A Practice Note explaining New Jersey instruction directives (living wills), which an individual (the declarant) can use to provide specific instructions to health care providers, health care representatives, and family members about the type of health care options and treatments they want or do not want to receive, including end-of-life care and life-sustaining treatment such as artificially provided fluids and nutrition. This Note provides information on the purpose and use of instruction directives, drafting and execution requirements, the process for making health care decisions based on instructions in a instruction directive, and advantages and limitations compared to other health care incapacity planning documents, including proxy directives, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) releases, do not resuscitate orders (DNR), and physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST).