§ 137.002.Persons Who May Execute Declaration for Mental Health Treatment; Period of Validity

Who may make a declaration and how long it lasts, with one important extension.

An adult who is not incapacitated may execute a declaration for mental health treatment, and the preferences or instructions may include consent to or refusal of mental health treatment.

Both directions are available, which is worth stating plainly. A declaration can refuse a treatment, and it can consent to one in advance — the second being useful for a person who knows a particular medication works for them.

A declaration is effective on execution, though its instructions operate only once a court has found the principal incapacitated.

It expires on the third anniversary of the date of its execution or when revoked by the principal, whichever is earlier.

A three-year term is short for an advance directive, and the reason is the subject matter: treatment options change, and a person’s own experience of what helps changes with them.

Subsection (c) is the essential exception. If the declaration is in effect and the principal is incapacitated on the third anniversary, it remains in effect until the principal is no longer incapacitated.

Without that, the document would lapse exactly when it was needed. A person unable to make treatment decisions is equally unable to execute a new declaration, and expiry would leave them with no expressed preferences at all.

The extension ends with the incapacity rather than running indefinitely, so a principal who recovers is expected to make a fresh declaration.