South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
Last updated September 5, 2026 · Reviewed by Carolyn Friedman Frank
Florida created a separate license for assisted living facilities that care for residents with dementia when Chapter 2026-102, Laws of Florida, was approved by the Governor on May 22, 2026 and took effect that day. The Florida memory care license law, now Florida Statute § 429.076, will require an assisted living facility that serves memory care residents, or advertises memory care services, to hold a memory care services license on top of its standard license. That requirement does not apply yet.
The timing depends on rules the Agency for Health Care Administration must adopt by June 1, 2027. A facility licensed on or after the rules’ effective date needs the license before serving memory care residents or advertising memory care. A facility licensed earlier has six months after the rules take effect to obtain it. A memory care resident is a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia living in an assisted living facility that claims to provide care, services, or activities specifically for that condition, whether or not the resident’s contract lists them, under Florida Statute § 429.02(15).
Under that definition, a facility’s own marketing can make someone a memory care resident even when the contract says nothing about dementia care. Our nursing home negligence attorneys compare what a facility promised families with what its staffing and records show when a resident is hurt.
What the Florida Memory Care License Law Requires
A memory care licensee must keep its standard assisted living license and meet the minimum standards the agency adopts by rule, under Florida Statute § 429.076(1). The statute lists subjects those rules must cover, including the following.
- Standardized admission criteria for memory care residents
- The minimum level of care, services, and activities memory care residents must receive
- Staff training that meets or exceeds the training requirements in Florida Statute § 430.5025
- Safety requirements, including at least one awake staff member on duty at all hours
- Physical plant requirements for the areas serving memory care residents
- Resident contracts that specify the memory care services the facility will provide
The rules must also name terms a facility cannot use in advertising without the license, and the statute says those terms include “memory care,” “dementia care,” and “Alzheimer’s care,” among others. An unlicensed facility may still advertise the supportive services it provides for residents with dementia, as long as it avoids those terms and makes no memory care claim.
What Families Can Ask a Facility for Now
Until the agency adopts its rules, two older statutes govern a facility that advertises special care for Alzheimer’s disease. Florida Statute § 429.177 requires it to disclose, in its advertising or a separate document, the services that make its care especially suited to people with Alzheimer’s disease or related disorders, and to give a copy to anyone who asks about those programs. Under Florida Statute § 429.178, a facility with 17 or more residents must have an awake staff member on duty at all hours of the day and night, and a smaller one must have either an awake staff member or mechanisms to monitor residents and keep them safe.
Both sections are repealed when the memory care rules are adopted. Under § 429.076(5), a facility that accepted memory care residents before the rules take effect, and shows the agency it cannot reasonably obtain the license, may keep serving those residents if it tells them and their caregivers it must get the license and cannot, helps them find a licensed facility on request, and stops accepting new memory care residents. If the resident stays, the facility must amend the contract to list the memory care services and keep records of when and how it provided them, available to the family on request.
When a Resident Wanders, Falls, or Is Hurt
Florida Statute § 429.28(1)(a) gives every assisted living resident the right to live in a safe and decent living environment, free from abuse and neglect. Under Florida Statute § 429.29(1), the resident, a guardian, or the personal representative of a deceased resident’s estate may sue when those rights are violated. Where negligence caused a death, the claimant chooses between survival damages and Florida wrongful death damages under § 768.21.
Section 429.29(2) makes a violation of those rights, or of another standard in the assisted living part of Chapter 429, evidence of negligence but not negligence per se, meaning the violation alone does not establish liability. Before filing, a claimant must send notice to each prospective defendant by certified mail and wait 75 days under § 429.293. Section 429.296 requires suit within two years of the incident or of when it should have been discovered, and no later than four years after the incident. Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has represented injured people and their families across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Collier Counties since 1976.
Getting a Parent’s Memory Care Records Reviewed
A facility’s disclosure document, contract, and staffing records show whether the care it advertised matched the care a resident received. At Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, we review nursing home and assisted living injury claims for families throughout South Florida. If you would like us to look at your claim, call (305) 448-8585 or contact our office. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we recover.