How Much Does Probate Cost in Florida in 2026?

A practical guide to court costs, attorney fees, formal administration, and summary administration (2026)

The short answer

A Florida probate has two different price categories: out-of-pocket case costs and professional fees. In South Florida, a practical planning range for a straightforward formal administration with no property sale, no contested creditor claim, and no family dispute is often about $4,500 to $13,500 in attorney time and routine case costs, before any personal-representative commission. That is not a fixed or statistical "average": it assumes roughly 12 to 20 attorney hours at $300 to $600 per hour, plus ordinary court, publication, certified-copy, and similar costs. Attorney fees depend on the estate, the work required, and the written fee agreement; a dispute, active business, real-estate sale, tax work, or creditor litigation can change the cost substantially.

There is no mandatory "3% probate fee" in Florida. The statutory percentage schedule is a presumption of reasonable compensation for ordinary attorney services in a formal administration; it is not an automatic charge and the method of compensation is negotiable.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 733.6171(1)–(3) (2026).

No public court or Florida Bar dataset reports a reliable average total cost for South Florida probate. A transparent estimate based on the agreed hourly rate and expected tasks is usually more useful than a headline average. The range above is a planning illustration, not a quote for a particular estate.

What makes up the cost of a Florida probate?

Category	Common items	What drives the amount
Clerk and court charges	Filing fee, certified letters, certified copies, and later filings.	County schedule, type of administration, and number of certified documents.
Notice and service costs	Publication of Notice to Creditors, formal service, and process-server or sheriff fees when needed.	Whether formal administration is opened, the county newspaper rate, and whether any parties must be formally served.
Attorney fees	Advice to the personal representative; court filings; creditor, asset, tax, and closing work.	The written fee agreement, estate complexity, and whether any issue becomes contested.
Other professionals	Appraiser, accountant, realtor, title company, bond premium, tax preparer, or valuation specialist.	The assets involved and whether specialized work is actually required.

For example, a formal case usually requires a court filing fee and a published Notice to Creditors. In Broward County, current published opening fees are commonly about $401 for formal administration and $346 for a summary administration of $1,000 or more, before certified copies and other charges. Publication is set by the newspaper and should be confirmed before filing. Fees can change, so the clerk and publisher should be checked for a current quote.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 28.2401, 733.2121(1)–(2) (2026); Broward County Clerk fee schedule (confirm current amount before filing).

Attorney-fee structures: hourly, flat, or statutory schedule

Florida law permits the personal representative, attorney, and people affected by the fee to agree to compensation in a different manner from the statutory schedule. In practice, probate representation may be billed in one of three ways:

• Hourly: the client is billed for actual time spent at the agreed rate, usually with separate reimbursement of case costs. In South Florida, probate attorneys commonly charge about $300 to $600 per hour, depending on experience, specialization, firm structure, and the matter's complexity. This is often the clearest fit where the amount of work cannot be predicted at the start.

• Flat fee: a stated fee for a defined scope of ordinary, noncontested work. The agreement should identify what is included and how extraordinary work or litigation will be handled.

• Statutory schedule: for ordinary services in a formal administration, section 733.6171(3) provides a presumptively reasonable fee based on the estate's compensable value. It applies only if used consistently with the statute's disclosure requirements and remains subject to review.

"Compensable value" means the inventory value of probate assets plus income earned during the administration. It is not simply every asset the decedent owned. Nonprobate assets and exempt property may be outside the probate estate and may not be part of the base. The right answer depends on the title, beneficiary designation, homestead status, and governing documents.

A simple formal administration with no sale of property, no dispute, and organized financial records will rarely require more than about 20 attorney hours if it is handled competently. That benchmark is not absolute: disorganized records, multiple institutions, creditor issues, tax questions, and beneficiary conflict can add significant time.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 733.6171(2)–(3), (5)–(6) (2026).

The statutory attorney-fee schedule for ordinary formal probate work

If the statutory schedule is used, the following amounts are presumed reasonable for all ordinary services of attorneys advising the personal representative in a formal administration:

Compensable value of estate	Presumed reasonable attorney fee for ordinary services
$40,000 or less	$1,500
$40,001–$70,000	$2,250 total
$70,001–$100,000	$3,000 total
Over $100,000 through $1 million	$3,000 plus 3% of the amount over $100,000
Over $1 million through $3 million	2.5% of that band, in addition to lower bands
Over $3 million through $5 million	2% of that band, in addition to lower bands
Over $5 million through $10 million	1.5% of that band, in addition to lower bands
Over $10 million	1% of that band, in addition to lower bands

An attorney who intends to charge under this schedule must give the personal representative written disclosures, including that the fee is not mandatory, need not be based on estate size, and is negotiable. The personal representative must timely sign an acknowledgment. Without the required disclosures, the attorney cannot be paid without prior court approval or written consent of all interested persons.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 733.6171(2)(b)–(d), (3) (2026).

What work is done in a formal administration?

Formal administration is the standard Florida probate process when summary administration is unavailable or not appropriate. The court appoints a personal representative (PR), issues Letters of Administration, and supervises the closing process. A Florida attorney is generally required for the PR unless the PR is the sole interested person.

• Review the will, family information, asset titles, beneficiary designations, debts, and potential homestead issues; prepare the petition and supporting filings.

• Obtain the appointment and Letters of Administration; help the PR marshal and safeguard probate assets.

• Prepare and serve the Notice of Administration; publish and serve the Notice to Creditors; identify reasonably ascertainable creditors.

• Prepare the inventory, address homestead and exempt-property issues, and advise on valuation, account access, real property, and asset transfers.

• Evaluate claims, pay proper expenses and debts, prepare required tax filings or coordinate tax professionals, and make distributions.

• Prepare the final accounting, petition for discharge, plan of distribution, required notices, and closing papers.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 733.212, 733.2121, 733.602, 733.604, 733.608, 733.701; Fla. Prob. Rs. 5.030, 5.240, 5.241, 5.340, 5.400 (2026).

What counts as "extraordinary services"?

Extraordinary services are not part of routine, ordinary estate administration. Whether work is extraordinary depends on the size and complexity of the estate, but the statute specifically includes work such as:

• A will contest, beneficiary dispute, contested creditor claim, elective-share proceeding, or other adversary litigation;

• Sale, lease, financing, zoning, title, environmental, or other significant real-property work;

• Tax audits, estate-tax returns, postmortem tax planning, or specialized tax advice;

• Advice on operating the decedent's business or commercial activity;

• Homestead litigation or other protected-homestead work; and

• Ancillary administration or a proceeding needed to enforce the PR's authority.

Extraordinary services may support additional reasonable compensation under the fee agreement or a court award. They are not automatically billable merely because a filing is made; the work and the circumstances matter.

Authority: Fla. Stat. § 733.6171(4)–(5) (2026).

Summary administration: faster, but not always the best fit

Summary administration is a shorter probate process. It may be available when the estate subject to administration in Florida, after excluding property exempt from creditor claims, does not exceed $150,000, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years. If there is a will, it cannot direct that chapter 733 administration be used. The court enters an order assigning the probate assets to the people entitled to them; no PR is appointed and no Letters of Administration issue.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 735.201, 735.203, 735.206; Fla. Prob. R. 5.530 (2026).

That absence of a PR is an important limitation, not just a shortcut. In formal administration, the PR has statutory authority to gather, manage, preserve, and distribute assets, and to address creditor claims through the probate process. In summary administration, there is no PR with Letters to administer the estate or object to a claim in that fiduciary role. A known or reasonably ascertainable creditor may be able to pursue a claim if proper provision and notice were not made, and recipients can remain personally liable up to the value they received.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 733.607, 733.702, 735.206(2)–(3), 735.2063 (2026).

In short, summary administration can be excellent for a truly simple estate: for example, where the assets and beneficiaries are clear, there is no active business or property-management issue, creditors are resolved, and the family needs an order to transfer a specific asset. It may be a poor fit where there are uncertain debts, disputed assets, rent-producing property, a sale to manage, or a likely family conflict. If claims are filed in a summary administration that a petitioner wants to dispute, his only recourse is usually converting the summary administration to a formal administration (which typically costs more than if he had simply filed a formal administration at the outset).

Illustrative pricing: why the billing method matters

Assume an estate has a $360,000 brokerage account and a $240,000 rental property. The decedent's two adult children agree on the personal representative, and the probate begins as an ordinary formal administration. The estate has a total compensable value of $600,000 before estate income. The statutory schedule, if selected and properly disclosed, would produce a presumptively reasonable ordinary-service fee of $18,000 ($3,000 plus 3% of $500,000). That is a benchmark under the statute, not a required result.

Under an hourly agreement, the same ordinary work may instead be billed for the actual time reasonably spent, plus costs. If a creditor asserts a disputed $75,000 claim and one beneficiary challenges the rental-property sale, the attorney may need to conduct discovery, attend hearings, negotiate a settlement, and prepare litigation filings. Those services can be extraordinary and can materially increase the time and cost so that the total fees exceed $18,000. The example illustrates why a family should ask at the outset: what is the agreed billing structure, what work is within the ordinary scope, and how will unforeseen disputes be handled?

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to pay a probate lawyer up front? It depends on the written engagement agreement. Some costs, such as the filing fee, publication, or a required bond premium, often must be advanced. Attorney fees may be paid from estate assets when available and permitted, but the payment timing should be addressed in the agreement.

Can probate attorney fees be negotiated? Yes. Florida law expressly states that there is no mandatory statutory attorney fee and that the fee is subject to negotiation. If the statutory schedule is proposed, the attorney must give the required written disclosures.

Does the personal representative receive a fee too? A PR may be entitled to reasonable compensation, separate from attorney fees. In formal administration, the statute provides a presumptively reasonable commission based on compensable value, and a PR may renounce all or part of it. The PR's services and the attorney's services are distinct, and are each entitled to get compensated from the estate on a priority basis.

Does a homestead house count in the fee base? Often it does not, but the answer depends on whether the property is protected homestead, who receives it, title, and the other facts. Homestead should be analyzed before assuming it is part of the probate estate or the compensable-value calculation.

Can a summary administration save money? It can reduce procedural work in a suitable simple estate. It is not automatically the least expensive or safest option, however, because there is no PR to administer assets and deal with claims, and recipients may face post-order creditor issues.

Authority: Fla. Stat. §§ 733.617, 733.6171, 733.608, 735.206, 735.2063 (2026).

Key authorities

Florida Statutes §§ 28.2401, 733.106, 733.212, 733.2121, 733.602, 733.604, 733.607, 733.608, 733.617, 733.6171, 733.701, 735.201, 735.203, 735.206, and 735.2063 (2026); Florida Probate Rules 5.030, 5.240, 5.241, 5.340, 5.400, and 5.530 (2026).

This article is general information, not legal advice. Probate costs, fee arrangements, and the appropriate form of administration depend on the facts of the estate and current law.

At Clarke Law, P.A., I help South Florida families through formal and summary administration, with the fee structure agreed in writing before the work begins. Your first consultation is free.