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No. Massachusetts is one of only a handful of states that do not allow legally binding living wills. If you write a living will in Massachusetts, your doctors are not legally obligated to follow your wishes. However, a living will can help health care providers and the courts make decisions about your medical care.

1. I direct that I be given health care treatment to relieve pain or provide comfort even if such treatment might shorten my life, suppress my appetite or my breathing, or be habit forming. 2. I direct that all life prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn.

Massachusetts law does not recognize living wills- instead, you can draft and sign a health care proxy, giving a trusted individual the authority to make medical decisions on your behalf. You can, and should, give that person as much information as you can about what you want.

Technically, you can create your own will in Massachusetts. The only legal requirement is that you sign it in front of at least 2 witnesses and that those witnesses also sign the will.

The will must be filed in the county where the decedent last resided with the Probate and Family Court Department so the personal representative may be granted ?Letters? and proceed with the administration of the estate. Someone who dies without a will is called ?intestate,? which invokes the strict laws of intestacy.

It is important to note that Massachusetts is one of only three states in the country that does not recognize living wills as legally enforceable estate planning documents. Please see below for more information about how Massachusetts handles a person's wishes when communicated through an advance directive.