This law states that as of July 1, 2000, all advance health care directives, such as durable powers of attorney for health care and declarations under the Natural Death Act, are governed by this division. This includes directives made before, on, or after this date.
All court proceedings related to these directives, starting from July 1, 2000, are also under this division. Proceedings that started before then will follow this division, unless doing so would disrupt the proceedings or affect the parties' rights, in which case previous laws apply.
The law confirms that any health care directive or durable power of attorney executed before July 1, 2000, remains valid if it was valid under the rules at that time.
Except as otherwise provided by statute:
(a)CA Probate Code § 4665(a) On and after July 1, 2000, this division applies to all advance health care directives, including, but not limited to, durable powers of attorney for health care and declarations under the Natural Death Act (former Chapter 3.9 (commencing with Section 7185) of Part 1 of Division 7 of the Health and Safety Code), regardless of whether they were given or executed before, on, or after July 1, 2000.
(b)CA Probate Code § 4665(b) This division applies to all proceedings concerning advance health care directives commenced on or after July 1, 2000.
(c)CA Probate Code § 4665(c) This division applies to all proceedings concerning written advance health care directives commenced before July 1, 2000, unless the court determines that application of a particular provision of this division would substantially interfere with the effective conduct of the proceedings or the rights of the parties and other interested persons, in which case the particular provision of this division does not apply and prior law applies.
(d)CA Probate Code § 4665(d) Nothing in this division affects the validity of an advance health care directive executed before July 1, 2000, that was valid under prior law.
(e)CA Probate Code § 4665(e) Nothing in this division affects the validity of a durable power of attorney for health care executed on a printed form that was valid under prior law, regardless of whether execution occurred before, on, or after July 1, 2000.