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Katz & Associates / Planning for help
Paying your bills, making care decisions, and following your treatment wishes are different jobs. Make clear who has each role and when they may act.
One person may help, but one document may not cover it
A Florida financial power of attorney and a health-care surrogate designation serve different purposes. A living will adds treatment instructions; it does not simply replace either one.
The goal is to choose trusted people before help is needed. Give them clear powers and make the documents easy to find. Our Florida estate planning services address these choices as part of your wider plan.
Match the job to the legal tool
Use this map to spot a gap. It is a guide to the questions to ask, not a substitute for the terms of your documents.
| Task | Tool or role to check |
|---|---|
| Pay bills or manage property | A financial power of attorney grants specified powers to an agent. It is not a blank check. |
| Make health-care decisions | A designated surrogate acts under the document and Florida's health-care rules. |
| Follow end-of-life wishes | A living will gives directions about life-prolonging procedures in the circumstances the law covers. |
| Act when no usable designation exists | A health-care proxy may be selected under the statutory priority rules. This is not the same as choosing your own surrogate. |
| Handle property after death | A power of attorney ends at death. A will, trust, account arrangement, or probate authority serves a different role. |
Role map based on Florida Chapters 709 and 765. The timing, scope, and limits are explained below with links to the governing sections.
Timing matters
Florida generally makes a power of attorney usable when it is signed with the required formalities. A new document generally cannot start only at a future event. Exceptions include qualifying older documents signed before October 1, 2011, and a statutory military exception. See §709.2108.
That is why “durable” and “springing” mean different things. Durable means the power can last if you lose capacity. Springing refers to authority that starts after a future trigger. Do not assume a new Florida power can simply wait for a doctor to declare you unable to act.
Read the powers, not just the title. Naming an agent does not authorize every possible transaction. Certain powers, such as making gifts or changing beneficiaries, require separate signed or initialed grants and are subject to further limits under §709.2202.
Ask which powers you need, which you want to withhold, and whom you trust with authority that may be usable now. Plan for a backup if that person cannot serve.
Your choice and the legal fallback
A health-care surrogate is named in your designation. Unless you make authority immediate, the surrogate generally begins acting after the required finding that you cannot make health-care decisions. You may authorize health information, health decisions, or both to be handled immediately. Section 765.204 protects your own decisions while you have capacity. Review those choices under §765.202.
When the conditions in §765.401 apply, a proxy may make decisions under the law’s priority order. The family cannot simply choose any willing relative. The statute does not require a guardian to be appointed before a treatment decision can be made.
Naming a surrogate and an alternate can make your preference clear. It also gives you a chance to discuss beliefs, care goals, and whom to contact. The right choice is someone willing to follow your wishes, not merely someone who lives nearby.
A living will has another job. It addresses life-prolonging procedures if you have a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state. Section 765.302 sets the rule. It is not the same as a financial power or an emergency do-not-resuscitate order.
Do not mix up the formalities
A Florida financial power of attorney ordinarily requires your signature, two subscribing witnesses, and acknowledgment before a notary or as otherwise allowed by law. Section 709.2105 also addresses when a person is physically unable to sign.
You generally sign a surrogate designation in the presence of two adult witnesses. Your named surrogate cannot be a witness, and at least one witness must be neither your spouse nor a blood relative. A living will has its own two-witness rule, including a witness who is neither spouse nor blood relative. Have the correct process arranged for each document.
Do not use these rules to sign an unreviewed form. Capacity, an older document, an out-of-state form, or a need for someone to sign at your direction can raise further issues.
A signed document must also be usable
Talk with your agent, surrogate, and backups before naming them. Explain the role and ask whether they can do it. Make sure they know how to reach one another when money and care decisions overlap.
Give your surrogate an exact copy as the statute requires. Let your primary physician know about a living will, and discuss how copies become part of your medical records. Keep the current versions accessible and identify which older papers they replace.
Digital accounts need attention too. A general power may not settle access to email contents. Our digital estate planning guide explains why account settings and legal authority should agree.
Plan the roles before a crisis
Discuss who should help, which decisions matter, and any concerns about giving authority now. Katz & Associates can review how the pieces fit your plan.
Before choosing your decision-makers
That may fit your wishes, but the person needs the proper authority for each role. Ask if they have the time and sound judgment for both roles. Can they keep records and follow your wishes? The two jobs need not go to the same person.
No universal rule gives a spouse control over every separately held asset. Ownership and the authority needed for the specific task matter. Health-care fallback rules are a separate question from financial access.
No. The power ends at death under §709.2109. Our wills and trusts services address planning for what happens afterward.
About the author
General information only, not advice about your documents or medical care.
Sources checked October 26, 2026. The cited 2025 sections were checked against the 2026 statutory change table.
