How Do I Store My Advance Directive?

A perfectly drafted health care directive is useless if no one can find it when it counts. Storage is not a filing afterthought. It is the difference between a document that guides your care and one that sits unread in a safe while decisions are made without it.

The Core Rule: Accessible, Not Hidden

The instinct to lock important papers in a fireproof safe or a bank deposit box works against you here. A health care directive needs to be reachable in a hurry, often by other people, and often at night or on a weekend. A document sealed in a safe deposit box that only opens during banking hours, or a fireproof box only you can access, defeats the purpose. The guiding principle is simple: your directive should be easy for the right people to reach at the moment they need it, which usually means giving out copies rather than guarding a single original.

Give Copies to the People Who Will Use It

Start with the two audiences who will actually rely on the document. The first is the person you named to speak for you. If you appointed a health care agent through a power of attorney, that agent is authorized under RCW 11.125.400 to give informed consent for health care decisions on your behalf and to access your health information, so your agent should have a copy of your directive and know exactly where the original is kept. Handing your agent a copy at the same time you tell them you have chosen them turns an abstract appointment into something they can act on.

The second audience is your physician. Your directive is governed by the Natural Death Act, chapter 70.122 RCW, and it does its work inside the medical system, so it belongs in your medical record. RCW 70.122.030 contemplates the directive, or a copy of it, being made part of the patient's medical records retained by the attending physician. Ask your doctor's office to scan your directive into your chart. In many health systems that means it will be visible across affiliated facilities, so the document travels with you if you are admitted or transferred.

Keep an Accessible Copy at Home

Beyond your agent and your physician, keep a copy somewhere at home that a family member or emergency contact could locate quickly. Many people keep advance care documents in a clearly labeled folder in an obvious place, and let trusted relatives know where it is. If you also have a POLST, the Department of Health designed that form to travel with you and to be found fast, so people often keep it somewhere highly visible, such as on the refrigerator or with their medications. The same accessibility mindset applies to your directive: the fewer steps and fewer locked doors between a caregiver and your document, the better.

It is also wise to keep a small note in your wallet or phone that identifies your health care agent and states that you have a directive on file, along with your agent's contact information. That way, even a first responder or an emergency room clerk knows whom to call and that a document exists.

Washington's Health Care Declarations Registry

Washington offers an additional layer that many people do not know about. State law directs the Department of Health to establish and maintain a statewide health care declarations registry, and that registry is authorized in RCW 70.122.130. You can submit several kinds of documents to it, including a health care directive, a durable power of attorney for health care, and a mental health advance directive, and the Department digitally stores what you submit.

The registry is worth understanding on its own terms. Under RCW 70.122.130, it is maintained in a secure database accessible through a Department of Health website, and it is set up so that your personal representatives, attending physicians, certain other providers acting under a physician's direction, and health care facilities can reach your documents at all times. That around-the-clock access is exactly what you want in an emergency. At the same time, the statute is clear about what the registry does not do. Submitting your directive to the registry does not affect the validity of the document, does not replace any legal requirements needed to make it valid, and does not create a presumption that the document is valid. In other words, the registry is a delivery and access system, not a substitute for signing your documents correctly in the first place. It also does not affect the validity of your directive if you never submit it, and failing to tell the registry about a revocation does not undo the revocation.

Used well, the registry complements the copies you have already handed out. It gives providers a reliable place to look, especially if the physical copies are not immediately at hand, while your agent and your doctor still hold their own copies for good measure.

Keep It Current

Storage is not a one-time task. If you move, change physicians, name a new agent, or revise your wishes, update every copy so that no one is working from an outdated version. Retrieve or replace the copies your agent and doctor hold, refresh the copy at home, and update your registry submission if you use one. A stray old copy floating around can create confusion at the worst moment, so treat updating as part of the same job as storing.

A Snohomish County Reminder

For families in Snohomish County who may receive care at different clinics and hospitals across the region, accessibility is especially important, because you cannot always predict which facility you will end up in. Spreading copies among your agent, your physician, your home, and the state registry means that wherever you are treated, someone can find your wishes. Coordinating all of this with the rest of your estate plan keeps the whole picture consistent.

If you would like help drafting your directive, naming an agent, and setting up a storage plan that people can actually rely on, the Law Office of Chad Foster works with families throughout Snohomish County and would be glad to help you put it all in place.

This article is general information, not legal or medical advice for your specific situation.