Florida Statute 765.517
“Rights and duties at death”
What it means
This section governs the handoff at death. The donee may accept or reject the gift. When the gift is a part, the donee removes it without unnecessary mutilation, and custody of the remainder of the body vests in the surviving spouse, next of kin, or other persons under obligation to dispose of the body — the funeral proceeds under ordinary disposition law. Whole-body donees for education or research may authorize embalming and use of the body in funeral services, subject to the gift's terms.
The time of death is determined by the physician attending the donor (or the one certifying the death), and that physician may not participate in removing or transplanting a part. People acting in good faith under the part are shielded from civil, criminal, and administrative liability.
- The donee may accept or reject any anatomical gift.
- Part gifts: removal without unnecessary mutilation; custody of the remainder vests in the spouse, next of kin, or person obliged to dispose of the body.
- Whole-body gifts: the donee may authorize embalming and funeral use of the body, subject to the gift's terms.
- Time of death is fixed by the attending or certifying physician — who may not participate in removal or transplantation.
- Good-faith actors under the part face no civil, criminal, or administrative liability.
How it plays out
Families hear "donor" and fear there will be no funeral; this section is the reassurance. In our files the sequence is consistent: the gifted part is recovered, custody of the remains vests in the spouse or next of kin, and the arrangements already being planned continue under Chapter 497. The friction point is whole-body donation, where the donee's timeline and the gift's terms control the service — we have clients put those terms in writing with the organization before death, not after.