Florida Advance Directive Form: What It Includes and How to Complete It

An advance directive is not a single form in Florida. It is a category of documents governed by Chapter 765 of the Florida Statutes, and each document serves a different purpose in a different medical scenario.

Most people searching for "Florida advance directive form" expect to find one PDF that covers everything. Instead, they find scattered statutory templates, confusing legal jargon, and no clear instructions on how the pieces fit together.

The Three Core Documents

1. Designation of Health Care Surrogate (§ 765.202)

Names the person who makes medical decisions when you cannot. You choose between immediate authority (effective upon signing) or springing authority (effective only after a physician certifies incapacity). You should also designate an alternate surrogate.

2. Living Will (§ 765.302)

Documents your specific instructions about life-prolonging procedures — ventilators, feeding tubes, dialysis, CPR — under three conditions: terminal illness, end-stage condition, or persistent vegetative state. This document governs care inside a hospital or clinical facility.

3. Pre-Hospital DNRO (Form DH 1896)

A separate order, signed by both you and a licensed physician, that instructs EMS personnel not to perform resuscitation outside a hospital. This form must be printed on yellow paper to be legally valid.

Optional: Anatomical Donation

Florida allows you to document organ and tissue donation wishes as part of your advance directive planning. You can register through Donate Life Florida or include anatomical donation instructions in your surrogate designation. If you have already registered as a donor through the Florida driver's license program, your surrogate cannot override that decision.

Execution Requirements

All advance directive documents under Chapter 765 require:

• Your signature while competent
• Two adult witnesses present at signing
• At least one witness who is not your spouse or blood relative
• Your surrogate and alternate surrogate cannot serve as witnesses

Notarization is not required by statute but is strongly recommended — especially for the surrogate designation, which may need to be presented to hospitals, banks, or agencies in other states.

Where to Get the Forms

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) provides free statutory templates through FloridaHealthFinder.gov. Individual county clerks also maintain probate and healthcare planning packets.

The challenge with free forms: they are blank legal templates with no instructions. They do not explain which boxes to check, who qualifies as a witness, how the surrogate designation interacts with the living will, or why the DNRO needs yellow paper. Many families execute the forms incorrectly and only discover the errors during a hospital emergency.

How the Documents Work Together

Consider this scenario: a 72-year-old Florida resident with heart failure stops breathing at home.

• Without a yellow DNRO: Paramedics perform full CPR, intubation, and transport to the ER — regardless of any other documents
• With a valid yellow DNRO: Paramedics honor the order and provide comfort measures only
• At the hospital with a living will: If the patient is diagnosed with a terminal condition and lacks capacity, the living will governs decisions about ventilators and feeding tubes
• Healthcare surrogate steps in: For any medical decision not covered by the living will, the surrogate decides — including choices about surgery, medication, facility placement, and palliative care

Each document covers a gap the others cannot fill. Missing one creates a hole in your plan.

Common Mistakes

Assuming one form covers everything. A living will does not instruct paramedics. A DNRO does not cover hospital-level care decisions. A surrogate designation does not document your specific treatment preferences.

Using outdated forms. The 2015 amendment added the immediate-authority option for surrogate designations. Forms executed before that date lack this option and may create confusion about when the surrogate's authority begins.

Skipping the financial side. Healthcare documents under Chapter 765 do not give anyone authority over your bank accounts, property, or bills. You need a separate Durable Power of Attorney under Chapter 709 for financial decisions.

The Florida Advance Directive & Living Will Kit organizes all these documents into a coordinated system with step-by-step instructions, execution checklists, and the signing-day protocol that covers witness rules and the yellow-paper DNRO requirement.

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