Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Pennsylvania needs the document dated, signed, and witnessed by two adults. No notary is required. And Pennsylvania has an eligibility rule found almost nowhere else: you qualify at 18 or if you have graduated from high school, married, or been emancipated.
Who may make one — four independent routes
An individual of sound mind may make a living will governing the initiation, continuation, withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment if the individual: (1) is 18 years of age or older; (2) has graduated from high school; (3) has married; or (4) is an emancipated minor.
— 20 Pa.C.S. §5442(a) (living will); §5452(a) (health care POA)
Read the list as alternatives, because that is how it is drafted. A seventeen-year-old who has graduated from high school may make a living will in Pennsylvania. So may one who has married, or been emancipated. Most states simply say eighteen.
The identical four-route test appears in section 5452 for the health care power of attorney, so both instruments follow it.
Execution: dated, signed, two adult witnesses
A health care power of attorney must be: (1) dated and signed by the principal by signature or mark or by another individual on behalf of and at the direction of the principal if the principal is unable to sign but specifically directs another individual to sign the health care power of attorney; and (2) witnessed by two individuals, each of whom is 18 years of age or older.
— 20 Pa.C.S. §5452(b)
Three points.
“Dated” is expressly required, and listed first — the same drafting choice Connecticut makes.
“By signature or mark” is a real accommodation: a mark suffices where a signature is not possible, and someone else may sign at the principal’s specific direction where they are unable to sign at all.
Two witnesses, each 18 or older — and no notary requirement. The section does not offer notarisation as an alternative and does not demand it as an addition. Pennsylvania is a witnesses-only state.
Who may not witness
(1) An individual who signs a living will on behalf of and at the direction of a principal may not witness the living will. (2) A health care provider and its agent may not sign a living will on behalf of and at the direction of a principal if the health care provider or agent provides health care services to the principal.
— 20 Pa.C.S. §5442(c) / §5452(c)
The exclusions are narrower than in most states. What is barred is the person who signed on the principal’s behalf, and a health care provider or its agent signing on the principal’s behalf where they provide services to the principal.
Note what is not excluded on the face of these subsections: relatives, heirs, and the health care agent being appointed. Pennsylvania places far less weight on witness disinterest than, say, Oklahoma, which bars legatees, devisees and heirs at law from both witness slots.
A living will does nothing until two things happen
A living will becomes operative when: (1) a copy is provided to the attending physician; and (2) the principal is determined by the attending physician to be incompetent and to have an end-stage medical condition or to be permanently unconscious.
— 20 Pa.C.S. §5443(a)
This is the part people miss. In Pennsylvania a living will is not operative on signing. It becomes operative only when a copy has reached the attending physician and the physician determines the principal is incompetent and either has an end-stage medical condition or is permanently unconscious.
Both conditions carry practical weight. A perfectly executed living will sitting in a drawer is not operative — delivery to the physician is a step, not a courtesy. And the medical trigger is narrow: incompetence alone is not enough.
This is the medical instrument, not the financial one
It governs treatment, not money or property. Chapter 54 also contains an example document combining a living will with a health care power of attorney, which is why Pennsylvania paperwork often arrives as one packet covering both.
Power of attorney requirements by state
What could not be verified
We have quoted 20 Pa.C.S. §§5442, 5443 and 5452. The chapter’s example document at §5471 is referenced but not reproduced. Revocation, provider non-compliance, the surrogate provisions where no agent is named, and the rules for a pregnant principal are not covered here. Whether the Commonwealth publishes a free official form is not verified, so we do not say that it does.
Related: Wyoming · Colorado · requirements by state.
General information drawn from state statutes and official state or court forms, not legal advice. These instruments are governed by the law of the state where the property sits or the document is signed, and formalities differ from state to state — execution, witnessing and recording requirements are the parts that void a document when they are missed. Your own state’s current statute governs.