An advance directive (Diretiva Antecipada de Vontade, DAV) or living will is a document in which persons state, with conscious volition, their preferences regarding the healthcare they wish to receive should they find themselves in a medical condition where they are unable to express their wishes.

The living will also provides for one or two persons to be appointed as healthcare proxies, who can decide for that person what healthcare they will or will not receive should their medical condition not allow them to express their own wishes.