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Make your own Florida will.

Yours in about 20 minutes. Legally valid in Florida. Free to create, or add secure online document storage with the $29/year subscription.

Is a self-written will legal in Florida?

Yes. Florida recognizes wills you write yourself, as long as they meet the state's signing requirements. The governing statute is Fla. Stat. §732.501 et seq.

Your will needs to be in writing, signed by you, and witnessed by 2 adults who are present at the same time. You don't need a notary for the will itself to be valid, but adding a notarized "self-proving" affidavit makes the probate process faster later (this tool generates that for you automatically).

You must be at least 18 years old and of sound mind. An emancipated minor may also make a will (Fla. Stat. §732.501). Choose witnesses who don't inherit under your will: some states void or reduce a gift to a witness, and the exact Florida rule is covered below. This tool walks you through the rules so you don't trip over them.

A will you write yourself has the same legal force as one drafted by an attorney, provided you follow the signing rules. Courts admit self-written wills to probate every day. An attorney's value is in advising on complex estates, not in drafting the document itself.

What it costs to make a will in Florida

A Florida estate-planning attorney typically charges $300 to $600 for a simple will, and $1,000 to $1,500 for a will-plus-revocable-trust package. Rates run higher in dense metros and lower in rural areas. Most attorneys bill at $250 to $400 per hour and need one or two meetings to draft a basic will.

You can also write a will entirely from scratch with a sheet of paper and a pen, with no software at all. Florida requires the same 2-witness signing process regardless of who drafts the document. The risk with a from-scratch will is technical: a missing self-proving affidavit, a witness who's also a beneficiary, or wording that creates ambiguity for the probate court. That's what this tool prevents.

Will.com is free at the document level. The $29/year subscription adds cloud-stored, zero-knowledge-encrypted access so you can edit and update your plan as life changes.

Florida will requirements at a glance

Witnesses required2 witnesses
NotarizationRecommended (optional)
Handwritten willNot recognized
Minimum age18 years oldAn emancipated minor may also make a will (Fla. Stat. §732.501).
Notarized statementSupported, simplifies the court process

How it works

  1. 1

    Answer a few questions

    About you, your family, and what you own.

  2. 2

    Download your will

    A complete, personalized document, formatted for Florida courts.

  3. 3

    Sign with witnesses

    Print and sign in front of 2 adult witnesses. Keep the signed copy somewhere safe.

When you might want an attorney instead

An online will works for most people. It's the right tool when your situation is straightforward: you want to leave your assets to family or friends, you don't have complex tax issues, and you're not anticipating a fight over your estate.

Consider hiring an attorney if any of these apply:

  • Your estate is large enough to trigger federal estate tax (over $15 million in 2026) or Florida estate or inheritance tax.
  • You own a business, complex investments, or assets in multiple states or countries.
  • You're in a blended family, especially if you want to leave assets to a current spouse while protecting children from a prior relationship.
  • You have a child or beneficiary with special needs and want a supplemental-needs trust that won't disqualify them from public benefits.
  • You expect someone to contest the will, or you're disinheriting a close family member.
  • You have substantial retirement accounts and want sophisticated beneficiary planning.

If none of these apply, an online will is genuinely fine. The legal validity of your will doesn't depend on who drafted it, only on whether Florida's signing rules were followed.

Self-proving affidavit in Florida

Florida recognizes self-proving affidavits. Will.com attaches one to your will: a short statement your witnesses sign in front of a notary, swearing to what they saw when you signed. See Fla. Stat. §732.503.

A self-proven will skips the requirement to track down witnesses years later for the probate court. It's optional, but adding the affidavit at signing time saves your executor work. Will.com generates the affidavit alongside the will.

Who can witness your will in Florida

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.

Family changes after you sign

A child born or adopted after the will. A child who arrives after you sign, and who isn't named or accounted for in the will, is covered by Florida law rather than by your wishes. The safest practice is to update your will when your family changes.

Fla. Stat. §732.302: a child born or adopted after the will was made, whom the will omits to provide for, takes a share equal in value to what the child would have received had the testator died intestate, but only if the child has not already received a part of the testator's property equivalent to a child's part by way of advancement. No share is due if it appears from the will that the omission was intentional (§732.302(1)), or if the testator had one or more children when the will was executed and devised substantially all the estate to the other parent of the pretermitted child and that other parent survived the testator and is entitled to take under the will (§732.302(2)). The share assigned to the pretermitted child is obtained in accordance with §733.805.

A spouse you married after signing. Updating the will after marriage avoids relying on whatever Florida law provides by default.

Fla. Stat. §732.301: a spouse who marries the testator after the will is made and survives the testator receives a share of the estate equal in value to what the spouse would have received had the testator died intestate. The share is not due if provision has been made for the spouse, or waived by the spouse, by prenuptial or postnuptial agreement (§732.301(1)); if the spouse is provided for in the will (§732.301(2)); or if the will discloses an intention not to make provision for the spouse (§732.301(3)). An agreement that provides for the spouse defeats the claim just as a waiver does. The share assigned to the pretermitted spouse is obtained in accordance with §733.805.

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