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Florida statutory health care form

Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate

Download the August 2026 Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate packet, Florida's suggested statutory form under § 765.203, for naming a surrogate to make health care decisions if you cannot. Get the form in editable Word and true fillable PDF. Add the completed sample PDF if you want a filled-in reference.

  • Updated August 2026
  • Attorney-reviewed
  • 100% satisfaction guarantee

What you receive for Florida

A state-specific designation of health care surrogate packet, reviewed against the current Florida statute and ready for instant secure access.

The complete current statutory form

This packet reproduces the suggested form in Fla. Stat. § 765.203 in full, including the initialed health-information and decision-making authorizations many generic forms omit.

Immediate-authority options included

The statutory initial boxes let you make your surrogate's authority effective immediately for health information, health care decisions, or both, or leave the default, which starts at a physician's incapacity determination (§ 765.204).

Private self-help workflow

Download the files, complete them on your own device, then sign before two witnesses. Your personal details are never entered into an online form builder.

Included documents

This download includes 1 document in editable Word and fillable PDF formats. Use the Word version for editing; the fillable PDF can be completed on screen, then printed and signed.

  • FLORIDA DESIGNATION OF HEALTH CARE SURROGATE Word PDF

Preview the Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate

Review the complete form text below before purchasing. Your licensed download (editable Word and fillable PDF) is delivered after checkout.

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Page 1 of the Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate form, as delivered in the download
Page 1 of the actual document, rendered from the fillable PDF included in your download.

DESIGNATION OF HEALTH CARE SURROGATE

(Florida Statutes § 765.203)

I, ________________________________________ (name), designate as my health care surrogate under § 765.202, Florida Statutes:

Name: ____________________________________________________ (name of health care surrogate)

Address: _________________________________________________ (address)

Phone: ____________________________________________________ (telephone)

If my health care surrogate is not willing, able, or reasonably available to perform his or her duties, I designate as my alternate health care surrogate:

Name: ______________________________________ (name of alternate health care surrogate)

Address: _________________________________________________ (address)

Phone: ____________________________________________________ (telephone)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEALTH CARE

I authorize my health care surrogate to:

__________ (Initial here) Receive any of my health information, whether oral or recorded in any form or medium, that:

1. Is created or received by a health care provider, health care facility, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school or university, or health care clearinghouse; and

2. Relates to my past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition; the provision of health care to me; or the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to me.

I further authorize my health care surrogate to:

__________ (Initial here) Make all health care decisions for me, which means he or she has the authority to:

1. Provide informed consent, refusal of consent, or withdrawal of consent to any and all of my health care, including life-prolonging procedures.

2. Apply on my behalf for private, public, government, or veterans’ benefits to defray the cost of health care.

3. Access my health information reasonably necessary for the health care surrogate to make decisions involving my health care and to apply for benefits for me.

4. Decide to make an anatomical gift pursuant to part V of chapter 765, Florida Statutes.

__________ (Initial here) Specific instructions and restrictions:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

While I have decisionmaking capacity, my wishes are controlling and my physicians and health care providers must clearly communicate to me the treatment plan or any change to the treatment plan prior to its implementation.

To the extent I am capable of understanding, my health care surrogate shall keep me reasonably informed of all decisions that he or she has made on my behalf and matters concerning me.

THIS HEALTH CARE SURROGATE DESIGNATION IS NOT AFFECTED BY MY SUBSEQUENT INCAPACITY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN CHAPTER 765, FLORIDA STATUTES.

PURSUANT TO SECTION 765.104, FLORIDA STATUTES, I UNDERSTAND THAT I MAY, AT ANY TIME WHILE I RETAIN MY CAPACITY, REVOKE OR AMEND THIS DESIGNATION BY: (1) SIGNING A WRITTEN AND DATED INSTRUMENT WHICH EXPRESSES MY INTENT TO AMEND OR REVOKE THIS DESIGNATION; (2) PHYSICALLY DESTROYING THIS DESIGNATION THROUGH MY OWN ACTION OR BY THAT OF ANOTHER PERSON IN MY PRESENCE AND UNDER MY DIRECTION; (3) VERBALLY EXPRESSING MY INTENTION TO AMEND OR REVOKE THIS DESIGNATION; OR (4) SIGNING A NEW DESIGNATION THAT IS MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THIS DESIGNATION.

MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY BECOMES EFFECTIVE WHEN MY PRIMARY PHYSICIAN DETERMINES THAT I AM UNABLE TO MAKE MY OWN HEALTH CARE DECISIONS UNLESS I INITIAL EITHER OR BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING BOXES:

IF I INITIAL THIS BOX [ ], MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE MY HEALTH INFORMATION TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY.

IF I INITIAL THIS BOX [ ], MY HEALTH CARE SURROGATE’S AUTHORITY TO MAKE HEALTH CARE DECISIONS FOR ME TAKES EFFECT IMMEDIATELY.

PURSUANT TO SECTION 765.204(3), FLORIDA STATUTES, ANY INSTRUCTIONS OR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS I MAKE, EITHER VERBALLY OR IN WRITING, WHILE I POSSESS CAPACITY SHALL SUPERSEDE ANY INSTRUCTIONS OR HEALTH CARE DECISIONS MADE BY MY SURROGATE THAT ARE IN MATERIAL CONFLICT WITH THOSE MADE BY ME.

SIGNATURES: Sign and date the form here:

__________________ (date) __________________________ (sign your name)

____________________________ (print your name) ____________________________ (address)

______________________ (city) ______________________ (state)

SIGNATURES OF WITNESSES:

(Two adult witnesses must sign. The person designated as surrogate may not be a witness. At least one witness must be neither your spouse nor your blood relative. — § 765.202(1)–(2), Florida Statutes)

First witness:     Second witness:

______________________________ (print name)     ______________________________ (print name)

______________________________ (address)     ______________________________ (address)

__________________________ (city, state)     __________________________ (city, state)

____________________ (signature of witness)     ____________________ (signature of witness)

__________________ (date)     __________________ (date)

Legal currency, verified

About the Florida statutory form

Suggested form Fla. Stat. § 765.203
Last statutory change HB 889 (eff. Oct. 1, 2015)
Currency confirmed through 2025 Florida Statutes
Reviewed & verified August 2026

This Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate lets you name a person you trust — and an alternate — to make health care decisions for you if you become unable to make them yourself. It follows the suggested statutory form in Florida Statutes § 765.203, under Part II of Chapter 765 (the Health Care Advance Directives chapter). It does not replace a living will: a surrogate designation names who decides, while a living will records your own treatment instructions.

Updated to the current Florida statutory form

The suggested designation form in § 765.203 was last revised by House Bill 889, effective October 1, 2015, and is unchanged through the 2025 Florida Statutes. This packet reproduces the current suggested form in full — including the initialed authorization to receive your health information, the initialed authorization covering all health care decisions (including life-prolonging procedures, applications for benefits, and anatomical gifts), and the optional immediate-authority elections — reviewed and verified against the current statute in August 2026.

What is inside this form

You designate your health care surrogate and an alternate, then initial the authorizations you want to grant: access to your health information; authority to make all health care decisions for you, including informed consent, refusal, or withdrawal of consent to any health care, applications for private, public, government, or veterans' benefits, and anatomical gifts; and any specific instructions or restrictions. The form states that your wishes control while you have capacity, that the designation is not affected by your later incapacity, and how you can revoke or amend it under § 765.104.

When your surrogate's authority begins

By default, your surrogate's authority becomes effective only when your primary physician determines that you are unable to make your own health care decisions (§ 765.204). If you prefer, you can initial one or both boxes to make your surrogate's authority to receive your health information, to make health care decisions for you, or both, effective immediately. Even then, your own instructions and decisions while you have capacity supersede any conflicting decision by your surrogate.

Signing requirements

You must sign the designation in the presence of two adult witnesses (§ 765.202). The person you designate as surrogate cannot serve as a witness, and at least one witness must be neither your spouse nor your blood relative. Florida does not require notarization for this document. Give a copy of the signed designation to your surrogate.

What you download

Your purchase includes the Designation of Health Care Surrogate form in two formats: an editable Word (.docx) file, and a fillable PDF you can complete on screen before printing and signing.

Related Florida forms

A surrogate designation appoints the person who decides for you. To state your own instructions about life-prolonging procedures, Florida provides a separate statutory form: the Florida Statutory Living Will (Part III of Chapter 765).

This form is not legal advice and does not replace the advice of a Florida attorney about your specific situation.

Validity and satisfaction guarantee

ILRG is committed to top quality legal forms that are valid in all states. If you are not 100 percent satisfied after purchase, contact us for a full refund.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Florida Designation of Health Care Surrogate

Yes. This packet reproduces the suggested designation form in Fla. Stat. § 765.203, last revised by House Bill 889 effective October 1, 2015, and unchanged through the 2025 Florida Statutes. Reviewed and verified against the current statute in August 2026.

No. Florida requires you to sign in the presence of two adult witnesses (§ 765.202). Notarization is not required. The person you designate as surrogate cannot be a witness, and at least one witness must be neither your spouse nor your blood relative.

By default, only when your primary physician determines that you cannot make your own health care decisions (§ 765.204). You can instead initial the statutory boxes to make authority over your health information, health care decisions, or both effective immediately. Your own decisions while you have capacity always control.

No. A designation of health care surrogate names the person who makes decisions for you. A living will (Part III of Chapter 765) records your own instructions about life-prolonging procedures. Many Floridians complete both.

Both contain the same form text. Use the editable Word (.docx) file to type in your details, or the fillable PDF to complete the form on screen, including the initial boxes. Either way, print the finished document and sign it before two witnesses.

Download Florida Form — $9.99