How Much Does Estate Planning Cost in Florida?

Florida estate-planning cost depends entirely on what you need. As a rough map: a simple will is a few hundred dollars, a living-trust package commonly runs $1,500–$3,000 with an attorney, and a comprehensive plan can reach $2,000–$5,000+. Guided software produces the core Florida documents for a flat fee well below those ranges. And because Florida has no estate tax, planning here is about control and probate avoidance, not tax. This is general information, not legal advice, and prices vary.

The cost map

Plan now, or pay in probate later

Florida probate costs scale with the estate (the §733.6171 attorney fee schedule plus the PR commission). A relatively small planning cost today — a funded trust, beneficiary designations, or a lady bird deed — can save far more in probate cost later.

Document by document: what each does, and what it costs here

Attorney prices are quoted for packages, so the honest comparison is by document. Every EstateDraftFL figure below is the live published price; attorney figures vary by lawyer and are not repeated per document.

Every plan here is one-time, with no subscription, a free preview before payment, Florida signing instructions for each document, and built-in completeness and format checks. It is software, not a law firm: the documents are prepared from your answers on locked Florida masters, they are not reviewed by anyone, and a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing can review them before you sign. Exact purchase facts are on the pricing page.

The probate math, in statute

The reason planning is cheaper than not planning is written into the Florida Probate Code. Fees for the attorney and the personal representative are presumed reasonable on a schedule tied to the estate’s value:

The schedule: $1,500 for estates of $40,000 or less, $2,250 up to $70,000, $3,000 up to $100,000, then 3% of the next $900,000, 2.5% from $1 million to $3 million, 2% to $5 million, 1.5% to $10 million, and 1% above that (§733.6171(3)). The personal representative’s commission runs 3% of the first $1 million, 2.5% to $5 million, 2% to $10 million, and 1.5% above (§733.617(2)). Both are presumed reasonable, not mandatory: the statute requires the attorney to disclose in writing that there is no mandatory fee, that the fee need not be based on the estate’s size, and that it is negotiable (§733.6171(2)(b)); a family member serving as personal representative often waives the commission; extraordinary services (selling real estate, litigation, tax proceedings) are billed on top.

A worked example: a $500,000 Florida estate

Take a home and accounts worth $500,000 that would pass through formal administration. The attorney’s presumed-reasonable fee is $3,000 on the first $100,000 plus 3% of the next $400,000 — $15,000 (§733.6171(3)) — and the personal representative’s presumed commission is another 3%, $15,000 (§733.617(2)): $30,000 of ordinary fees before appraisals, publication, filing fees, or any extraordinary service, and before the months a formal administration takes. The same $500,000 held in a funded revocable trust is presumed reasonable at 75% of the attorney schedule — $11,250 (§736.1007(2)) — with no commission and no court file. The Trust-Based Plan that puts it there is $499, once. The figures are presumptions the statutes make negotiable, and a family member serving as personal representative often waives the commission; the shape of the comparison does not change.

After death, a trust is administered too

A funded trust avoids the probate schedule for the assets it holds, but settling it is not free. The attorney who advises the trustee in the initial administration is presumed reasonable at 75% of the probate attorney schedule (§736.1007(2)) — $11,250 on a $500,000 trust against $30,000 of combined probate fees — the trustee is compensated as the trust says or as is reasonable (§736.0708), and the trustee files a notice of trust with the court (§736.05055). The saving is real; the number is not zero. See the trust attorney fee, explained.

Cost by stage of life

A young family with minor children. The will that nominates guardians, the preneed guardian declaration for the children (§744.3046), the power of attorney and the healthcare directive. Naming who raises the children matters more than probate avoidance at this stage. Homeowners. The home is the asset most likely to be probated; a lady bird deed moves it outside probate for a flat price, or a trust does it along with everything else. Retirees with accounts. Beneficiary designations already move retirement accounts and life insurance; a trust catches the rest and provides a successor trustee for incapacity. Blended families, business owners, special-needs beneficiaries. The documents are the same, but the judgment about how to use them is what a licensed Florida attorney is for; budget for the advice.

Five ways to keep the total down

Keep beneficiary designations current — they move accounts and insurance outside probate at no cost. Use a lady bird deed for a single homestead rather than a trust you would never fund. If you buy a trust, fund it; an unfunded trust buys nothing. Sign the self-proving affidavit with the will so no one has to find the witnesses later. And keep the documents current at the events that matter — marriage, divorce, a birth, a move — because the Florida statutes rewrite an outdated document on their own terms (§732.301, §732.302, §732.507(2)).

What an attorney’s fee typically covers

A flat attorney fee for a plan usually buys a sequence of services, and knowing the sequence is how you compare it to a product price: an initial consultation to learn your family and assets; the design decisions — will or trust, who serves, how younger beneficiaries inherit; the drafting; an execution ceremony at the office with the firm’s witnesses and notary; for a trust, help with the deed and the account forms; and, in some engagements, a review a few years on. A software plan supplies the drafting, the execution instructions, and the funding instructions; the design decisions are yours, made in the questionnaire, and the judgment about your particular facts is the part a fee buys that a product cannot.

Costs beyond the documents

• A notary’s fee for the self-proving affidavit and the power of attorney, and the witnesses’ time.
• Recording fees at the county clerk for a deed — the lady bird deed, or the deed that funds a trust — plus documentary stamp tax where it applies; a deed reserving enhanced life estate powers generally draws only the minimum stamp under the Department of Revenue’s published treatment.
• A title company or attorney for the deed itself if you do not prepare it through the plan.
• After a death, the costs of settling: the presumed-reasonable fees above, appraisals, the publication of the notice to creditors (§733.2121), court filing fees, and a bond where the will does not waive it (§733.402).
• Nothing for taxes: Florida has no estate tax and no inheritance tax; the federal estate tax reaches only estates above a threshold most families never approach.

The pieces Florida gives you free, or nearly

Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance, and pay-on-death bank accounts move those assets outside probate at no cost — keep them current and consistent with the plan. The homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap are an application with the county property appraiser. The self-proving affidavit is a notary’s fee at signing that can save a hearing later. The preneed guardian declaration for minor children is a short witnessed document filed with the clerk (§744.3046). And Florida’s summary administration and disposition without administration keep the smallest estates out of a full probate (§735.201, §735.301). The plan is worth the most when it is built around these rather than instead of them.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Pricing varies by provider and situation. EstateDraftFL is software, not a law firm.