Making end-of-life documents during COVID-19
The temporary laws that allow nurse practitioners to sign a certificate in an advance health directive (see below) expired on 30 April 2022. The Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2021 commenced on 30 April 2022 and replaced the temporary laws with permanent laws. See the Queensland Legislation website for further details.
Advance health directives
Temporary laws enable nurse practitioners, in addition to doctors, to continue to complete a certificate in an Advance Health Directive (AHD) stating that the signatory, at the time of making the AHD, appeared to have the capacity necessary to make it.
Expired temporary laws
Temporary laws were previously put in place to allow for the signing of wills, enduring powers of attorney and advance health directives to be witnessed over video conference by a special witness. Those temporary laws expired on 1 July 2021.
Wills, enduring powers of attorney and advance health directives must now be made in the usual way, meaning they need to be signed on paper and witnessed in person. Find more information about power of attorney and making decisions for others.
Note that temporary laws continue to allow nurse practitioners to sign the certificate in an AHD (see above). If you started to make one of these documents before 1 July 2021 but didn’t quite finish (for example, if you signed the document before a special witness over video conference), you can finish the rest of the required steps after 1 July 2021.
More information:
Learn more about the temporary laws: