Declaration for Mental Health Treatment
(IL)

Summary

This template is a declaration for mental health treatment, which is used in Illinois to permit the principal to state his or her wishes regarding mental health treatment and to appoint an agent to make such decisions if the principal becomes incapacitated. This template contains practical guidance, drafting notes, optional clauses, and alternate clauses. Illinois law allows to make 4 four types of advance directives: a Health Care Power of Attorney (755 ILCS 45/1 et seq.); a Living Will (755 ILCS 35/1 et seq.); a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment (755 ILCS 43/1 et seq.); and a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR)/Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) (755 ILCS 40/65). This template follows the statutory text of the Health Treatment Preference Declaration Act (755 ILCS 43/1 et seq.) and permits your client to receive electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) or psychotropic medicine when your client has a mental illness and is unable to make these decisions for himself or herself. The template also allows your client to choose to be admitted to a mental health facility for up to 17 days of treatment. The template permits your client to write his or her wishes or choose someone to make mental health decisions for your client. Substantial modifications are, of course, acceptable, but unfamiliar forms may lead to delays while the mental health facility or professional consults with their counsel. If the client has a particular physician or facility in mind, the client may want to have them approve a form that is substantially different. This declaration may be invoked within three years of execution, unless it has been revoked. If it is invoked and still in effect after three years, it remains effective until the principal is no longer incapable. (755 ILCS 43/10(2)). This instrument should be used as a supplement to and not a substitution for a valid health care power of attorney. For an in-depth discussion on Powers of Attorney, see Types of Powers of Attorney and Authority Granted (IL) and Termination of Powers of Attorney (IL).