How much does a Florida estate plan cost?

A typical Florida estate-plan stack runs $2,000 to $10,000+ for attorney-drafted documents and $100 to $500 for DIY-template equivalents. The headline ranges by component (attorney): simple will $300 to $1,000; pour-over will $200 to $500; revocable living trust $1,500 to $5,000; trust funding / asset retitling $500 to $2,000; durable power of attorney $150 to $500; designation of health-care surrogate $50 to $300; living will $50 to $300; HIPAA authorization $50 to $200. Florida-specific complexity factors — homestead descent under Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 with a blended family, out-of-state real property, business ownership — add roughly $750 to $1,500 each in attorney time. Market matters too: Miami / South Florida / Naples markets run higher than rural panhandle markets.

Should I use a DIY service like LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer in Florida?

DIY templates (LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, Trust & Will, FreeWill, etc.) are acceptable for simple, non-blended Florida estates with no business interests, no out-of-state property, and no homestead-descent complications. They are NOT acceptable for anything else. Florida-specific concerns including the homestead descent restrictions under Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 and F.S. § 732.401 (if there's a surviving spouse and minor children, the homestead cannot be devised by will with limited exceptions), the F.S. § 732.201 elective share (surviving spouse takes 30% of the elective estate notwithstanding the will), the F.S. § 709.2105 durable-POA execution requirements (specific witness and notary formalities), and the F.S. § 765.202 health-care surrogate execution rules are facts-and-circumstances analyses templates do not perform. The conservative rule: DIY for a simple, single-family, Florida-only, no-business-interest estate; attorney for anything else.

Why is the pour-over will important if I already have a revocable trust?

A revocable living trust under F.S. Chapter 736 avoids probate only on assets actually titled to the trust. Any asset the grantor forgets to retitle, or acquires after the trust is funded, passes by intestate succession under F.S. Chapter 732 — defeating the trust's probate-avoidance purpose. A pour-over will names the trust as the residuary beneficiary and sweeps any such stray assets into the trust at death. It is an inexpensive companion document (attorney range $200 to $500) and the structural defense against an under-funded trust. Every revocable trust should have a pour-over will.

What is trust funding and why does it matter?

Trust funding is the work of actually retitling assets into the name of the trust: preparing deeds for real estate, retitling bank and brokerage accounts, updating beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance, assigning business interests. An UNFUNDED revocable trust provides ZERO probate avoidance — the assets still pass through probate because they were never titled to the trust. Trust funding is the single most-frequently-skipped step in Florida estate planning and the most common cause of an estate plan failing at death. Attorney-drafted trust funding services typically run $500 to $2,000 on top of the trust drafting fee. DIY services generally do not perform trust funding; the user is left to figure it out alone, which is why so many DIY trusts end up unfunded.

What is the Florida elective share and how does it affect my plan?

Under F.S. § 732.201 through § 732.2155, a surviving spouse in Florida is entitled to an elective share of 30% of the elective estate — a broader measure than the probate estate that includes the decedent's revocable trust assets, joint accounts with right of survivorship, retirement accounts above certain limits, life insurance proceeds, and gifts made within one year of death. The elective share is in lieu of (and overrides) the disposition under the will or trust. Blended families and second marriages must affirmatively plan around the elective share — typically through a prenuptial or postnuptial elective-share waiver under F.S. § 732.702, a coordinated revocable trust structure, or a life insurance / qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust funding strategy. DIY templates do not perform this analysis.

Can I use my Florida will and revocable trust if I move out of state?

Florida wills and revocable trusts executed under Florida law are typically valid in other states by full faith and credit and by reciprocal recognition statutes, but the substantive disposition rules of the new state of residence apply on death. If you move out of Florida, have your estate plan reviewed by counsel in the new state — your homestead protections under Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 will not follow you (each state's homestead rules differ), your elective-share planning may not survive, and your durable POA may not satisfy the new state's execution requirements. Conversely, if you move INTO Florida, have your existing out-of-state plan reviewed by Florida counsel before relying on it. The estate-planning bar's rule of thumb: have the plan reviewed within 12 months of any move across state lines.

When should I update my Florida estate plan?

Trigger-based updates: marriage; divorce (F.S. § 732.507 automatically voids provisions in a will benefiting a former spouse after divorce, but the trust and beneficiary designations are NOT automatically updated and must be revised); birth or adoption of a child; death of a named beneficiary, personal representative, trustee, agent, or surrogate; significant change in net worth (e.g., inheritance, business sale, sale of out-of-state property); move into or out of Florida; significant change in federal estate tax law (e.g., the 2025-2026 sunset of the doubled exemption under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act). In the absence of any trigger, the conventional review cadence is every 3 to 5 years. A no-changes review by a Florida-licensed estate-planning attorney typically runs $300 to $500 per hour; many plans complete the review in 1 to 2 hours.

Florida Estate Planning Cost Calculator | F.S. Chapter 732, 736, 709, 765

Q: What is the Florida homestead descent restriction and how does it affect my plan?

Under Fla. Const. Art. X § 4(c) and F.S. § 732.401, if the decedent is survived by a spouse and minor children, the constitutionally-protected homestead CANNOT be devised by will (with limited exceptions). Instead, the spouse takes a life estate in the homestead with a vested remainder in the lineal descendants — or, under the post-2010 statutory option in F.S. § 732.401(2), the spouse may elect to take a 50% tenant-in-common share with the descendants taking the other 50%. Getting this wrong invalidates the bequest and creates a fact-specific descent outcome the decedent did not intend. The dominant Florida planning approach for homestead descent in blended families is the lady-bird (enhanced life estate) deed combined with an elective-share waiver in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement — but the analysis is fact-specific and not amenable to DIY templates.

Q: Do I need a durable POA, a health-care surrogate, AND a living will?

Yes — each governs a different sphere. The durable power of attorney under F.S. Chapter 709 authorizes an agent to handle FINANCIAL matters during the principal's incapacity (paying bills, managing accounts, signing contracts). The designation of health-care surrogate under F.S. § 765.202 authorizes an agent to make MEDICAL decisions during incapacity. The living will under F.S. § 765.302 documents the principal's WISHES about life-prolonging procedures in end-of-life scenarios (terminal condition, end-stage condition, persistent vegetative state). The HIPAA authorization under 45 C.F.R. § 164.508 authorizes disclosure of protected health information to named family and agents. All four are standard components of any Florida estate plan; the absence of any one of them creates friction for the family at the worst possible moment.

Florida Estate Planning Cost Calculator

Estimate the total cash cost of a Florida estate-plan stack — simple will (F.S. Chapter 732), revocable living trust (F.S. Chapter 736), durable power of attorney (F.S. Chapter 709), designation of health-care surrogate (F.S. § 765.202), living will (F.S. § 765.302), HIPAA authorization, pour-over will, and trust funding — at attorney-drafted or DIY-template price points. Surfaces missing-element warnings (revocable trust with no pour-over will, revocable trust with no trust-funding service, testamentary instrument with no durable POA or health-care advance directive), Florida-specific complexity surcharges (out-of-state property, blended family, business ownership), and the conventional 5×-to-10× attorney-vs-DIY price premium. Florida homestead descent restrictions under Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 and F.S. § 732.401 are flagged as a fact-specific analysis attorney drafting performs and templates do not.

How this calculator works

A Florida estate plan is not a single document — it is a stack of complementary instruments, each governed by its own slice of Florida law, that together cover disposition of property at death, financial management during incapacity, health-care decision-making, and the confidentiality of medical information. A typical Florida stack runs $2,000 to $10,000+ at attorney-drafted rates and $100 to $500 for DIY-template equivalents. This calculator decomposes that total by component, surfaces Florida-specific complexity surcharges, and flags structural gaps in the stack you've selected — the missing-element warnings that distinguish a coherent estate plan from a brittle one.

The five headline outputs:

Total estimated cost. Sum of the selected components at the mid-range planning estimate for the path you chose (attorney or DIY), plus complexity surcharges on the attorney path.
Planning envelope (low to high). The realistic range around the mid-point. Florida attorney fees vary by market — Miami / South Florida / Naples markets quote higher than rural panhandle markets.
Itemized breakdown. One line per selected component, with the cost range for that line and the Florida statute it sits under.
Attorney-vs-DIY comparison. Both path totals and the per-stack premium multiplier. The conventional 5×-to-10× attorney-vs-DIY rule of thumb, applied to your actual stack.
Missing-element warnings. Structural gaps in the selected stack — revocable trust without a pour-over will, revocable trust without trust funding, will without a durable POA, will without any health-care advance directive, DIY path with complexity factors.

The components of a Florida estate-plan stack

Simple will (F.S. Chapter 732). Disposes of property at death; nominates the personal representative (executor); nominates guardians for minor children. Florida wills must satisfy F.S. § 732.502 execution requirements: writing, signed by the testator at the end, signed in the presence of two attesting witnesses who themselves sign in the presence of the testator and each other. Attorney range $300 to $1,000; DIY $50 to $150.

Pour-over will (used with a revocable trust). Names the trust as the residuary beneficiary and sweeps probate assets into the trust at death. Catches assets acquired after trust funding or forgotten retitling and prevents them from passing by intestate succession under F.S. Chapter 732. Attorney range $200 to $500.

Revocable living trust (F.S. Chapter 736). Holds the grantor's assets during life, avoids probate on trust-titled property at death, and provides for management during incapacity. The primary probate-avoidance vehicle in a Florida estate plan. Attorney range $1,500 to $5,000; DIY $100 to $400.

Trust funding / asset retitling. The deed preparation, account retitling, and beneficiary-designation update work that actually transfers assets to the trust. The most-frequently-skipped step in Florida estate planning. An UNFUNDED revocable trust provides zero probate avoidance — the assets still pass through probate because they were never titled to the trust. Attorney range $500 to $2,000.

Durable power of attorney (F.S. Chapter 709). Authorizes an agent to act on financial matters during the principal's incapacity. Florida's 2011 revised POA statute imposes strict execution requirements under F.S. § 709.2105 (signed by the principal, two witnesses, notary acknowledgment) and abolished the springing POA — the durable POA is effective on execution. Attorney range $150 to $500; DIY $20 to $75.

Designation of health-care surrogate (F.S. § 765.202). Authorizes a named agent to make medical decisions during incapacity. Inexpensive and standard. Attorney range $50 to $300.

Living will / advance directive (F.S. § 765.302). Documents the principal's wishes about life-prolonging procedures in end-of-life scenarios — typically a terminal condition, end-stage condition, or persistent vegetative state. Attorney range $50 to $300.

HIPAA authorization (45 C.F.R. § 164.508). Authorizes disclosure of protected health information to named family members and agents. Without it, providers withhold medical information even from a spouse or adult child. The cheapest line item in the stack and there is essentially no reason to skip it. Attorney range $50 to $200.

Florida-specific complexity surcharges

Four Florida-specific concerns push the engagement out of the "simple stack" pricing tier and into substantive attorney work. Each is a fact-specific analysis a Florida-licensed estate-planning attorney performs and which DIY templates do not.

Homestead descent (Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 and F.S. § 732.401). If the decedent is survived by a spouse and minor children, the constitutionally-protected homestead cannot be devised by will, with limited exceptions. The spouse takes a life estate with a vested remainder in the lineal descendants — or, under the post-2010 statutory option in F.S. § 732.401(2), the spouse may elect a 50% tenant-in-common share with the descendants taking the other 50%. Getting this wrong invalidates the bequest and produces a descent outcome the decedent did not intend. The dominant planning approach for blended-family homestead is the lady-bird (enhanced life estate) deed combined with an elective-share waiver in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Templates do not perform this analysis.

Elective share (F.S. § 732.201 et seq.). A surviving spouse is entitled to 30% of the elective estate — a broader measure than the probate estate that includes the decedent's revocable trust assets, joint accounts with right of survivorship, retirement accounts above certain limits, life insurance proceeds, and gifts made within one year of death. The elective share overrides the disposition under the will or trust. Blended families and second marriages must affirmatively plan around it — through an F.S. § 732.702 prenuptial or postnuptial waiver, a coordinated revocable trust structure, or a QTIP funding strategy. Templates do not perform this analysis. Surcharge approximately $1,500.

Out-of-state property. Each out-of-state property requires either ancillary administration in the situs state (a separate probate proceeding on top of the Florida primary) or pre-death structuring — deeding to the revocable trust, a lady-bird deed where available, or LLC ownership. Adds attorney time. Surcharge approximately $750.

Business ownership (F.S. Chapter 605 LLC, S-corp, partnership). Successor-control planning, buy-sell coordination, operating agreement amendments under F.S. § 605.0701 (coordinating the trust as holder of the membership interest), and for S-corps, qualified subchapter S trust or electing small business trust drafting. Surcharge approximately $1,500.

Attorney drafting vs DIY templates

DIY services (LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, Trust & Will, FreeWill) price the equivalent stack at roughly 5× to 10× lower than attorney drafting. The cost savings are real — and for simple, non-blended Florida estates with no business interests, no out-of-state property, and no homestead-descent complications, DIY is acceptable. For anything else, attorney drafting is the conservative call.

Three structural reasons:

Florida-specific execution requirements. F.S. § 732.502 (wills), F.S. § 709.2105 (durable POAs), F.S. § 765.202 (health-care surrogate), F.S. § 765.302 (living will) each impose specific witness and notary formalities. Templates default to lowest-common-denominator multi-state forms and sometimes miss Florida's requirements.
Trust funding. DIY services generally do not perform trust funding. The user is left to figure out deeds, account retitling, and beneficiary updates alone — which is why so many DIY trusts end up unfunded and therefore useless at death.
Fact-specific analysis. Homestead descent, elective-share planning, out-of-state property, business ownership, and incapacity-planning trigger analyses are all "depends on the facts" judgments. Templates do not perform them.

What this calculator does not do

This is a planning-stage estimator. It does NOT:

Replace a Florida-licensed estate-planning attorney. Engagement quotes are fact-specific to your assets, family structure, and goals — consult a Florida-licensed attorney before relying on the price points here.
Compute federal estate tax exposure. Use the Florida Probate Costs Calculator for the federal estate tax envelope under IRC § 2010 and § 2001.
Model trust-administration costs at the grantor's death. That is a separate engagement billed at trust-administration rates under F.S. § 736.1007.
Predict the actual quoted price from any specific Florida-licensed attorney, which depends on the attorney's market, hourly rate, and the document complexity.

How this page is maintained

The substantive statutory framework — F.S. Chapter 732 (Probate Code), F.S. Chapter 736 (Florida Trust Code), F.S. Chapter 709 (Powers of Attorney), F.S. Chapter 765 (advance directives), and the constitutional homestead provisions in Fla. Const. Art. X § 4 — has been stable for years. The 2011 revisions to F.S. Chapter 709 (durable POA execution under § 709.2105) and the 2010 amendments to F.S. § 732.401 (homestead descent 50% tenant-in-common election) are the most recent material changes. We monitor each Florida legislative session and any material Florida appellate developments, and refresh this page within the quarter after any material change.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 against F.S. Chapter 732 (including § 732.502, § 732.401, § 732.201); F.S. Chapter 736; F.S. Chapter 709 (including § 709.2105, § 709.2106); F.S. Chapter 765 (including § 765.202, § 765.302); Florida Constitution Art. X § 4; 45 C.F.R. § 164.508.

Resources

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