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Start the free role checkWhat advance directives are
Advance directives are documents you sign while you have capacity that let trusted people make decisions for you — financial and medical — if illness or injury later prevents you from deciding yourself. Without them, your family may have to ask a North Carolina court for guardianship, which is slow, public, and costly.
The core North Carolina documents
Power of attorney for finances
Authorizes an agent to handle your finances and property; North Carolina's power of attorney statute is Chapter 32C of the General Statutes, outside the North Carolina statute library. The trust instrument and the power of attorney together decide what an agent may do with the trust — so who you name, and what you grant, matters.
Your health care power of attorney (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 32A-17)
A health care power of attorney names an agent to make health care decisions for you when you cannot. Any person 18 or older with the understanding and capacity to make and communicate health care decisions may make one (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 32A-17); the agent is a competent adult who is not paid to provide your health care (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 32A-18).
Your living will (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-321)
The declaration of a desire for a natural death states that you do not want your life prolonged by life-prolonging measures in the conditions the statute names; it is signed before two qualified witnesses and proved before a clerk or a notary (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-321).
Guardian nomination & HIPAA authorization
If a guardianship ever becomes necessary, the clerk of superior court hears it; a health care power of attorney names who decides your health care, and a HIPAA authorization lets named people receive your medical information. Often added to round out the set.
Why you need these even with a Trust
A revocable living Trust handles the assets inside it, but it does not make medical decisions, and it doesn't cover assets you never transferred in. Advance directives fill those gaps — and together with a will and a Trust, they keep decisions in the hands of people you chose, not a court.
Putting the set together in North Carolina
Which directives you need, and how they're worded, depends on your situation, your family, and your wishes. This page is general information, not legal advice. A free role check can show you where you stand, and a North Carolina attorney can prepare directives that fit you.
General information about North Carolina law, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
- Who can make a health care power of attorney in North Carolina?
- Any person 18 or older with the understanding and capacity to make and communicate health care decisions (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 32A-17), naming a competent adult who is not providing the principal's health care for pay as health care agent (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 32A-18).
- How is a North Carolina living will signed?
- The declaration of a desire for a natural death is signed before two witnesses who believe the declarant of sound mind and who are not relatives within the third degree, heirs or devisees, the attending physician or the listed paid employees, or claimants against the estate, and is proved before a clerk or assistant clerk of superior court or a notary public (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-321(c)).
- Is a living will made in another state valid in North Carolina?
- Yes, if it appears to have been executed in accordance with the requirements of the place where it was made or of North Carolina (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-321(l)).
General information about North Carolina law, not legal advice.