power of attorney that you want it to take effect right away. If you do it this way and you want it to remain in effect even if you should become incapacitated, you have to:
- say in the document that you want it to remain in effect should you become incapacitated,
- call it a "durable health care power of attorney" if you are including a power of attorney, or
- say the advance directive was drafted under the authority of the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act.
The forms in the back of this manual are all of the kind that take effect later. If you want one that will take effect immediately, you need to amend the form.
How to make your advance directive take effect later. If you write your advance directive to take effect at a later date, you will be speaking for yourself and making your own decisions up until that time. If you choose to have the advance directive take effect later you have to:
- state when you want it to be effective, such as, upon being determined to be incapacitated, or, while admitted to certain types of treatment, such as psychiatric hospitalization.
What happens if you say nothing about when it becomes effective. If you say nothing, your advance directive becomes effective when you are determined to be incapacitated and stops being effective when you get capacity back | 
