We are not lawyers so we cannot definitively tell you how the exact liability or responsibility you will have for signing a parental consent form first for your child to get a driver's license in Florida and then sign on their insurance policy. We can tell you however that usually by signing on with your child on an insurance contract that you are accepting liability just as if you were the driver if they were in an accident. This means your assets could be at risk by the actions of your child.

This would be true if you are signing on a policy with them or if you were adding them to your policy. State laws do differ however in general there is parental liability in place when your minor child lives with you. Parental liability is the term used to refer to a parent's obligation to pay for damage done by negligent, intentional, or criminal acts of that parent's (or guardian's) child. In most states, parents are responsible for all malicious or willful property damage done by their children as well.

Each state has its own law regarding parents' financial responsibility for the acts of their children. This concept is known a vicarious liability. The parent is vicariously liable, despite not being directly responsible for the injury. As another example of vicarious liability is when you loan your car to a friend. If this person is in an accident that exceeds the insurance limits of the car insurance policy even though you were not driving you could be held responsible since as the car owner you allowed them to operate the vehicle and thus have vicarious liability for their actions.

If your 16 year old child is thus in an accident and his insurance policy is involved, you as the parents would also be involved since you signed on the policy and because he is a minor. Again we are not experts in Florida law however in general your assets could be at risk as the parent of a minor if he was negligent in some way in an automobile. It is likely that you would need to be involved in the settlement process as well since he as a minor would not normally be able to sign off on a settlement without a parent or guardian since states do not want minors to be taken advantage of in settlements.

As we mentioned earlier when you sign for your 16 year old to get his driver's license with the FL HSMV you are already taking on liability and responsibility for his actions. FL state statute 322.09 is titled application of minors and responsibility for negligence or misconduct of minor. Subsection 2 states:

Any negligence or willful misconduct of a minor under the age of 18 years when driving a motor vehicle upon a highway shall be imputed to the person who has signed the application of such minor for a permit or license, which person shall be jointly and severally liable with such minor for any damages caused by such negligence or willful misconduct.

To get specific liable law regarding your responsibilities and liability for signing on an insurance policy with your 16 year old son contact a Florida lawyer that works in this area of law. The consumer division of the insurance regulator for the state of Florida may also be able to give you information on this topic.