How Much Does Estate Planning Cost in Florida?

Florida estate planning costs range from under $100 for a DIY approach to $4,500 or more for a full attorney-prepared trust package. The right answer depends on your family structure, property ownership, and how much complexity Florida law adds to your situation.

Here is what each level actually costs and what you get for it.

Attorney-Prepared Estate Plans

Basic Will Package: $300–$800

Includes a last will and testament, a durable power of attorney, a healthcare surrogate designation, and a living will. This is the standard "four-document" package that most Florida estate planning attorneys offer.

This works for single homeowners with simple estates, no minor children, and no blended family complications.

Revocable Trust Package: $1,500–$4,500

Includes a revocable living trust, a pour-over will, a durable power of attorney, a healthcare surrogate designation, a living will, and a certificate of trust. The attorney handles trust funding — retitling accounts and recording new deeds.

This makes sense when you own property in multiple states (avoids ancillary probate), want incapacity planning built into one document, or have complex beneficiary arrangements.

Lady Bird Deed Only: $300–$800

An attorney-drafted Lady Bird deed transfers your primary residence outside probate while preserving your homestead exemption and Medicaid eligibility. Recording fees add roughly $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page.

Per-Document Additions

• Prenuptial/postnuptial agreement (homestead waiver): $1,500–$3,000
• Irrevocable trust: $2,000–$5,000
• Guardianship nomination with detailed instructions: $200–$500
• Business succession documents: $1,000–$3,000

Online Legal Platforms

LegalZoom, Trust & Will, and Similar Services: $199–$499

These platforms offer structured questionnaires that generate estate planning documents. Trust & Will charges $199 for a basic will and $499 for a trust. LegalZoom's pricing is similar.

What you get: Properly formatted documents based on your answers.

What you miss: Florida-specific nuance. Online platforms often do not account for the homestead devise restriction (which voids trust transfers when minor children survive), the 2011 POA Act's superpower initialing requirements, or the strict residency rules for personal representatives.

For a straightforward single-person estate with no real property, these platforms work. For anyone with a Florida home, children from multiple relationships, or out-of-state ties, the generic approach creates risk.

DIY Estate Planning

Self-Prepared Documents: $0–$100

Florida court-approved forms for basic wills and summary administration petitions are available free through the Florida Courts e-Filing Portal. Healthcare surrogate designation and living will forms are available free through CaringInfo and the Florida Department of Health.

What you need to know: Self-prepared documents carry no professional review. A will with a single missing witness, a POA without initialed superpowers, or a Lady Bird deed with imprecise legal language can void the document entirely — and you will not discover the error until it matters.

The Real Cost Comparison: Planning vs. Probate

The cost of estate planning should be measured against the cost of not planning. Florida probate costs for formal administration:

• Court filing fee: $401
• Publication fees: $150–$250
• Statutory attorney fees: 3% of the first $1 million in estate value
• Personal representative commission: 3% of estate value (often waived by family members)
• Appraisal fees: $300–$700

For a $400,000 estate (a modest Florida home plus bank accounts), formal probate runs approximately:

• $401 filing + $200 publication + $12,000 attorney fee + $12,000 PR commission + $500 appraisal = $25,100

Even if the PR commission is waived, the attorney fees alone ($12,000) dwarf the cost of any estate planning approach.

When to Spend More

Pay for professional drafting when:

• You have minor children — the homestead trust trap can void a self-prepared trust
• You are in a second marriage — the homestead descent rules create a deadlock between your spouse and your children that requires specific legal strategies
• You own property in multiple states — ancillary probate in each state doubles the fees
• You have a business — succession planning requires documents that coordinate with operating agreements and buy-sell provisions
• You moved to Florida from a community property state — your assets need to be re-evaluated under Florida's common-law system

When DIY Is Enough

A self-prepared approach works when:

• You are single with no dependents
• Your assets consist primarily of accounts with beneficiary designations (retirement, life insurance, POD bank accounts)
• You do not own real property in Florida
• Your estate qualifies for summary administration (under $150,000 in non-exempt assets)

The Florida Basic Estate Planning Kit fills the gap between free forms and expensive attorneys — providing the Florida-specific guidance, decision frameworks, and worksheets that self-prepared documents lack.

See more Florida guides →