Advance directives on end-of-life care (France)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
For any adult who wants to make known their wishes on continuing, limiting or stopping treatment should they one day be unable to speak for themselves. The French health ministry publishes a free official model, set by the arrêté of 3 August 2016: you do not need DocMuse to write directives. This French document is sold blank and filled in by hand: wishes, trusted person, witnesses where needed. Directives bind the doctor, save the exceptions of article L. 1111-11 of the French Public Health Code, and can be revoked at any time.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- You want to write down your wishes on end-of-life care in France in case you can no longer speak for yourself.
- You do not want to be kept alive artificially and want doctors to know it.
- A serious illness or an operation makes you think about which treatment you would accept.
- You want to fill in your advance directives by hand and name your trusted person in them.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Declarant
- Declarant's date of birth
- Declarant's place of birth
- Declarant's home address
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Is there a free official model of advance directives in France?
- Yes. The health ministry publishes a model set by the arrêté of 3 August 2016, free on service-public.gouv.fr and on the ministry's site, in two versions depending on whether the person is in good health or seriously ill. No model is compulsory: directives written on plain paper, dated and signed, with the author's surname, first names, date and place of birth, are valid (article R. 1111-17 of the French Public Health Code).
- Must a French doctor follow advance directives?
- Yes: they bind the doctor for every decision on investigation, intervention or treatment. There are only two exceptions: a life-threatening emergency, for the time needed to assess the situation fully, and directives that are manifestly inappropriate or out of step with the medical situation; a refusal to apply them is then decided after a collegial procedure, recorded in the medical file and made known to the trusted person or the family (article L. 1111-11 of the French Public Health Code).
- Where should French advance directives be kept so they are found?
- Keep the original at home, in a place your family knows, and give a copy to your GP, your trusted person and the establishment treating you. You can also store them in your digital health space (Mon espace santé). Carry a card with your papers saying that you have written directives and where they are. Date and sign each new version: the most recent one prevails.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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