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Cal. PROB § 4716

This is the official text of Cal. PROB § 4716, part of California’s Probate Code — governs wills, trusts, estates, and conservatorships.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) If a patient lacks the capacity to make a health care decision, the patient’s domestic partner shall have the same authority as a spouse has to make a health care decision for his or her incapacitated spouse. This section may not be construed to expand or restrict the ability of a spouse to make a health care decision for an incapacitated spouse.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Capacity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 4609.

(2) “Health care” has the same meaning as defined in Section 4615.

(3) “Health care decision” has the same meaning as defined in Section 4617.

(4) “Domestic partner” has the same meaning as that term is used in Section 297 of the Family Code.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.