Florida Living Will and Health Care Surrogate Online

Last updated September 18, 2026

The health care surrogate (§765.202)

A written designation names the person who makes health care decisions for you when a physician determines you cannot. Florida lets you name an alternate, and — since 2015 — lets the surrogate’s authority begin immediately if you initial that election (§765.202(6)), so the surrogate can help before any incapacity finding. The designation must be signed in the presence of two adult witnesses; the person you name may not be a witness, and at least one witness may be neither your spouse nor a blood relative.

Chapter 765 also lets you delegate specific decisions to the surrogate — access to your records, consent to or refusal of treatment, applying for benefits, authorizing admission and transfer, and more (§765.113). Our master presents each as a sign-or-initial line, so what you delegate is your decision in your own ink.

The living will (§765.302–§765.303)

A living will is your declaration about withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures when you have a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state, and there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery. It is signed in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom is neither a spouse nor a blood relative. Florida’s statute offers a suggested form (§765.303); ours follows it and adds the choices people most often want stated — nutrition and hydration, comfort care, and the surrogate’s role in carrying the declaration out.

The anatomical gift and the HIPAA access article

The same instrument can carry your anatomical-gift election under Florida’s version of the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, and it carries a HIPAA access article so your surrogate can obtain the records and physician certificates the decisions depend on. For a standing release that reaches family and agents beyond the surrogate, the separate HIPAA release does that job.

Why a trust or a power of attorney is not enough

A durable power of attorney governs money and property. A revocable trust governs the assets inside it. Neither lets anyone consent to or refuse treatment for you. Without a surrogate designation, Florida’s proxy statute picks the decision-maker in a fixed order (§765.401) — which may not be the person you would choose — and without a living will, your family is left to guess.

The healthcare directive we prepare

The combined Florida instrument — the designation of health care surrogate with an alternate and the immediate-effect election, the §765.113 delegation lines, the living will declaration, the anatomical-gift election, the HIPAA access article, and the surrogate’s affidavit.
Florida signing instructions: the two-witness rules for each part and the optional notary.
Your answers fill the blanks; the master text never changes.
Also inside every Will-Based and Trust-Based plan.

$99 as a single document, or from $199 inside the Will-Based Plan.

Start a Florida healthcare directive

Software, not a law firm. The document is prepared from your answers on a locked Florida master; it is not reviewed by anyone, and a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing can review it before you sign.

Frequently asked questions

Is a living will the same as a will?

No. A living will speaks while you are alive and states your wishes about life-prolonging procedures. A last will disposes of property after death. Florida families usually need both.

Does a Florida living will need a notary?

No. It needs two adult witnesses, one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative (§765.302). The same is true of the surrogate designation (§765.202).

Can my surrogate act before I am incapacitated?

Only if you initial the immediate-effect election the statute allows (§765.202(6)). Otherwise the surrogate's authority begins when a physician determines you lack capacity.

Who decides if I have no surrogate?

Florida's proxy statute assigns the decision to family in a fixed order — guardian, spouse, adult child, parent, adult sibling, and so on (§765.401). A designation lets you choose instead.

Do hospitals accept a document I prepared myself?

A directive that meets Chapter 765's signing rules is valid whoever typed it; Florida's own suggested forms (§765.203, §765.303) are self-help forms. What matters is a correctly witnessed document your surrogate and doctors can find.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice.

Florida Living Will and Health Care Surrogate