Florida Statute 760.40
“Genetic testing; definitions; express consent required; confidentiality; notice of use of results”
What it means
Florida treats your genome as yours. DNA analysis may be performed only with the express consent of the person tested — consent meaning an affirmative, intentional decision made after clear disclosure of how the sample and the results will be collected and used. The results are the exclusive property of the person tested, are confidential, and may not be disclosed without express consent.
The statute adds a notice rule: whoever performs the analysis must tell the person it was done and whether the results were used in any insurance, employment, mortgage, loan, credit, or educational decision — and a result used to deny one of those opportunities must be repeated to verify its accuracy.
- Express consent — an affirmative, informed decision — is required before DNA analysis may be performed.
- Results are the exclusive property of the person tested and are confidential; disclosure requires express consent.
- The tested person must be notified the analysis happened and whether results touched insurance, employment, mortgage, loan, credit, or education decisions.
- A result used to deny such an opportunity must be repeated to verify accuracy.
How it plays out
DNA enters probate through the door of heirship: proving or disproving paternity for intestate succession sometimes requires genetic testing, and this statute's consent-and-ownership rules frame who can authorize it and who holds the results. It also surfaces after death in a modern form — a decedent's consumer DNA-kit account — where the honest advice is that §760.40 speaks to the person tested and says nothing about heirs, so a personal representative asserting rights in a decedent's genetic data is making an argument, not invoking settled law. Written instructions about your genetic data prevent that fight.
Questions people ask
