Florida Statute 744.3215
“Rights of persons determined incapacitated”
What it means
Florida guardianship never removes a person's rights in a block. §744.3215 sorts them into three lists. Fifteen rights are retained no matter what — among them dignified treatment, counsel, annual review, restoration at the earliest possible time, privacy, and — at paragraph (1)(m) — the right to receive visitors and communicate with others.
A second list — marry, vote, travel, hold a driver license, seek employment, personally apply for government benefits — may be removed but never delegated to a guardian. A third — contract, sue and defend, manage property or make gifts, decide residence, consent to health care, shape one's social environment — may be removed and delegated. If the right to contract is removed, marriage remains possible subject to court approval.
- Fifteen rights are retained by every ward — including counsel, annual review, humane treatment, privacy, and restoration at the earliest possible time.
- §744.3215(1)(m): a ward keeps the right to receive visitors and communicate with others.
- Removable but not delegable: marry, vote, travel, driver license, employment, personally applying for government benefits.
- Removable and delegable to a guardian: contract, sue and defend, manage property or make gifts, decide residence, health care decisions, social environment.
- If the contract right is removed, the right to marry survives — subject to court approval.
How it plays out
When a family calls because a guardian or caregiver has cut off visits, this is the section we open first. Isolating a ward is not a judgment call left to whoever holds the keys — (1)(m) keeps the right to visitors and communication with the ward unless a court says otherwise, and the guardianship judge is the place to enforce it. The list structure matters in the other direction too: a limited guardianship over finances alone leaves every other right exactly where it was.
Questions people ask
