Living wills in Germany — Info for English speakers

No one must be treated against their will.

Self-determination is a high legal commodity in Germany, that is respected in hospitals and care facilities. 

To ensure that doctors and nurses always act in your best interests, it’s important to declare your will in a legally binding way in good time for all cases. Because if someone is in a coma or has dementia, it is too late for this. Then relatives and doctors must decide according to the presumed will — and often prefer to play it safe in case of uncertainty. This is a burdening situation for everyone involved. 

We can provide you with legally binding living wills, regardless of your world view, age or origin. In a living will, you can, e.g., specify treatment prohibitions and wishes for situations in which you are unable to consent or express your will.

Our expertise in this field is unique in Germany. 

For over 25 years we have been drawing up individual living wills on the basis of completed questionnaires. We find that the most important thing is that you take the time to think through the different situations. For this purpose, we offer a lot of background information and are also available, free of charge, by phone.

Even our German-speaking applicants often find it difficult to understand the complex medical matters. Also, the texts must comply with legal requirements, so only our explanations can be colloquial. And of course, legally valid dispositions in Germany must be written in German.

So if you speak English better than German,…

…we offer you the opportunity here to understand our materials more easily with the help of English translations.

We will convert your completed questionnaires into a document, that is legally valid right after you final signature. Only then we charge a fee. Our Standard Living Will covers all the essentials. For special individual requirements, we offer an extended Optimal Living Will as an alternative. A safekeeping with us is also possible. And in any case, you can additionally use our free Proxy Authorisations for persons you trust.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We wish you all the best!

The team of the Zentralstelle Patientenverfügung 
(Central Office for Living Wills of the Humanist Association of Germany Berlin-Brandenburg)