Living Will and Advance Health-Care Instruction Requirements in Florida
At a glance
| Governing law and document | Florida Health Care Advance Directives Act, Fla. Stat. ch. 765, especially the Life-Prolonging Procedure Act (§§ 765.301-.309): a standalone living will or declaration, which may be written or oral. The § 765.303 form is optional |
|---|---|
| Who may make an instruction | Any competent adult may make a living will at any time (§§ 765.101(18), 765.302(1)) |
| Oral, written, and signature form | Written: principal signs in both witnesses' presence; if physically unable, one witness signs the principal's signature in the principal's presence and at the principal's direction (§ 765.302(1)). Oral: a witnessed oral statement is a living will (§ 765.101(13)); chapter 765 states no special electronic or remote-witness route |
| Witness, notary, and disqualifications | Written living will: two subscribing witnesses; at least one may be neither the principal's spouse nor blood relative (§ 765.302(1)). No notary alternative or additional facility witness. An oral statement must be witnessed, but chapter 765 does not specify the witness count or disqualification rule for that route |
| Covered conditions and trigger | Principal must lack a reasonable medical probability of recovering capacity and have a terminal condition, end-stage condition, or persistent vegetative state; oral/written limits must be satisfied (§ 765.304). Primary physician plus at least one consulting physician separately examine, document, and sign findings before withholding or withdrawal (§ 765.306) |
| Treatment, nutrition, hydration, and comfort | May direct providing, withholding, or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures. Those procedures include artificially provided sustenance and hydration; comfort care and pain-alleviating medication/procedures are excluded (§§ 765.101(12), 765.302). The optional form directs natural dying with comfort and pain relief (§ 765.303) |
| Pregnancy and other statutory limits | No separate pregnancy bar is stated for the principal's own living-will instruction. A surrogate or proxy may not consent to withholding or withdrawal from a pregnant patient 'prior to viability' unless the principal expressly delegated that authority in writing or a court approved it (§ 765.113(2)); the section's cited definition cross-reference is stale. Chapter 765 does not authorize mercy killing or euthanasia (§ 765.309) |
| Revocation, notice, and registry | A competent principal may amend or revoke at any time by signed dated writing, directed physical cancellation/destruction, oral expression, or a later materially different directive. Effective when communicated to the surrogate, provider, or facility (§ 765.104). Chapter 765 creates no directive registry or special chart-notation rule for revocation |
| Provider duties, recognition, and effect | An executed living will is rebuttable clear-and-convincing evidence (§ 765.302). A moral/ethical refusal triggers a 7-day transfer-or-comply rule (§ 765.1105). A directive validly executed under another state's or Florida's law is validly executed here (§ 765.112) |
Florida's Life-Prolonging Procedure Act governs the treatment-instruction part of chapter 765. A living will may stand alone even though Florida also permits the same document to appoint a health-care surrogate. This page addresses the adult's own instruction, not the agent appointment.
Requirements one by one
Florida recognizes both written and oral living wills
§ 765.101 defines a living will as either a witnessed written document or a witnessed oral statement about life-prolonging procedures. For the written route, § 765.302 requires the adult's signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. At least one witness must be neither the adult's spouse nor a blood relative.
If the adult is physically unable to sign, one witness may subscribe the adult's signature, but only in the adult's presence and at the adult's direction. The living-will statute supplies no notary substitute and no added facility witness. It calls an oral statement "witnessed" without stating the number or qualifications for that oral route.
Execution and operation are separate
Any competent adult may make a living will at any time. The paper or statement does not control merely because it was validly made. § 765.304 requires three findings before the primary physician proceeds: no reasonable medical probability that the adult will recover capacity; a terminal condition, end-stage condition, or persistent vegetative state; and satisfaction of the instruction's oral or written limits.
§ 765.306 adds the examination rule. The primary physician and at least one consulting physician separately examine the patient, and each signs documented findings in the medical record before life-prolonging procedures may be withheld or withdrawn.
Treatment choices include artificial sustenance and hydration
The adult may direct providing, withholding, or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures. Section 765.101(12) includes artificially provided sustenance and hydration in that term. It excludes medication or procedures considered necessary for comfort care or pain relief.
The printed § 765.303 form is expressly optional. Its condition choices track terminal condition, end-stage condition, and persistent vegetative state, and its treatment language preserves comfort care and medication or procedures needed to alleviate pain.
The pregnancy provision limits surrogate or proxy consent
Chapter 765 states no separate pregnancy bar on the principal's own living- will instruction. § 765.113 instead says a surrogate or proxy may not consent to withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures from a pregnant patient "prior to viability" unless the principal expressly delegated that authority to the surrogate in writing or the surrogate or proxy obtained court approval.
The enacted sentence still says viability is defined in § 390.0111(4), but the current cross-reference does not lead to a definition. The current definition is in § 390.011(15): viability is the stage when fetal life is sustainable outside the womb through standard medical measures. This page reports both the living-will chapter's actual text and the present location of the definition.
§ 765.309 separately provides that chapter 765 does not authorize mercy killing, euthanasia, or an affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end life other than permitting the natural process of dying.
Revocation requires competence and communication
Under § 765.104, a competent principal may amend or revoke at any time by a signed and dated writing; directed physical cancellation or destruction; an oral expression; or a later advance directive that is materially different. The change becomes effective when communicated to the surrogate, health-care provider, or health-care facility.
Chapter 765 creates no state directive registry and states no special medical- record notation formula for a revocation.
A refusing provider has a timed transfer route
For a moral or ethical refusal, § 765.1105(2) gives the provider or facility seven days to transfer the patient. If no transfer occurs, it must carry out the patient's wishes unless the expedited-review section applies.
A living will executed under § 765.302 is rebuttable clear-and-convincing evidence of the adult's wishes. Under § 765.112, a directive executed in another state in compliance with that state's law or Florida law is validly executed for chapter 765.
What trips people up
- The oral route is real but underspecified. The definition recognizes a witnessed oral statement, while the detailed two-witness execution rule is written for the signed document.
- The statutory form is optional. Section 765.303 says it “may, BUT NEED NOT,” be used. A different instrument still must satisfy the governing rule.
- The pregnancy clause is about surrogate or proxy consent. It is not written as a categorical invalidation of every principal-made living will.
- The viability citation is stale. Section 765.113(2) names § 390.0111(4), but the live definition appears in § 390.011(15).
Common questions
Must a Florida living will be notarized?
No notary requirement or notary alternative appears in § 765.302. The written route uses two subscribing witnesses, with at least one neither spouse nor blood relative.
May I address artificial nutrition and hydration?
Yes. Section 765.101(12) includes artificially provided sustenance and hydration within “life-prolonging procedure,” while excluding comfort care and pain-alleviating medication or procedures.
Can I revoke orally?
Yes, while competent. Section 765.104 includes an oral expression among the methods, and the revocation becomes effective when communicated to the named recipient in the statute.
Is a directive from another state recognized?
Florida treats it as validly executed if it complied with the law of the state where it was executed or with Florida law.
Statutes and sources
- Fla. Stat. §§ 765.101 and 765.301-.309 — definitions, living-will form, execution, medical trigger, physician findings, treatment choices, and legal boundary. Official chapter 765 (accessed 2026-07-30).
- Fla. Stat. § 765.104 — amendment, revocation methods, competence, and communication. Official chapter 765 (accessed 2026-07-30).
- Fla. Stat. §§ 765.1105, 765.112, and 765.113 — refusal and transfer, out-of-state execution, and the surrogate/proxy pregnancy restriction. Official chapter 765 (accessed 2026-07-30).
- Fla. Stat. § 390.011(15) — current viability definition. Official chapter 390 (accessed 2026-07-30).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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