In Alberta, the document for advance care planning is the Personal Directive. If you want to record your healthcare wishes and choose who speaks for you when you can’t speak for yourself, this is the instrument Alberta law provides.
What it is
A Personal Directive is a legal document that lets you do two things:
- Name an agent — a person you choose to make personal decisions for you if you lose the capacity to make them yourself.
- Record your instructions and wishes — guidance about the personal and healthcare decisions you want made on your behalf.
“Personal matters” in Alberta covers healthcare, where you live, who you associate with, and other non-financial aspects of your life. The person you name is called your agent.
What it covers, and what it doesn’t
A Personal Directive deals with personal and healthcare decisions. It does not cover your finances or property. In Alberta, financial decision-making is handled by a separate document called an Enduring Power of Attorney. Don’t assume one covers the other; they’re distinct, and you generally want both.
A Personal Directive comes into effect only when you lack the capacity to make a given decision yourself. While you’re capable, you decide.
Who can be your agent
To act as your agent in Alberta, a person must generally:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be willing and able to take on the role
You can name more than one agent, and you can set out how they should act (together, or in a specified order). You can also name an alternate agent in case your first choice is unable or unwilling to act when the time comes. Naming an alternate is a good idea; it prevents your directive from stalling if your first choice is unavailable.
How to complete it
To make a valid Personal Directive in Alberta:
- You must be at least 18 and understand the nature and effect of the document.
- It must be in writing, dated, and name your agent (if you’re appointing one).
- You must sign it (or have someone sign for you, in your presence and at your direction).
- It must be witnessed. A Personal Directive in Alberta generally requires one witness, at least 18 years old, who signs in your presence.
There are restrictions on who can witness. The witness generally cannot be:
- Your agent, or your agent’s spouse or partner
- Your own spouse or partner
- A person signing the directive on your behalf (or that person’s spouse or partner)
If you’re appointing your spouse or partner as your agent, this is exactly the kind of detail worth getting right. The person closest to you often can’t be the witness.
You do not need a lawyer to make a Personal Directive in Alberta.
A note on accuracy: The requirements for Personal Directives are set out in Alberta’s Personal Directives Act. This guide is educational, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements before relying on any document, and if Tiller produced your directive, follow its signing and witnessing instructions exactly.
Bringing it into effect
An Alberta Personal Directive becomes operative when a determination is made that you lack capacity to make the decision in question. The directive itself can specify how that determination is made (for example, requiring a physician and someone else to confirm it). If it doesn’t specify, the Personal Directives Act sets out a default process.
The instructions matter as much as the agent
Naming an agent answers who decides. The instructions and wishes in your directive answer what you’d want, and your agent is required to follow the clear instructions you’ve given.
This is the part that’s easy to under-do. Many people name an agent and write little else, leaving that agent with authority but no real guidance. A directive that says who decides, but not what you value, sends your agent into hard moments half-equipped.
What happens without one
If you lose capacity in Alberta without a Personal Directive, decision-making falls to a default decision-maker, and in some cases someone might need to apply for guardianship through the court to gain authority. This is a slower, more stressful, more expensive process than naming an agent in advance.
How Tiller helps
Tiller guides you through creating a Personal Directive formatted to Alberta’s requirements, including naming your agent and, where you wish, an alternate. Just as importantly, it helps you articulate the instructions and values your agent will rely on. This is the guidance that turns authority into informed action.
Tiller produces a document formatted to Alberta’s requirements. Legal validity depends on completing the signing and witnessing steps correctly — Tiller walks you through them.
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