AnalysisAs is common in many states, Wyoming law allows an advance medical directive — a living will and/or durable power of attorney for health care — to be executed either in the presence of two witnesses or before a Notary Public. However, in most states with a similar procedure, the notarization typically involves an acknowledgment or a jurat, not both, as in the Wyoming law that was changed by HB 48. In the past, the NNA has received calls to the Information Services Hotline from confused Notaries who asked whether a jurat or acknowledgment was required on a document with notarial wording similar to the wording on the following Wyoming durable power of attorney for health care form found online:
The State of Wyoming
County of _____________
Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by ________, the principal, this ____ day of _______________, 20___.
House Bill 48 now only requires the document to be acknowledged before a Notary, if notarization is the witnessing procedure selected by the principal signer.
Read House Bill 48.