Florida Statute 415.1034
“Mandatory reporting of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults; mandatory reports of death”
What it means
Florida's reporting duty for vulnerable adults is written to be universal: any person who knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a vulnerable adult has been or is being abused, neglected, or exploited must immediately report it to the central abuse hotline.
The statute then names the reporters it especially means — physicians, nurses, hospital and facility staff, social workers, law enforcement, ombudsman program staff — and the entries that matter most in financial cases: bank, savings and loan, and credit union officers, trustees, and employees, and dealers, investment advisers, and associated persons under chapter 517. A companion subsection requires certain deaths to be reported to the medical examiner.
- The duty reaches any person with knowledge or reasonable suspicion — the professional list is 'including, but not limited to.'
- Expressly listed: physicians, nurses, hospital and facility staff, social workers, law enforcement, long-term care ombudsman staff.
- Also expressly listed: bank, savings and loan, and credit union officers, trustees, and employees — and dealers, investment advisers, and associated persons under chapter 517.
- Reports go immediately to the central abuse hotline; the report must identify the victim, the alleged perpetrator, and the basis for the suspicion.
- Failure to report is a crime under §415.111; good-faith reporters get §415.1036 immunity.
How it plays out
The hotline is 1-800-96-ABUSE, staffed around the clock, with online reporting as well. In financial-exploitation matters the banking entry changes conversations: the tellers and branch officers who watched the withdrawals were already under a duty to call, and their records — often the cleanest evidence in the later civil case — carry dates. When families ask us whether they personally must report, the honest answer is that the statute is written to cover any person who knows or reasonably suspects.
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