A Missouri living will is a written declaration telling your doctor which life-prolonging treatments to withhold if you have a terminal condition and cannot decide for yourself. Missouri law lets you put these wishes in writing ahead of time. FormsPal's builder adds a durable power of attorney for health care to the same document, letting you name someone to make other medical decisions for you. The form is free to create, download, and print.
Last Updated: September 2026. This guide is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect current Missouri law. If you notice an error or outdated information, please contact us.
Missouri’s living will law is Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 459.010 to 459.055. To be valid, your declaration must be in writing, signed by you or by someone you direct in your presence, and dated.[1]
To be valid under Missouri law, your living will must meet these requirements:
It is the declarant’s own responsibility to provide notification to the attending physician of the existence of the declaration, so give your doctor a signed copy once you finish it. If you ask, your physician and any hospital where you are a patient must place it in your medical records.[1]
“The declarant is known to me, is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind and voluntarily signed this document in my presence.”
| Document Name | Missouri Living Will Form |
| Signing Requirements | Two Witnesses |
| Validity Requirements | Section 459.015 |
| Avg. Time to Fill Out | 13 minutes |
| # of Fillable Fields | 48 |
| Available Formats | Adobe PDF; Microsoft Word |
| State Laws: Missouri Revised Statutes, Sections 459.010 to 459.055 | |
To complete the Missouri living will form, you fill out your treatment wishes and appoint a health care agent on pages 1 through 4. Then you sign the document and have two witnesses complete the witness acknowledgment on page 8. The form has no notary block, so notarizing it is not part of the process.
You create a Missouri living will by putting your treatment wishes in writing and dating it. You sign it yourself, or someone else signs it in your presence and at your direction. If it is not entirely in your own handwriting, two adult witnesses must watch you sign it, and neither one can be the person who signed on your behalf. Once it is signed, tell your physician it exists and ask for a copy in your medical records.[1]
Anna Baker of Springfield, Missouri fills out her declaration, listing the life-prolonging treatments she wants withheld if she has a terminal condition and cannot decide for herself. She signs and dates the form, and two adult neighbors, neither of whom is her named agent, watch her sign and complete the witness acknowledgment.[1] Anna keeps the original at home, gives a copy to her physician, and gives another to the agent she named to handle other medical decisions.
The most common mistakes with a Missouri living will are leaving out the date, using only one witness instead of two, and letting the person who signed on your behalf also act as a witness. Never telling your physician the document exists is another one. Any of these can leave your declaration incomplete or unused when it matters most.
A Missouri living will is the written declaration described in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 459.015. In it, you direct your physician to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging procedures if you have a terminal condition and can no longer take part in your own medical decisions.[1] It is not the same document as a durable power of attorney for health care, which names someone to make other medical decisions for you. FormsPal’s builder combines both into one document so you only have to fill out one form.
Yes. Missouri law requires the declaration to be in writing, so printing the form and signing it meets that requirement.[1] You can download the Missouri living will form above and print it, or fill it out on screen first and print it once it is finished.
Missouri law itself sets out a sample declaration you can use, word for word, in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 459.015.[1] FormsPal offers a free, ready-to-use version of the Missouri living will form above. Our builder also adds a durable power of attorney for health care to the same document.
It helps to talk about your wishes with the people close to you and with your named agent before you need the document, so nobody is guessing what you would have wanted. Many people also revisit their living will every few years, or after a major health change, and sign a new one if their wishes change.
Other Living Will Forms by State
General information, not legal or tax advice.
