Refusal to make anatomical gift — Effect of refusal · North Dakota
North Dakota: how to refuse organ donation
If you came here to get off the registry
Is removing the donor designation enough in North Dakota?
Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. Under N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-07, North Dakota law treats a revocation and a refusal as two different things, and only the refusal settles it.
A revocation withdraws the gift you made. It does not stop anyone else from making the gift for you. Only a refusal does that, and N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-06 is the section that says so. It has to be signed.
Both provisions are quoted in full below, from North Dakota’s own code.
Leaving the registry
How to come off the donor registry in North Dakota
North Dakota’s Department of Transportation handles both the donor designation on your license and the state donor registry. LifeSource manages donation in the state.
- On your license or IDAnswer no to the donor question on the application at any North Dakota driver license site.
- On the registryOn the department’s online donor registry form, choose “Please remove my name from the North Dakota Donor Registry.” You need your name, license or ID number, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number, and they must match your driver record. The department mails a letter confirming the change.
LifeSource answers questions at 1-888-5-DONATE.
What North Dakota asks
What you need to make a refusal in North Dakota
- Act
- 2006 revision
- Enforcement
- An unrevoked refusal bars all other persons from making the gift.
- Signing it yourself
- No witnesses required by the statute.
- If someone signs at your direction
- Two adults. At least one of the two must be a disinterested witness; the other may be anyone, including a family member.
- Notary
- Not required.
- North Dakota law
- N.D. Cent. Code §§ 23-06.6-06, 23-06.6-07
- Statute read
- 2026-09-02
Refusal to make anatomical gift — Effect of refusal · Preclusive effect of anatomical gift, amendment, or revocation
The statute itself
Quoted from North Dakota’s enacted code, in full and unedited.
How a refusal is made (1.)
An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by: a. A record signed by: (1) The individual; or (2) Subject to subsection 2, another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically unable to sign; b. The individual's will regardless of whether the will is admitted to probate or invalidated after the individual's death; or c. Any form of communication made by the individual during the individual's terminal illness or injury addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness.
N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-06
How it must be witnessed (2)
A record signed pursuant to paragraph 2 of subdivision a of subsection 1 must: a. Be witnessed by at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness, who have signed at the request of the individual; and b. State that it has been signed and witnessed as provided in subdivision a.
N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-06
What an unrevoked refusal does (4.)
Except as otherwise provided in subsection 8 of section 23-06.6-07, in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the individual set forth in the refusal, an individual's unrevoked refusal to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part bars all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part.
N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-06
A revocation is not a refusal (2.)
A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under section 23-06.6-05 is not a refusal and does not bar another person specified in section 23-06.6-03 or 23-06.6-08 from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under section 23-06.6-04 or 23-06.6-09.
N.D. Cent. Code § 23-06.6-07