---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1044c"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1044c"
heading: "Advance medical directives of members and dependents: requirement for recognition by States"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1044c"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 53 — Miscellaneous Rights and Benefits"
---

# §1044c. Advance medical directives of members and dependents: requirement for recognition by States

- (a) **Instruments To Be Given Legal Effect Without Regard to State Law.—** An advance medical directive executed by a [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) eligible for legal assistance—
  - (1) is exempt from any requirement of form, substance, formality, or recording that is provided for advance medical directives under the laws of a [State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4); and
  - (2) shall be given the same legal effect as an advance medical directive prepared and executed in accordance with the laws of the [State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4) concerned.
- (b) **Advance Medical Directives.—** For purposes of this section, an advance medical directive is any written declaration that—
  - (1) sets forth directions regarding the provision, withdrawal, or withholding of life-prolonging procedures, including hydration and sustenance, for the declarant whenever the declarant has a terminal physical condition or is in a persistent vegetative [state](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4); or
  - (2) authorizes another [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) to make [health care](/usc/10/1072.md?p=10) decisions for the declarant, under circumstances stated in the declaration, whenever the declarant is incapable of making informed [health care](/usc/10/1072.md?p=10) decisions.
- (c) **Statement To Be Included.—**
  - (1) Under regulations prescribed by the [Secretary concerned](/usc/10/2801.md?p=c-5), an advance medical directive prepared by an attorney authorized to provide legal assistance shall contain a statement that sets forth the provisions of [subsection (a)](#a).
  - (2) [Paragraph (1)](#c-1) shall not be construed to make inapplicable the provisions of [subsection (a)](#a) to an advance medical directive that does not include a statement described in that paragraph.
- (d) **States Not Recognizing Advance Medical Directives.—** [Subsection (a)](#a) does not make an advance medical directive enforceable in a [State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4) that does not otherwise recognize and enforce advance medical directives under the laws of the [State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4).
- (e) **Definitions.—** In this section:
  - (1) The term “[State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4)” [includes](/usc/10/101.md?p=g-4) the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and a possession of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1).
  - (2) The term “[person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) eligible for legal assistance” means a [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) who is eligible for legal assistance under [section 1044 of this title](/usc/10/1044.md).
  - (3) The term “legal assistance” means legal services authorized under [section 1044 of this title](/usc/10/1044.md).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title VII, § 749(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 388.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1996 Amendment

Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title VII, § 749(b), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 389, provided that: “Section 1044c of title 10, United States Code, shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Feb. 10, 1996] and shall apply to advance medical directives referred to in that section that are executed before, on, or after that date.”