Florida Statute 765.205
“Responsibility of the surrogate”
What it means
Once the principal loses capacity, this section is the surrogate's job description. The surrogate has authority to make all health care decisions for the principal, must consult expeditiously with the health care providers, and decides based on what the principal would have chosen — falling back to the principal's best interest only when their wishes aren't known.
The section also supplies the practical machinery: the surrogate provides written consent whenever consent is required (a physician's order not to resuscitate included), gets access to the principal's health information, may apply for public benefits such as Medicare and Medicaid, and may authorize admission, discharge, or transfer between facilities. If a court later appoints a guardian, the surrogate keeps making health care decisions unless the court says otherwise.
- The surrogate makes all health care decisions during incapacity, subject to any express limits in the designation.
- Decision standard: what the principal would have decided — the principal's best interest governs only when their wishes are unknown.
- The surrogate must consult expeditiously with the principal's health care providers.
- Written consents — a physician's order not to resuscitate included — are the surrogate's to sign when consent is required.
- The surrogate may apply for Medicare and Medicaid — but a provider cannot condition care on making such an application.
- A later court-appointed guardian does not displace the surrogate unless the court expressly modifies the surrogate's authority.
How it plays out
Surrogate duties surface in our practice at the guardianship line. When a designation exists and the surrogate is doing the job §765.205 describes, a court guardianship over the person is usually unnecessary — that's the point, and judges know it. The public-benefits authority matters more than people expect: long-term-care applications need someone with legal standing to sign and to pull financial records, and this section supplies it. We check every designation for express limitations before advising a surrogate how far their authority runs.