attorney properly prepared since 1992 under the old law continue to be valid under the new law.

We discuss the Power of Attorney for Health Care in our Who's in Charge? class (class list). For more information about powers of attorney for health care, see our Health Care Powers of Attorney Nuts and Bolts Guide.

The simplified form is available to you in PDF Format, for free printout. Permission to copy is granted, so long as the copies are not sold. (If you do not have a PDF reader  -- you can obtain one for free from Adobe.)

California residents can also receive this form by mail. Please visit our publications order page for this and other free H.E.L.P. publications.