Living Will Kansas: How to Create an Advance Directive That Protects Your Wishes

What a Living Will Actually Does in Kansas

A living will in Kansas is a written statement that tells doctors and hospitals what medical treatments you want — or don't want — if you become unable to communicate. It covers situations like permanent unconsciousness, terminal illness, and end-stage conditions where recovery is not expected.

Kansas law authorizes living wills under the Natural Death Act (K.S.A. 65-28,101 through 65-28,109). The document doesn't require a lawyer, a court filing, or a filing fee. You sign and date it either before a notary or before two adult witnesses who meet Kansas's eligibility rules.

Most people think of living wills as something for older adults. They're not. Any Kansas resident aged 18 or older can execute one. For young adults with disabilities who are transitioning out of special education, a living will is part of the larger question of who makes healthcare decisions after the age of majority — and it's one of the tools that can prevent the need for a court-ordered guardianship.

How a Living Will Differs from a Healthcare Power of Attorney

These two documents work together but serve different purposes:

A living will speaks for you when you cannot speak at all. It covers end-of-life treatment decisions — ventilators, feeding tubes, dialysis, pain management, organ donation. It activates only when two physicians certify that you have a terminal condition or are in a persistent vegetative state.

A healthcare power of attorney (DPOA-HC) under K.S.A. 58-625 through 58-632 names a trusted person — your "agent" — to make medical decisions on your behalf when you temporarily lack the capacity to decide. It covers everything from choosing a surgeon to approving medication changes. It activates whenever your doctor determines you can't make or communicate a decision, not just at end of life.

For families of young adults with disabilities, the healthcare POA is often the more immediately useful document. But a living will provides a critical backstop: it ensures your adult child's own expressed preferences govern end-of-life care, rather than leaving those decisions entirely to a guardian or agent.

The 2026 End-of-Life Safeguards

Kansas enacted significant protections under the 2026 guardianship overhaul (HB 2359, KUGCOPAA). Under the new rules, a guardian cannot unilaterally withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment from the person in their care. If the individual has not executed a valid advance directive and the guardian believes treatment should be withdrawn, the guardian must obtain a Confidential Certificate of Treating Physician, written concurrence from a second independent physician or a hospital medical ethics committee, and an explicit court order.

This change matters because it shifts the default toward preserving treatment unless the individual has clearly stated otherwise. Having a living will removes ambiguity: the individual's own documented wishes take precedence over a guardian's judgment or a committee review.

Who Should Create One

Every Kansas adult — whether or not they have a disability — benefits from having an advance directive. But families navigating the turning-18 transition should consider it alongside the rest of their decision-making toolkit:

• Supported Decision-Making Agreement (SB 84) — preserves full legal capacity while naming helpers
• Durable Power of Attorney — handles financial decisions
• Healthcare Power of Attorney — handles medical decisions
• Living Will — documents end-of-life treatment preferences
• FERPA/HIPAA releases — maintains parental access to education and health records

Together, these documents can cover many of the same decision-making areas that a full guardianship would, without any court involvement.

How to Execute a Living Will in Kansas

The process is straightforward:

1. Draft the document. The Kansas Judicial Council publishes standard forms. Your statement should specify which treatments you want withheld or provided under which conditions.

2. Sign and date before a notary or two witnesses. If you use witnesses, both must be adults. Neither can be related to you by blood or marriage, stand to inherit from your estate, or be directly responsible for your healthcare costs. A notary is an alternative to using two witnesses.

3. Distribute copies. Give copies to your healthcare agent (if you've named one), your primary care physician, your hospital or clinic, and any family members who would be involved in medical emergencies.

4. Revisit periodically. You can revoke a living will at any time by destroying the document, creating a new one, or telling your attending physician in writing. Review it whenever your health circumstances or preferences change.

When a Living Will Is Not Enough

A living will does not appoint anyone to speak for you during a temporary medical crisis — a car accident, a seizure, an unexpected hospitalization. For those situations, you need a healthcare power of attorney. And neither document gives anyone the authority to manage your finances, access your bank accounts, or make decisions about where you live.

For families of young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, the question is usually not whether to have a living will but whether the full set of non-court alternatives — SDM agreement, financial POA, healthcare POA, living will, representative payee — covers every area where the young adult needs support. If it does, there may be no need for a guardianship petition at all.

The Kansas Adult Guardianship & Alternatives Guide walks through the complete alternatives-first framework: how to assess which tools your family needs, how to execute each one correctly under the 2026 Kansas laws, and when guardianship is genuinely the only option left.

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