Living Will in Florida: Requirements, Cost, and How to Make One

Short answer: a Florida living will is a written statement of which life-prolonging procedures you refuse if you reach a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or a persistent vegetative state. It must be signed in front of two witnesses, one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative. It does not need to be notarized, and you do not need a lawyer to make one. Fla. Stat. § 765.302.

This page covers how to make one, what it costs, what it actually controls, and the Florida rules that trip people up. If you are trying to work out how a living will differs from an advance directive or a health care surrogate, start with advance directive vs living will in Florida instead — a living will is one type of advance directive, not an alternative to one.

Key takeaways

• Two witnesses. One must be neither your spouse nor a blood relative. That restriction applies to one witness, not both.
• No notary required. The words “notary” and “notarized” appear nowhere in Chapter 765.
• No particular form is required — § 765.303’s suggested form “may, BUT NEED NOT” be used. The form is the easy part; the decisions behind it are where these documents fail.
• It does not take effect the moment you are unconscious. Two physicians must separately examine you and document specific findings first. § 765.306.
• Feeding tubes are included by default. “Life-prolonging procedure” expressly covers artificially provided sustenance and hydration.
• Pain relief is never withheld. Comfort care and pain medication are expressly excluded from the definition.
• There is no Florida registry and no court filing. Where you keep it, and who has a copy, is part of the plan.

What is a living will in Florida?

The Florida living will statute is Chapter 765, Part III of the Florida Statutes — §§ 765.301 through 765.309 — sitting inside the Health Care Advance Directives Act. Here is how a living will works in Florida, and what it does.

Florida defines a living will at § 765.101(13) as either a witnessed written document executed under § 765.302, or a witnessed oral statement expressing your instructions about life-prolonging procedures.

Under § 765.302(1), any competent adult may “direct the providing, withholding, or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures” in the event of a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or a persistent vegetative state. Those three conditions are defined terms, and they matter:

Condition	What Florida law requires	Statute
Terminal condition	Caused by injury, disease or illness, from which “there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery” and which, without treatment, “can be expected to cause death”	§ 765.101(22)
End-stage condition	An irreversible condition of “progressively severe and permanent deterioration” where, to a reasonable degree of medical probability, treatment “would be ineffective”	§ 765.101(4)
Persistent vegetative state	Permanent and irreversible unconsciousness with no voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind, and no ability to communicate or interact purposefully	§ 765.101(15)

If your situation does not fall into one of those three, your living will does not govern. That is the single most important thing to understand about the document, and it is covered again below.

A living will is not a last will and testament. It operates while you are alive and stops operating when you die; a last will does the opposite. It also has nothing to do with probate.

Florida living will requirements: how to sign it correctly

The execution rule is short, and it is where most of the bad information online lives. Section 765.302(1) requires that a living will be:

• In writing
• Signed by you, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses
• with at least one witness who is neither your spouse nor a blood relative

If you are physically unable to sign, one of the witnesses must sign your name in your presence and at your direction.

That is the entire requirement. No notary, no filing, no court, no particular form.

Who can witness a living will in Florida?

Any competent adult. The only restriction is that one of your two witnesses must be neither your spouse nor a blood relative.

Two things people get wrong here, both of which unnecessarily shrink the pool of people who can help you:

The restriction applies to one witness, not both. Your spouse can be the other witness. So can your child.

The statute says “blood relative,” not “relative.” An in-law, a step-parent, a step-child or an adoptive relative is not a blood relative, and can serve as the restricted witness. Sources that say “not related to you” are stating the rule more broadly than Florida law does.

One related rule worth knowing if you are signing a health care surrogate designation at the same time, which most people should: under § 765.202(2), the person you name as surrogate may not act as a witness to that document. That restriction is specific to the surrogate designation.

Does a Florida living will need to be notarized?

No. A living will does not need to be notarized to be legally valid in Florida.

The words “notary,” “notarized” and “acknowledged” appear nowhere in Chapter 765 — not in the living will provisions, not in the health care surrogate provisions, not anywhere in Parts I through V. The statutory form at § 765.303 has two witness signature blocks and no notarial certificate.

So why do lawyers still notarize them? Two honest reasons, neither of which is that the law requires it. First, portability — if you are treated in a state whose law does require a notary, a notarized Florida document travels better. Second, practical acceptance — hospital and facility staff who are not lawyers often treat a notarized document as more authoritative, and a seal can head off an argument at the worst possible moment.

The confusion has a specific and identifiable source. A Florida durable power of attorney under § 709.2105 does require two subscribing witnesses and a notary. Different chapter, different document, different rule. Anyone who has signed a financial power of attorney reasonably assumes the medical paperwork works the same way. It does not.

Can I sign a Florida living will online?

Yes, with conditions — and this is a genuinely under-reported point. Chapter 765 says nothing about electronic execution, but Chapter 117 does. Section 117.285(5) expressly lists a health care advance directive among the instruments that may be witnessed by audio-video communication technology with an online notary.

The conditions are real. Where fewer than two witnesses are physically present, the notary must ask a set of statutory screening questions, and an affirmative answer forces the use of physically present witnesses instead. A vulnerable adult as defined in § 415.102 may not use remote witnessing at all. Note also that Florida’s electronic wills statute, § 732.522, does not apply to Chapter 765 documents — the authority here comes from Chapter 117.

The Florida living will form

Section 765.303 supplies a suggested form, and the statute is explicit that it “may, BUT NEED NOT,” be used. Any writing that satisfies § 765.302 is a valid living will.

Two features of the statutory form are worth understanding before you fill anything in.

The three conditions are separately initialed. The form gives you a line each for “I have a terminal condition,” “I have an end-stage condition,” and “I am in a persistent vegetative state.” You are not forced into an all-or-nothing choice. You can direct that life-prolonging procedures be withheld in a persistent vegetative state but not in an end-stage condition, if that reflects what you want.

There is an “Additional Instructions” line, and almost nobody uses it. It is the most valuable blank space in Florida estate planning. Things worth putting there:

• Whether you want artificial nutrition and hydration continued even if other measures stop — see below, because the default runs the other way
• Whether your directive should control during pregnancy (see the § 765.113(2) section below)
• What you want if you have advanced dementia but do not meet the terminal / end-stage / persistent vegetative state threshold
• Your position on a time-limited trial of aggressive treatment before any withdrawal
• Religious or cultural requirements you want honored

The form also lets you name a surrogate “to carry out the provisions of this declaration,” and § 765.303(2) confirms that failing to name one does not invalidate the living will.

How to make a Florida living will, step by step

The mechanics are short. What follows each step is the way it actually goes wrong.

1. Decide which of the three conditions you are addressing. Terminal, end-stage, persistent vegetative state — three separate elections, not a package.
2. Decide about artificial nutrition and hydration specifically. Silence is a decision here, and it runs the direction most people do not expect.
3. Write down anything the form does not ask about. Pregnancy, dementia, a time-limited trial of treatment, religious requirements.
4. Choose two witnesses and check the disqualification rule before they sign. One must be neither your spouse nor a blood relative.
5. Sign in their physical presence, or use the remote route under § 117.285 correctly.
6. Pair it with a health care surrogate designation. A living will appoints nobody. And the surrogate may not witness that document.
7. Deliver it — to your physician, your surrogate, and any facility admitting you.
8. Re-read it after any marriage, divorce, death, diagnosis or move.

The real risks of doing this yourself

Florida does not require a lawyer to make a living will, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. What is also true is that this document is deceptively simple and its errors are silent. Nothing bounces. Nothing gets rejected. Nobody tells you it is wrong. The document simply fails at the one moment it exists for, when you are past the point of fixing it.

These are the failures that actually happen:

• A disqualified witness. People over-restrict, thinking both witnesses must be unrelated, or under-restrict and use a spouse plus a sibling. Either way the document’s validity becomes arguable at the worst possible moment.
• The surrogate witnessed the surrogate designation. Section 765.202(2) forbids it outright. It is the most common execution error in Florida advance directives, and the person making it never realizes.
• Nutrition and hydration were never considered. They sit inside the statutory definition. Someone who assumed “life support” meant machines has decided about tube feeding without knowing they decided.
• Pregnancy was not addressed. Absent express written delegation, § 765.113(2) overrides the directive before viability. Almost every do-it-yourself document is silent on it.
• Dementia was assumed to be covered. Frequently it is not — advanced dementia often meets none of the three triggers, so the directive never activates at all.
• No surrogate was named. Decisions fall to the § 765.401 proxy ladder, where a spouse outranks adult children and a majority of adult children outranks any one of them. Families learn this in a hospital corridor.
• A divorce quietly revoked the surrogate under § 765.104(2) and nothing was updated.
• The documents contradict each other. A durable power of attorney and a surrogate designation naming different people, with no thought given to which controls under § 709.2109(3)(b).
• Nobody ever received a copy. Florida has no registry. A document nobody can produce is functionally a document that does not exist.

And here is the part that should give a do-it-yourselfer real pause. Florida law does not clearly say what happens to a defectively executed living will. No published Florida appellate decision has decided whether one that fails the § 765.302(1) witness requirement is void, voidable, or still admissible as evidence of your wishes. Florida’s testamentary law demands strict compliance with execution formalities, but no court has held that the same rule carries across to Chapter 765.

So the consequence of a signing error is not a tidy “the document is invalid.” It is your family litigating an unsettled question of Florida law, to a clear-and-convincing standard, while a treatment decision waits on the answer.

How much does a living will cost in Florida?

The paperwork is not what you are paying for. The document is two pages.

What costs something is the set of decisions made before anything is typed: which conditions to elect, what to do about nutrition and hydration, whether the pregnancy delegation belongs in your document, how dementia is handled when it fits none of the statutory triggers, who should be surrogate, who is disqualified from witnessing, and whether your existing documents contradict the new one.

A living will is also rarely worth doing alone. It is normally prepared alongside a health care surrogate designation, a durable power of attorney and the rest of a Florida estate plan, priced as a package — which generally costs less than commissioning any of them one at a time. For a figure that fits your situation, call and ask. It is a short conversation.

Do you need a lawyer for a living will in Florida?

Legally, no, and any page telling you otherwise is overselling. The statute requires a writing, your signature and two witnesses. It says nothing about counsel.

The better question is whether your situation contains any of the things that reliably go wrong. Get help if:

• You have a blended family, and the people Florida defaults to under § 765.401 are not the people you want deciding
• You are a woman of childbearing age and want your directive to control during pregnancy — that takes express written delegation under § 765.113(2)
• There is a dementia or neurodegenerative diagnosis, which usually needs drafting around rather than through the standard form
• You already hold other documents — a durable power of attorney, an out-of-state directive, a trust — that could conflict with this one
• You have specific wishes that three initialed lines cannot express
• You have reason to expect the document will be questioned by someone in your family

If none of that applies, you are in the simplest version of this. If several apply, the document is doing more work than it appears to be doing, and it is worth an hour of someone’s attention before you sign rather than after.

Living will vs will, trust, and power of attorney

These five documents get confused with one another constantly, and the confusion is understandable — three of them have “will” or “living” in the name and they do entirely different jobs. The single most useful distinction: a living will is the only one on this list that operates while you are alive and stops at death. A last will and a living trust do the opposite.

	Living Will	Last Will & Testament	Living Trust	Durable Power of Attorney	Health Care Surrogate
Decides what	Life-prolonging medical treatment	Who inherits your property	Who holds and receives trust property	Financial and legal matters	Health care decisions generally
Operates when	While alive, in three defined conditions	Only after death	During life and after death	While alive	While alive, on incapacity or immediately
Names a decision-maker?	No — instructions only	Yes, a personal representative	Yes, a trustee	Yes, an agent	Yes, a surrogate
Goes through probate?	No	Yes	No, if funded	No	No
Witnesses	Two; one not spouse or blood relative	Two	Two — a Florida revocable trust’s testamentary aspects need will formalities, § 736.0403(2)(b)	Two	Two adults; surrogate may not witness
Notary	Not required	Only for self-proof	Customary, not required	Required — § 709.2105	Not required
Governing law	§§ 765.302–.306	Ch. 732	Ch. 736	Ch. 709	§§ 765.202–.205

Living will vs last will and testament

Different documents that share four letters. A living will directs medical treatment while you are alive and expires at death. A last will distributes property and has no effect until you die. Neither can do the other’s job, and a living will never goes through probate.

Living will vs living trust

Also unrelated despite the shared word. A living trust is a property-holding arrangement under Chapter 736 — it owns assets, names a trustee, and is used largely to keep property out of probate. A living will owns nothing and distributes nothing. Many Florida plans include both, doing completely separate work.

One execution point people miss: under § 736.0403(2)(b), the testamentary aspects of a revocable trust signed by a Florida domiciliary are invalid unless the trust is executed with the same formalities Florida requires for a will — which means two attesting witnesses under § 732.502. A trust is not the informal document it is sometimes described as.

Living will vs power of attorney

A Florida durable power of attorney under Chapter 709 covers financial and legal authority — banking, property, taxes, benefits. It requires two witnesses and a notary, which is where the notarization myth about living wills comes from. A ch. 709 agent may make health care decisions only if that authority is specifically granted (§ 709.2201(2)(c)), and where a power of attorney conflicts with a health care advance directive, § 709.2109(3)(b) makes the directive control unless the power of attorney is later and expressly says otherwise.

Is a living will a “medical power of attorney”? And what is a health care proxy?

Two terms cause more confusion in Florida than anything else on this topic, and both arrive from other states.

Florida has no document called a “medical power of attorney.” If you moved here from Texas, Ohio or Illinois, that is the name you knew for the document naming someone to make your medical decisions. The Florida equivalent is the Designation of Health Care Surrogate under § 765.202. A Florida durable power of attorney is a Chapter 709 financial document, and it reaches health care only where that authority is specifically granted (§ 709.2201(2)(c)). So “living will vs medical power of attorney” in Florida is really living will vs health care surrogate designation, below.

“Health care proxy” means something different here too. In most states a health care proxy is a document you sign. In Florida a proxy is a person the statute appoints because you signed nothing — § 765.101(19) defines a proxy as a competent adult “who has not been expressly designated to make health care decisions for a particular incapacitated individual,” but who is nevertheless authorized under § 765.401 to make them. Choose the person yourself and you have a surrogate. Do not choose, and Florida assigns you a proxy from a fixed list.

Living will vs health care surrogate

The closest pair, and the one worth getting right. A living will says what you want; a surrogate designation says who decides. The living will covers three defined end-of-life conditions and nothing else; the surrogate covers every other health care decision. They are complements, not alternatives, and most people need both.

For how a living will relates to an advance directive specifically — which is a category rather than a competing document — see advance directive vs living will in Florida.

When does a Florida living will take effect?

This is the question that matters most to people worried about signing away a recoverable situation, and it is the one most pages answer incorrectly.

People ask when a living will “goes into effect,” and the answer has two halves. Your living will is valid the moment you sign it properly. It does not govern your treatment until the conditions in § 765.304(2) are met. Before life-prolonging procedures may be withheld or withdrawn, it must be determined that:

1. You do not have a reasonable medical probability of recovering capacity so that you could make the decision yourself;
2. You have a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state; and
3. Any limitations or conditions you expressed — orally or in the document — “have been carefully considered and satisfied.”

Section 765.306 then says who decides, and it is stricter than most summaries suggest:

“the patient’s primary physician and at least one other consulting physician must separately examine the patient. The findings of each such examination must be documented in the patient’s medical record and signed by each examining physician before life-prolonging procedures may be withheld or withdrawn.”

Two physicians. Separate examinations. Each documenting and signing, in the record, before anything happens. Note also that Chapter 765 uses “primary physician” here, not “attending physician” — they are separately defined terms and the living will provisions consistently use the former.

Does my living will apply if I am temporarily unconscious or under anesthesia?

No. Being unconscious is not the trigger. Neither is “incapacity” on its own. The threshold is no reasonable medical probability of recovering capacity, combined with one of the three qualifying conditions, confirmed by two physicians who each examined you separately.

Surgery under general anesthesia, a recoverable coma, a stroke with an expected recovery — none of these meet that standard, and a living will authorizes nothing in those situations.

What does a Florida living will actually cover?

It covers “life-prolonging procedures,” which § 765.101(12) defines as any medical procedure, treatment or intervention “including artificially provided sustenance and hydration, which sustains, restores, or supplants a spontaneous vital function.” The definition expressly excludes “the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.”

The definition is functional rather than a list, which is why it reaches further than most people expect. In practice it captures the interventions families picture when they say life support: a ventilator or breathing machine, CPR and defibrillation, dialysis, medication given to sustain blood pressure and circulation, and — expressly — a feeding tube or IV fluids. It is the whole of what people mean when they say they do, or do not, want someone to “pull the plug.”

Two consequences follow, and neither is obvious from the form.

Feeding tubes and IV fluids are included unless you say otherwise

Artificial nutrition and hydration sit inside the definition. If you sign a living will directing that life-prolonging procedures be withheld, you have made a decision about tube feeding whether or not you consciously thought about it.

If you want nutrition and hydration continued even when other measures are stopped, you have to say so affirmatively. It is a common instruction and a completely legitimate one — and the “Additional Instructions” line is exactly where it goes. This is one of the most frequent misunderstandings among Florida families, and it is worth ten minutes of thought before you sign.

You will still receive pain relief

Comfort care and pain medication are carved out of the definition entirely. Declining life support does not mean declining pain management, and it does not mean being left to suffer. The statutory form says this in its own words: that you be “permitted to die naturally with only the administration of medication or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to provide me with comfort care or to alleviate pain.”

This is also why a living will and hospice or palliative care are not in tension. Choosing comfort-focused care is not a hole in your directive — it is the one thing Chapter 765 expressly protects.

What is the main disadvantage of a living will?

The honest answer is more useful than the sales answer.

• It cannot anticipate everything. A document signed in 2011 was not drafted with 2026 treatment options in mind.
• It names nobody. A living will gives instructions but appoints no one to interpret them. That gap is filled by a health care surrogate designation, which is why the two documents belong together. See our guide to the Florida health care surrogate designation.
• Paramedics cannot act on it. In an out-of-hospital emergency, EMS follows a DNRO on the state form — not a living will, however clear.
• It only operates in three defined conditions. Advanced dementia, for instance, does not automatically meet the terminal / end-stage / persistent vegetative state threshold. Families are regularly surprised by this.
• It has to be findable. Florida has no registry. A perfect living will locked in a safe deposit box does nothing at 2 a.m.

None of that is an argument against having one. It is an argument for having a living will and a surrogate designation, and for telling people where the documents are.

Living will vs DNRO: what paramedics can follow

A Do Not Resuscitate Order is not an advance directive at all — it is a physician’s order, governed by § 401.45(3)(a).

To be valid it “must be on the form adopted by rule of the department” — DH Form 1896, adopted under Fla. Admin. Code R. 64J-2.018, printed on yellow paper. It must be signed by your physician or physician assistant and by you, or if you are incapacitated, by your surrogate, proxy, guardian or attorney in fact. Florida also offers a smaller portable DNRO identification device, and using it is voluntary.

Two practical points. Paramedics responding to your home look for the yellow form; they will not read a living will. And the DNRO rule itself states that a DNRO is not a substitute for an advance directive — these are complementary documents, not alternatives.

Florida has no POLST or MOLST program. If you moved here from a state that uses one, the DNRO is the Florida equivalent. A 2026 bill that would have created a Florida POLST equivalent, Senate Bill 312, passed the Senate Health Policy Committee 7–0 and then died in the Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services on March 13, 2026.

Where should you keep a living will?

Florida has no advance directive registry and no court filing. You do not record a living will anywhere. The only registry in Chapter 765 is the Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Registry at § 765.5155, which concerns organ donation only.

That makes distribution the whole ballgame:

• Give a copy to your health care surrogate and any alternate
• Give a copy to your primary physician — under § 765.302(2) it is your responsibility to notify them, and a physician or facility that is notified “shall promptly make the living will or a copy thereof a part of the principal’s medical records”
• Take a copy to any hospital admission. Under § 765.110(2), your directives “shall travel with the patient as part of the patient’s medical record”
• Do not put the only copy in a safe deposit box

If you are incapacitated when you arrive, § 765.302(2) allows any other person to notify the physician or facility that a living will exists.

How do you change or revoke a Florida living will?

Section 765.104(1) gives a competent principal four methods, at any time:

1. A signed, dated writing
2. Physical cancellation or destruction — by you, or by another person in your presence and at your direction
3. An oral expression of intent to amend or revoke
4. A later advance directive that is materially different from the earlier one

An oral revocation requires no witnesses. What matters is communication: under § 765.104(3), a revocation “will be effective when it is communicated to the surrogate, health care provider, or health care facility,” and no one is liable for failing to act on a revocation they did not actually know about.

Does divorce change my documents?

Yes, and this one catches people. Under § 765.104(2), unless your directive or a dissolution order says otherwise, the dissolution or annulment of your marriage revokes the designation of your former spouse as your health care surrogate. If you divorced and never revisited the paperwork, you may have no surrogate at all rather than the one you assume you have.

What if a doctor or hospital will not honor it?

Chapter 765 answers this, and almost nobody publishes it.

Under § 765.1105, a provider or facility that refuses to comply with your living will must make reasonable efforts to transfer you to one that will. A provider unwilling to carry out your wishes because of moral or ethical beliefs must, within 7 days, either transfer you — and pay the transport costs — or carry out your wishes.

Florida also bars a facility from making an advance directive a condition of care. Under § 765.110(2)–(3), a provider may not require you to execute an advance directive, or to re-execute one on the facility’s own forms, and doing so as a condition of treatment or admission carries professional discipline and a fine of up to $1,000 per incident.

Providers acting in compliance with Chapter 765 have immunity under § 765.109 — but that immunity is lost if it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that they did not act in good faith.

Litigation here is thin but real. In Scheible v. Joseph L. Morse Geriatric Center, 988 So. 2d 1130 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008), a nursing home resuscitated a patient contrary to her living will. The Fourth District held the deprivation could not be a legal cause of death under § 400.023, and the trial court had ruled — unchallenged on appeal — that Chapter 765 creates no private cause of action. The family nonetheless recovered a $150,000 jury verdict on a breach of contract theory.

If your family disagrees with the decision rather than the provider, the route is § 765.105 expedited judicial intervention under Florida Probate Rule 5.900, on six enumerated grounds — covered in detail on our advance directive vs living will page.

Living wills and pregnancy in Florida

Florida imposes a restriction here that almost no other page on this topic mentions. Under § 765.113(2), unless you expressly delegate the authority in writing, or your surrogate or proxy has sought and received court approval under Rule 5.900, a surrogate or proxy may not consent to withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures from a pregnant patient prior to viability, as viability is defined in § 390.0111(4).

For any woman of childbearing age signing a Florida living will, that is a live drafting decision rather than a footnote. If you want your directive to control during pregnancy, the express written delegation has to be in the document. Say nothing, and the statutory restriction applies.

I signed a living will in another state — is it valid in Florida?

Yes. Section 765.112 is a single unconditional sentence:

“An advance directive executed in another state in compliance with the law of that state or of this state is validly executed for the purposes of this chapter.”

If you retired to Florida with a New York health care proxy or an Ohio living will in a folder, it is legally valid here. Two practical caveats survive. Florida clinicians read Florida forms fluently and out-of-state forms less so, which is friction rather than a legal defect. And your out-of-state DNR does not carry over — only the Florida DH 1896 yellow form binds Florida EMS.

Is withdrawing life support the same as suicide or euthanasia?

Under Florida law, no. Section 765.309 is direct:

“(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia, or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end life other than to permit the natural process of dying.
(2) The withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures from a patient in accordance with any provision of this chapter does not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.”

Florida courts said the same thing before the statute existed. In Satz v. Perlmutter, 362 So. 2d 160, 162–63 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), approved, 379 So. 2d 359 (Fla. 1980), the court held that disconnecting a respirator from a competent patient with terminal ALS was not suicide — his affliction, not any self-induced act, was the cause of death. For many people this is a religious question before it is a legal one, and Florida law gives it a clear answer.

Why a properly signed living will carries real weight

Section 765.302(3) provides that a living will executed under that section “establishes a rebuttable presumption of clear and convincing evidence of the principal’s wishes.”

That is not decorative language. The Florida Supreme Court reached the same conclusion as a matter of constitutional law in In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So. 2d 4, 16 (Fla. 1990), holding that a surrogate must support a decision to forego treatment with clear and convincing evidence — and that a written declaration, absent contrary evidence, creates a rebuttable presumption that satisfies that standard. Browning also held that where you have specifically expressed your wishes, no prior court approval is required to carry them out.

Floridians usually know this through one case. Theresa Marie Schiavo collapsed in Pinellas County in 1990 and left nothing in writing — no living will, no surrogate designation. Because there was no document, what she would have wanted had to be proved from remembered conversations, to that same clear-and-convincing standard, and the fight ran for years: through the Second District in In re Guardianship of Schiavo, 780 So. 2d 176 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001), and eventually to the Florida Supreme Court, which struck down the Legislature’s “Terri’s Law” as a violation of separation of powers in Bush v. Schiavo, 885 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 2004). The evidentiary standard was not invented in her case — it comes from Browning, decided the year she collapsed. What her case shows is what happens without the document.

Practically: a signed document shifts the burden onto anyone who wants to argue you meant something else. An unwritten preference leaves your family arguing about what you would have wanted, to a clear-and-convincing standard, in a hospital corridor.

Common misconceptions about Florida living wills

• “It has to be notarized.” No. Two witnesses, one not your spouse or blood relative.
• “Both witnesses have to be unrelated to me.” No — the restriction applies to one witness.
• “Relative” means any relative. The statute says blood relative.
• “It applies any time I’m unconscious.” No. Three determinations plus two physicians.
• “It’s the same as a will.” No. A living will operates during life only and has no probate role.
• “Paramedics will follow it.” No. That requires a DNRO on the yellow form.
• “I have to file it with a court.” No. There is no filing and no state registry.
• “Signing one means refusing all care.” No. Comfort care and pain relief are expressly excluded.
• “A living will and an advance directive are different things.” A living will is an advance directive. § 765.101(1).

Frequently asked questions

Can I write my own living will in Florida?

Yes — Florida requires no attorney and no particular form, only a writing signed before two witnesses, one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative. Whether you should is a different question, and it turns on witness qualification, nutrition and hydration, pregnancy, dementia and conflicts with your other documents. Those are set out in the risks section above.

Does a living will need to be notarized in Florida?

No. Chapter 765 contains no notarization requirement. Some people notarize anyway for out-of-state portability and easier acceptance by facility staff.

Who can witness a living will in Florida?

Any competent adult. One of the two must be neither your spouse nor a blood relative. If you are also signing a health care surrogate designation, the person you name as surrogate cannot witness that document.

Can I notarize my own living will?

You cannot notarize your own signature on any document — a notary attests to someone else’s signing. But it does not matter here, because Florida does not require a living will to be notarized at all. What you need is two witnesses, one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative.

How do you fill out a living will without a lawyer?

Follow § 765.302: put it in writing, initial the conditions you are electing under § 765.303, sign it in front of two qualifying witnesses, and deliver copies. That is the mechanical answer. The harder part is deciding what to elect — artificial nutrition and hydration, pregnancy, dementia, and who serves as surrogate are the four places do-it-yourself documents most often go wrong. See the risks section above before you sign.

Is a “Five Wishes” document valid in Florida?

Yes, if it is executed correctly. Five Wishes was created by Aging with Dignity, a nonprofit based in Tallahassee, and designed to satisfy Florida law. Because neither § 765.303 nor § 765.203 makes its suggested form mandatory, a properly witnessed Five Wishes can function as both a living will and a health care surrogate designation. Two cautions: the surrogate you name may not witness it, and it is not a DNRO — only the yellow DH 1896 binds paramedics.

How long does a living will last?

Indefinitely, until you revoke it. It does not expire. It is still worth reviewing after a marriage, a divorce, a death in the family, a move to Florida, or a serious diagnosis.

Does a living will expire if I move?

No, and a directive from another state is valid in Florida under § 765.112. The reverse is not guaranteed — other states’ rules vary.

Can a living will be revoked orally?

Yes. Section 765.104(1)(c) permits revocation by an oral expression of intent, with no witness requirement. It takes effect when communicated to your surrogate, provider or facility.

Can a life insurance company cancel my policy because I signed a living will?

Chapter 765 contains no provision directing insurers, so there is no Florida statute telling a company how to treat an advance directive. What Florida law does address is the part this question is usually really about — a policy’s suicide exclusion. Under § 765.309(2), withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging procedures in accordance with Chapter 765 “does not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide,” and § 765.309(1) says nothing in the chapter authorizes mercy killing or euthanasia. Declining life support under a valid living will is a natural death, not a self-inflicted one. If you have a concern about a specific policy, that is a contract question for your agent rather than a Chapter 765 question.

Can my family override my living will?

Not by disagreeing with it. They can ask a court to review the decision under § 765.105, on six specific grounds — none of which is simply preferring a different outcome.

Does a living will avoid probate?

There is nothing to avoid — a living will does not go through probate and never could. It has no effect after you die, holds no property, and distributes nothing. Probate is the job of a last will and testament.

Does a living will need to be filed with a court?

No. There is no filing requirement and no Florida registry. Give copies to your surrogate, your physician, and any facility admitting you.

What happens if I don’t have a living will?

Decisions pass to a statutory proxy — what most families call next of kin — under § 765.401 — in order: a court-appointed guardian, your spouse, a majority of your adult children, a parent, a majority of your adult siblings, an adult relative who has shown special care and concern, a close friend, and finally a licensed clinical social worker selected by a bioethics committee. A proxy’s decision to withhold life-prolonging procedures must be supported by clear and convincing evidence of what you would have chosen.

Can I make a mental health advance directive in Florida?

Not as a living will — Chapter 765, Part III is limited to life-prolonging procedures in the three end-of-life conditions. But § 765.202(5) lets you designate a separate surrogate to consent to mental health treatment, for the situation where a court later finds you incompetent to consent to it and appoints a guardian advocate under § 394.4598. If a psychiatric diagnosis is part of your planning, that separate designation is the provision to use.

Is a living will the same as a health care surrogate designation?

No. A living will states what you want; a surrogate designation names who decides. Most Florida estate plans include both.

Can a living will be contested?

Its application can be challenged through § 765.105. A properly executed living will carries a rebuttable presumption of clear and convincing evidence of your wishes, so the burden falls on the challenger.

Talk to a Florida estate planning attorney

If you are looking for a living will attorney in Florida — to have one drafted alongside the rest of your plan, to fix a document that was signed without thinking through nutrition and hydration or pregnancy, or to find out whether the directive you brought from another state still works here — I am happy to look at it with you.

I handle estate planning, probate and guardianship matters throughout Florida, in English and Spanish. Most people do this once. It is worth doing in a way that holds.

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This article is general information about Florida law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Chapter 765 is quoted from the 2025 Florida Statutes; case law was verified as of September 2026. Next scheduled review: after the 2027 Florida legislative session.

Written by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq., Florida Bar No. 107002.