The Revocation of a Living Will
- Living wills are designed to give guidance to physicians and other medical personnel when you can no longer express your wishes. The easiest way for a person to revoke a living will, in whole or in part, is to express his concerns and wishes to his physician, according to the Iowa State Bar Association. The physician must then comply with the expressed desires and not the terms of the living will. A written revocation signed by the person is not generally necessary, but it can be used to prevent any conflicts.
- People who make a living will often give the will, or copies of it, to friends, families and trusted advisers in preparation for the time when and if the document is ever needed. When such people wish to revoke a living will, they must covey this revocation to those who have a copy. The will maker can also order these people to destroy the living will to ensure no confusion or problems.
- If you have a living will and have not used it or given it to anyone else, the simplest way to revoke it is to physically destroy it. As long as there are no other copies and you have not expressed your desires to your physician, there is no reason for the physician to follow the terms of the document. Physical destruction will also ensure that there is no chance an old document will come up in the event you are unable to revoke it verbally.
- You can also revoke a living will by creating a new one that explicitly or implicitly invalidates the old one. An explicit revocation of a living will is when your new living will includes language the explains that all old living wills are invalid and no longer applicable. An implicit revocation is when your new living will contains instructions that are contrary to the terms of the old living will. Even if the new living will does not explicitly state the old living will is invalid, the terms of the new living will take precedence over the old one and effectively make it moot.
