Remote Witnessing

How to Complete a Vermont Advance Directive with Remote Witnesses

What is remote witnessing?

Remote witnessing allows someone to act as the witness to your advance directive based on a phone or video call. The Vermont Advance Directive statute was updated in 2024 make the option for remote witnessing a permanent part of the advance directive law. This option was originally added in 2020 on a temporary basis to allow Vermonters to complete their advance directives and maintain social distancing. Now, this is a permanent option for Vermonters who need it.

For someone to be a remote witness they must:

Know you (the principal).
Have communication with the principal by phone or video call and consent to being a witness. In that conversation, the remote witness must confirm that the principal understands what an advance directive is and is completing their advance directive voluntarily, just like the witness would do in person.
Provide their contact information which will be listed on the advance directive in the witness signature section.

Remote witnessing in the Vermont AD statute:

(2) On and after April 1, 2024, the principal shall have either signed in the physical presence of the witness or the following conditions shall have been met if the witness is a remote witness:

(A) the principal and the remote witness were known to each other;

(B) based on communication between the principal and the remote witness through a live, interactive, audio-video connection or by telephone, the remote witness attested that the principal seemed to understand the nature of the document and to be free from duress or undue influence at the time the advance directive was signed; and

(C) the principal included on the advance directive the name and contact information for the remote witness and the nature of the principal’s relationship to the remote witness.

(18 V.S.A. § 9703(2))

Steps to Complete Remote Witnessing:

Choose the advance directive form that works best for you and write down your health care agent and health care goals and priorities.

Choosing your Form

Sign and date your document in the principal signature section.

Identify 2 adults willing to serve as remote witnesses. Your witnesses cannot be your agent, spouse, parents, siblings, adult children or grandchildren. For remote witnessing, they must be someone you know. Your health care provider may serve as a witness.

Have your witnesses be on a phone or video call and tell them:

“By being my remote witness you are attesting to the fact that I, the principal, seemed to understand the nature and effect of the advance directive and was free from duress or undue influence at the time of signing.”

Witnesses must agree to this statement to be listed as remote witnesses.

In the witness’s name section, write the remote witnesses name, phone number, relationship to you (i.e. friend, neighbor, work colleague, etc.), and the date of your conversation with the witness.

On the witness signature line, write “Remote Witness”.

What does a remote witness signature look like?

For a remote witness, write the witness’s name, phone number, and relationship to you on the ‘Print Name’ line, and instead of a signature, write “Remote Witness”. Make sure to include the date of your conversation with the remote witness.

Your health care agent, spouse, parents, siblings, children or grandchildren CANNOT be witnesses.

See the example below:

Your remote witnesses must agree to be listed on your advance directive and must be people that you know.

FAQs

Do I need to get my remote witnesses on the same day?

No. You can obtain consent from your remote witnesses on separate days, as long as you have already signed your advance directive.

I am a healthcare professional assisting a client with their advance directive via telehealth. Can I have my client sign their advance directive using the remote witnessing procedure?

No. The option for remote consent to sign is only available for witnesses, not the principal of the document.

However, there is an option for the document to be signed digitally, using compliant qualified electronic signature software. More information on this option is available on the Digital Signature page.

My remote witness doesn't have an email address. Can I just list their phone number?

Yes, list whatever contact information is available for your remote witness. At minimum, a phone number or email address is sufficient. If you can list both, that is preferred.