Make a Will Online in Florida

Florida law sets exactly three requirements for a valid will under §732.502: it is in writing, you sign at the end, and two witnesses sign in your presence and each other’s. Nothing in the statute requires a lawyer’s office. What an online will has to get right is the same thing every will has to get right — the words matching Florida law, and the signing done correctly. This is general information, not legal advice.

How it works here

What it costs

The will-based Florida plan is a flat $199 — will, durable power of attorney, and healthcare directives together, preview first, no subscription. Compare what wills cost in Florida or weigh a will against a living trust — or make a living trust online if avoiding probate is the goal.

What §732.502 requires, line by line

Florida’s execution statute is short and unforgiving, and every valid Florida will — typed by a lawyer or made online — meets it the same way:

What our Florida will includes

The will is the firm-grade 18-article Florida master, and your answers fill it: the personal representative and alternates (§733.301–§733.304, with the Florida-residency and relative rules built into the questions); guardians of the person and property for minor children; the specific gifts and the residuary clause; the protective holdback trusts that keep a young beneficiary’s share managed until an age you choose; the spousal portability election; the homestead article that states Florida’s devise restrictions rather than pretending they do not exist; the digital-assets authority under Chapter 740; an optional pour-over devise to a revocable trust you already have (§732.513); the survivorship and antilapse terms (§732.603); and the self-proving affidavit in the statutory form (§732.503). The completeness and format checks catch a missing residuary clause, a personal representative who cannot qualify, or a signing block that does not match the statute — software checks on the document, not a review of your situation. See what a Florida last will covers.

The rules a will cannot change

Part of making a will online correctly is knowing where Florida law overrides it. A homestead cannot be devised freely when a spouse or minor child survives (§732.401, §732.4015). A surviving spouse may take 30% of the elective estate no matter what the will says (§732.2065). A spouse married after the will, or a child born or adopted after it, takes a statutory share unless the will provides otherwise (§732.301, §732.302). Divorce revokes what the will gave the former spouse (§732.507(2)). And the personal representative must be a Florida resident or a qualifying relative (§733.304), never a person convicted of a felony (§733.303). The will assembled here states these rules in its own articles so the document and the law agree; see Florida homestead and the elective share.

Signing day, step by step

Print the will single-sided and do not remove the staples afterward. Gather two adult witnesses who take nothing under the will and a notary for the affidavit — a bank, a UPS store, or a mobile notary; many notaries bring witnesses. In the room together: you declare the document to be your will and sign at the end; each witness signs in your presence and the other’s; the notary completes the self-proving affidavit with the identification the form lists (§732.503, §117.05). Sign one original only. Florida also recognizes electronic wills signed through online notarization under its electronic-wills law (§732.521–§732.525), which has its own witness-supervision and qualified-custodian rules; the instructions here cover the in-person ceremony.

After you sign: keeping the will valid and findable

Keep the signed original where your personal representative can reach it — a fireproof box at home, or the attorney’s or a bank’s vault — and tell that person where it is; Florida courts admit originals, and a will last known to be in your possession that cannot be found is presumed revoked. A later will or codicil revokes an earlier one to the extent they conflict (§732.505), and a will is also revoked by burning, tearing, or obliterating it with intent to revoke (§732.506) — which is why marking up the original is never the way to change it. Review it at the events that change the law’s defaults: marriage, divorce, a birth or adoption, a death in the family, a move, or a change in who you would trust.

Common mistakes an online will has to avoid

Witnesses who were not in the room together. A single witness. A signature on the wrong line. No residuary clause, so the bulk of the estate passes by intestacy anyway. No alternate personal representative, so a court chooses one when yours cannot serve. A homestead left to a friend while a spouse or minor child survives. A will made before a divorce and never revisited. No self-proving affidavit, so the probate needs a witness twenty years on. Each of these is a question the questionnaire asks, a check the software runs, or a step the signing instructions spell out.

Before you sign: the checklist

• The personal representative and an alternate are both eligible under §733.302–§733.304.
• A guardian and an alternate are nominated for every minor child, and the preneed guardian declaration (§744.3046) is signed if you want the nomination to cover incapacity too.
• The residuary clause names a taker and a backup taker.
• Every specific gift says what happens if that beneficiary dies first.
• The homestead is left within Florida’s devise restrictions if a spouse or minor child will survive you (§732.401, §732.4015).
• Beneficiary designations on accounts and insurance agree with the will.
• Two adult witnesses who take nothing under the will, and a notary for the self-proving affidavit, are arranged for one sitting.
• You sign one original at the end; the witnesses sign in your presence and each other’s (§732.502).
• The signed original goes where the personal representative can find it, and that person knows where.
• A calendar note exists for the events that change the law’s defaults: marriage, divorce, a birth, a move.

The words on the page, defined

Personal representative

Florida’s term for the executor: the person the court appoints to administer the probate estate (§733.301–§733.304). A Florida resident, or a nonresident who is a close relative; never a person convicted of a felony (§733.303).

Residuary estate

Everything the will does not give away specifically. The residuary clause is the clause most estates mostly consist of; without one, the residue passes by intestacy (§732.101–§732.103).

Self-proving affidavit

The notarized acknowledgment by the testator and oath by the witnesses in the statutory form (§732.503), attached at signing so the will is admitted without locating the witnesses later.

Elective share

The 30% of the elective estate a surviving spouse may take regardless of the will (§732.2065); the elective estate reaches beyond the probate estate into trusts and pay-on-death accounts.

Homestead devise restriction

The constitutional limit on devising a Florida homestead when a spouse or minor child survives (§732.401, §732.4015); the will’s gift of the house yields to it.

Pretermitted spouse or child

A spouse married after the will was signed, or a child born or adopted after it, who takes a statutory share unless the will provides otherwise (§732.301, §732.302).

Codicil

A signed, witnessed amendment to a will (§732.502 formalities). Handwritten changes on the original are not a codicil.

Intestacy

The Chapter 732 default shares that apply when there is no valid will: the spouse and descendants in the statute’s proportions, and the court’s choice of personal representative (§733.301).

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. EstateDraftFL is document-preparation software, not a law firm; documents are assembled deterministically from source-locked Florida law, and independent legal services are not included.