Estate plan requirements

Florida

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Florida: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	2 required	Recommended
Power of attorney	2 required	Required
Healthcare directive	2 required	Not required

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Florida content last reviewed September 9, 2026.

News

Recent changes in Florida

June 20, 2025Trust

Florida revises trust decanting and clarifies homestead transfers to community property trusts

Ch. 2025-159 (SB 262) revises authorized-trustee invasion-of-principal under §736.04117, treats lifetime distributions from a revocable trust as satisfying matching devises if criteria are met, and clarifies that homestead property transferred by spousal settlors to a community property trust does not constitute a change of ownership for property-tax reassessment.

Ch. 2025-159 (SB 262)Source

May 29, 2024Trust

Florida adopts the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act (FUFIPA)

Ch. 2024-216 (CS/HB 1093) replaces the prior Florida Uniform Principal and Income Act with FUFIPA, modernizing how trustees allocate receipts and disbursements between income and principal beneficiaries. Effective January 1, 2025.

Took effect: January 1, 2025

Ch. 2024-216 (CS/HB 1093)Source

Will

Fla. Stat. §732.501 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Two attesting witnesses must sign in the presence of the testator and each other (Fla. Stat. §732.502(1)(c))

Witnesses together: Required

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Not valid

Florida does not recognize handwritten wills without witnesses

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Florida's §732.503 affidavit may be executed at the time the will is signed or at any subsequent date. We integrate it into the execution page so the will is self-proved on day one and admissible to probate without locating the witnesses years later.

Executor bond waiver: Statutory phrasing required

Florida requires explicit bond-waiver phrasing for it to bind the probate court. We insert the statutory wording.

State-specific notes

•Nonresident Personal Representative restriction (Fla. Stat. §733.304): a person who is not domiciled in Florida cannot qualify as personal representative unless the person is a legally adopted child or adoptive parent of the decedent, related by lineal consanguinity to the decedent, a spouse / brother / sister / uncle / aunt / nephew / niece of the decedent or someone related by lineal consanguinity to any such person, or the spouse of any otherwise-qualified person. Unrelated persons domiciled outside Florida (close friends, fiduciaries-of-choice) cannot serve. Name a Florida-domiciled successor if your first choice is domiciled out of state and is not a close relative.

•Original will retention (Fla. Stat. §732.901 and §733.207): the custodian of the original will must deposit it with the clerk of the circuit court within 10 days of learning of the testator's death. A delinquent custodian who fails to deposit without just or reasonable cause is subject to a fee-shifting petition under §732.901(2): the court must adjudge costs, damages, and reasonable attorney's fees against the custodian on petition by an interested person. Section 733.207 sets the proof rule if the original cannot be produced: the specific content of a lost or destroyed will must be proved by the testimony of two disinterested witnesses, or, if a correct copy is provided, by one disinterested witness. Section 732.901(5) provides that for purposes of the deposit duty the term 'will' includes a separate writing described in §732.515, so a tangible-personal-property memorandum must be deposited with the original will. Section 732.901 creates no lifetime safekeeping service: the clerk receives the will only after a custodian learns of the death. Store the wet-ink original somewhere your personal representative can retrieve it, and tell that person where it is.

ViewSelf-proving affidavit wording

State of Florida County of _______________ I, {testatorName}, declare to the officer taking my acknowledgment of this instrument, and to the subscribing witnesses, that I signed this instrument as my will. ___________________________________ Testator We, _______________ and _______________, have been sworn by the officer signing below, and declare to that officer on our oaths that the testator declared the instrument to be the testator's will and signed it in our presence and that we each signed the instrument as a witness in the presence of the testator and of each other. ___________________________________ Witness ___________________________________ Witness Acknowledged and subscribed before me by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization by the testator, {testatorName}, who [ ] is personally known to me or [ ] has produced ____________________ (state type of identification—see s. 117.05(5)(b)2.) as identification, and sworn to and subscribed before me by each of the following witnesses: _______________ (type or print name of first witness) who [ ] is personally known to me or [ ] has produced ____________________ (state type of identification—see s. 117.05(5)(b)2.) as identification, by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization; and _______________ (type or print name of second witness) who [ ] is personally known to me or [ ] has produced ____________________ (state type of identification—see s. 117.05(5)(b)2.) as identification, by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization. Subscribed by me in the presence of the testator and the subscribing witnesses, by the means specified herein, all on _____________ (date). ___________________________________ (Signature of Officer) ___________________________________ (Print, type, or stamp commissioned name and affix official seal)

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

Fla. Stat. §732.504: any person competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will, and a will or codicil, or any part of either, is not invalid because it is signed by an interested witness. Florida has no purge rule, so a gift to an attesting witness remains effective. Using witnesses who take nothing under the will is still the safer practice.

Living Trust

Witnesses: 2 required

Florida treats the testamentary aspects of a revocable trust as a will for execution purposes per Fla. Stat. §732.502 and §736.0403; we add an Attestation of Witnesses block to the trust so it satisfies the same formalities as a will.

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

Conditional execution: Special rule

will formalities required for testamentary aspects only

Certification of trust: Fla. Stat. §736.1017

Florida lets your trustee prove the trust to a bank, brokerage, title company, insurer, or transfer agent with a short certification instead of the trust itself. It states that the trust exists, who the trustee is, and what the trustee may do, and it leaves out who inherits and what each person receives. Will.com generates the Florida Certification of Trust with your trust, built to the contents that section requires. Sign it in front of the same notary, at the same sitting as the trust.

State-specific notes

•The 2-witness requirement technically applies only to testamentary provisions, but since virtually all revocable trusts contain provisions about who inherits at death, 2 witnesses are effectively required for any estate planning trust

Durable Power of Attorney

Fla. Stat. §709.2101 et seq. (Florida Power of Attorney Act, ch. 709 part II)

Witnesses: 2 required

Florida requires 2 witnesses for power of attorney execution

Notarization: Required

Notarization is required for a valid durable power of attorney

Key features of Florida POA

•Florida has no statutory short-form POA. Chapter 709 part II (the Florida Power of Attorney Act, §§709.2101 to 709.2402) prescribes execution and authority but does not provide a fill-in statutory form. An agent's general authority comes from the grant written into the instrument itself (Fla. Stat. §709.2201), not from a principal initialing lettered subject categories on a statutory form, so a Florida power of attorney carries no lettered subject-matter checklist. The only authority Florida requires the principal to sign or initial separately is the enumerated list in Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1).

•Seven 'superpowers' under Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(a) to (g) require the principal to sign or initial next to each specific enumeration: (a) create an inter vivos trust; (b) amend, modify, revoke, or terminate a trust (sub-paragraph (b) carries an additional statutory precondition that the trust instrument itself must explicitly authorize amendment, modification, revocation, or termination by the settlor's agent; the principal's sign-or-initial alone is insufficient if the trust is silent); (c) make a gift, subject to §709.2202(4); (d) create or change rights of survivorship; (e) create or change a beneficiary designation; (f) waive the principal's right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity; (g) disclaim property and powers of appointment.

•Two defaults that a Florida power of attorney must expressly override. Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, an agent who is not an ancestor, spouse, or descendant of the principal may not exercise the enumerated authority to create an interest in the agent, or in an individual to whom the agent owes a legal obligation of support, whether by gift, right of survivorship, beneficiary designation, disclaimer, or otherwise; the bar reaches interests created in the agent or in someone the agent supports, not gifts to third parties (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(3)). Unless the power of attorney otherwise provides, a grant of general gift authority authorizes gifts only up to the annual federal gift-tax exclusion under 26 U.S.C. s. 2503(b) per donee per calendar year, or twice that amount per donee per calendar year where the principal's spouse consents to a split gift under 26 U.S.C. s. 2513 (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(4)).

•Springing POAs are ineffective in Florida. Under Fla. Stat. §709.2108(1) a POA is exercisable when executed, and under §709.2108(3) a POA is ineffective if it provides that it is to become effective at a future date or upon the occurrence of a future event or contingency, except as provided in §709.2108(2) and Fla. Stat. §709.2106(4). The §709.2108(2) exception reaches only a POA executed before October 1, 2011 that is conditioned on the principal's lack of capacity and that had not become exercisable before that date; it becomes exercisable on delivery of the affidavit of the physician with primary responsibility for the principal's treatment and care. Outside the military, a POA signed today must be effective on execution. The §709.2106(4) exception is live: a military power of attorney is valid if executed in accordance with 10 U.S.C. s. 1044b, as amended, and a deployment-contingent power of attorney may be signed in advance, is effective upon the deployment of the principal, and shall be afforded full force and effect by the courts of this state.

•Requires BOTH two subscribing witnesses AND notarial acknowledgment, which is stricter than most states (Fla. Stat. §709.2105).

•A power of attorney executed by a principal domiciled in Florida at the time of execution, and witnessed remotely under §117.285 or other applicable law by a witness who is not in the principal's physical presence, is not effective to grant any of the seven enumerated superpowers. Both conditions matter: the rule reaches a principal domiciled here when the document was signed, and a witness who was not physically present (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(6)).

State-specific notes

•Requires both two subscribing witnesses AND notarial acknowledgment. Fla. Stat. §709.2105

•Signing outside Florida: the acknowledgment does not have to be taken by a Florida notary. The power of attorney statute asks for two subscribing witnesses and the principal's acknowledgment before a notary public or as otherwise provided in Florida's recording-acknowledgment statute (Fla. Stat. §709.2105(2), reaching Fla. Stat. §695.03). Elsewhere in the United States that statute allows the acknowledgment before a judge or clerk of any court of the United States or of any state, a United States commissioner or magistrate, a commissioner of deeds appointed by Florida's Secretary of State, a civil-law notary of this state, or any notary public, justice of the peace, master in chancery, or registrar or recorder of deeds of that state having a seal (Fla. Stat. §695.03(2)). Outside the United States it allows a commissioner of deeds appointed to act in that country, a notary public or civil-law notary of that country with an official seal, an ambassador, minister, consul general, consul, vice consul, consular agent or other diplomatic or consular officer of the United States appointed to reside there, or a military or naval officer authorized by federal law to perform the duties of a notary public (Fla. Stat. §695.03(3); 10 U.S.C. §1044a). The certificate must be under that officer's seal, and the two subscribing witnesses are required on every one of these routes.

•Best practice: do not use the agent or the notary as a subscribing witness. Chapter 709 imposes no such disqualification by statute and asks only for two subscribing witnesses and the principal's acknowledgment. Where the notary signs or initials for the principal instead, the statute does require witnesses who are not the notary: that signing must be witnessed by two disinterested subscribing witnesses (Fla. Stat. §709.2105(2), §709.2202(2)(b))

•Notary-signs-for-principal mechanisms, two separate rules. (1) If the principal is physically unable to sign the power of attorney, the notary public before whom the principal's oath or acknowledgment is made may sign the principal's name (Fla. Stat. §709.2105(3), signing pursuant to §117.05(14)). That route has its own conditions: the person must direct the notary to sign in his or her presence by verbal, written, or other means; the document signing must be witnessed by two disinterested persons; the notary must write below the signature 'Signature affixed by notary, pursuant to s. 117.05(14), Florida Statutes,' and state the circumstances and the means by which the notary was directed to sign; and the notary must keep the proof of direction and authorization for 10 years from the date of the notarial act (Fla. Stat. §117.05(14)(d)). (2) Separately, if the principal is physically unable to sign or initial next to an enumerated superpower, the notary may sign or initial at the principal's direction, in the presence of the principal and witnessed by two disinterested subscribing witnesses, and must write 'Signature or initials affixed by the notary pursuant to s. 709.2202(2), Florida Statutes,' below each signature or initial the notary writes (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(2), enumerated superpowers at §709.2202(1), writing requirement at §709.2202(2)(c)). Only one notarial certificate is required to be completed by the notary, in substantially the same form as those the notary-accommodation statute describes, and it must state the circumstances of all signatures and initials the notary wrote (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(2), §117.05(14)). Standard execution practice is for the principal to sign personally.

•Remote witnessing does NOT carry the seven superpowers. A power of attorney signed by a principal domiciled in Florida at the time of execution and witnessed remotely under Fla. Stat. §117.285, by a witness who is not in the principal's physical presence, is not effective to grant an agent any of the authority enumerated in §709.2202(1): creating an inter vivos trust, amending or revoking a trust, making a gift, changing rights of survivorship, changing a beneficiary designation, waiving survivor rights under a joint and survivor annuity, or disclaiming property. If you initial any of those, sign with your witnesses physically present (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(6))

•Supported decision-making agreement alternative (Fla. Stat. §709.2209, added by Ch. 2024-242): a written agreement that authorizes a 'supporter' to receive information (including health and educational records) and to communicate with third parties on behalf of the principal, but does NOT confer authority to bind or act for the principal on any subject matter. The statute expressly provides it is not a durable power of attorney; any durability language has no effect. A principal who needs only information-sharing assistance (for example, a young adult with a disability whose parents want HIPAA / FERPA access without taking decisional control) can use a supported decision-making agreement instead of a full POA.

ViewAuthority requiring separate signed enumeration (7)

Florida has no statutory power of attorney form. Florida law lets an agent exercise the authorities below only if you sign or initial next to each one in the power of attorney: Create an inter vivos trust (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(a)) With respect to a trust created by or on behalf of the principal, amend, modify, revoke, or terminate the trust, but only if the trust instrument explicitly provides for amendment, modification, revocation, or termination by the settlor's agent (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(b)) Make a gift, subject to subsection (4) (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(c)) Create or change rights of survivorship (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(d)) Create or change a beneficiary designation (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(e)) Waive the principal's right to be a beneficiary of a joint and survivor annuity, including a survivor benefit under a retirement plan (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(f)) Disclaim property and powers of appointment (Fla. Stat. §709.2202(1)(g))

Designation of Health Care Surrogate

Fla. Stat. ch. 765

Witnesses: 2 required

Two witnesses required, and both must be subscribing adult witnesses. Fla. Stat. §765.202(1). At least 1 must not be a relative, heir, or healthcare provider

Notarization: Not required

Notarization is not required but may be accepted

Document sections

Separate living will

State-specific notes

•At least one witness must not be a spouse or blood relative

•The person designated as health care surrogate cannot serve as a witness to the document: 'The person designated as surrogate shall not act as witness to the execution of the document designating the health care surrogate' (Fla. Stat. §765.202(2)). Execution trap: a hospital or court may reject a Designation that lists the surrogate as one of the two attesting witnesses, even if the surrogate also satisfies the spouse / blood-relative limitation.

•Florida's statutory forms are 'suggested,' not mandatory. The Designation of Health Care Surrogate provision states that 'A written designation of a health care surrogate executed pursuant to this chapter may, but need not be, in the following form,' and the Living Will provision uses the same 'may, but need not, be in the following form' framing (Fla. Stat. §§765.203 and 765.303). Other written designations that satisfy chapter 765's substantive requirements (signed by the principal in the presence of two witnesses, with the §765.202(2) restrictions above) are equally valid; the hcdirOfficialForm boolean indicates Florida provides a named statutory form we implement, not that the form is the only permissible format.

ViewForm section list (7)

1. Name and Designation of Health Care Surrogate 2. Alternate Surrogate 3. Authorization to Access Health Information (HIPAA) 4. Health Care Decision Authorization 5. Specific Instructions and Limitations 6. Organ Donation 7. Revocation

ViewWitness disqualification recital

Fla. Stat. §765.202(1)-(2): the designation must be signed by the principal in the presence of two subscribing adult witnesses. The person designated as surrogate may not act as a witness to the execution of the document, and at least one witness must be neither the principal's spouse nor a blood relative.

Living Will

Fla. Stat. §765.303

The Florida Living Will records your wishes about life-prolonging procedures if you have a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or are in a persistent vegetative state. The companion Designation of Health Care Surrogate appoints your agent.

Both this document and the Designation of Health Care Surrogate are generated for you. You can sign both in the same session.

Subscription

6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive. The free packet includes it too whenever it has a healthcare directive.

In this state: Fla. Stat. §381.004(2)(e): HIV test results are confidential and released only to persons named in a signed release; this Authorization is drafted to be that release.

Designation of Pre-Need Guardian

Pre-designates the person you want a court to appoint as Guardian of the Person and Guardian of the Property under Fla. Stat. §744.3045 if a guardianship is ever needed. Florida uses 'guardian' (not 'conservator') for adult protective proceedings.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

	Free	Paid
All 4 state-specific documents	Included in free	Included in paid tier
State-specific signing guide	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Download as PDF, print forever	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Secure online storage	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Edit anytime	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Annual review reminder	Not in free	Included in paid tier

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Electronic will status

Florida has adopted electronic will legislation (2019). You may be able to create, sign, and witness a will electronically using approved methods.

Digital assets access

Florida has adopted RUFADAA (2016). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Florida authorized RON in 2019. The law took effect on January 1, 2020. Florida enacted remote online notarization in HB 409 (Ch. 2019-71), and the act took effect January 1, 2020. The online notarization procedures are codified at Fla. Stat. §117.265, and the supervised remote witnessing of an electronic record at Fla. Stat. §117.285.

Will

Allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

For the paper documents Will.com produces, Florida does not allow remote online witnessing. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign. Not available for a Florida will signed on paper. Fla. Stat. §732.502(1)(c) requires that the attesting witnesses sign the will in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other, and Fla. Stat. §732.522(2) substitutes audio-video presence only where the witnesses are 'electronically signing' inside an online notarization session that meets §117.265 and §117.285. Witnesses signing a printed will with a pen cannot use that pathway. For an electronic record, remote online witnessing under Fla. Stat. §117.285 is invalid for a 'vulnerable adult' as defined in §415.102 (§117.285(5)(g)), and a POA witnessed via ROW cannot grant any of the seven §709.2202(1) superpowers (§709.2202(6)). The §117.285(5) instrument list reaches more than the will: it also names an agreement concerning succession under Fla. Stat. §732.701 and a waiver of spousal rights under Fla. Stat. §732.702, so the same screening applies to either. Those requirements bite only where fewer than two witnesses are in the principal's physical presence, and do not apply at all where at least two witnesses are physically present at the notarial act (§117.285(5)(k)); a §732.702 waiver must in any case be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses (§732.702(1)).

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Florida for guidance specific to your situation.

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