Who Decides About Your Body
Health-Gen. § 5-509 — a witnessed document of your own, then the order of authorizing agents
Anyone 18 years of age or older in Maryland may decide the disposition of their own body without anyone's consent, by a document expressing their wishes, including one designating an authorizing agent, or by a pre-need contract.
Witnessed. The document is written and signed in the presence of a witness, who signs it in the individual's presence. An authorizing agent is bound by a valid document.
- The person designated in the decedent's valid document.
- Without one, the surviving spouse or domestic partner, then an adult child, a parent, an adult sibling, an adult grandchild.
- Then a representative under a signed authorization that does not meet the witnessing rule, then the guardian of the person.
- Then any other person willing to act, including the personal representative, after attesting in writing to a good faith effort to reach the others.
When a class has more than one. A member of the same class who confirms in writing that all the others were notified may act unless the practitioner receives a written objection from another member within 24 hours.
Anatomical gifts, the medical examiner's authority, the funeral home's own forms, and who pays for disposition when no one with the right will act are outside this page. A dispute between family members of equal rank is a question for a licensed Maryland attorney, and in some states for a court.
Sources for this section (1)
- Md. Code, Health-Gen. § 5-509 — Disposition of own body; authorizing agent; order of priority
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maryland attorney.