Yes, you can make a valid online will in Florida, and no, you don’t have to hire a lawyer to do it. Whether your will holds up comes down to how you sign it. Florida asks that you be at least 18 and of sound mind, that you sign at the end of the document, and that two witnesses sign in front of you and each other.
Sign it correctly and a will you made on a website carries the same weight as one drafted in a law office. Sign it wrong and the whole thing can fail, and nobody finds out until probate.
Why most people still don’t have one: According to Caring.com, 43% of adults without a will say the only reason is that they haven’t gotten around to it. So the hardest part of this is starting.
Is an Online Will Legal in Florida?
Yes. Florida probate courts don’t care whether your will came from an attorney, your own laptop, or a website, as long as it meets the execution requirements in the Florida Probate Code. Since July 1, 2020, you can make a will online in Florida and either print it for signing or keep it fully digital.
What Florida Statute 732.502 Actually Requires
Florida Statute 732.502 lays out four conditions, and you need all four:
- Age and capacity. The testator has to be at least 18, or an emancipated minor, and of sound mind at signing.
- Writing. It has to be written. A voice memo or a video of you explaining your wishes doesn’t count.
- Signature placement. The testator signs at the end of the document, not in the margin.
- Two witnesses. Two witnesses sign in front of the testator and in front of each other.
Why Handwritten (Holographic) Wills Do Not Work in Florida
A holographic will is one you write and sign by hand with no witnesses, and Florida doesn’t recognize it. If a handwritten note is the only will you leave behind, Florida treats your estate as though you left nothing at all.
Online Will vs Electronic Will: The Difference That Trips People Up
They aren’t the same thing. An online will gets drafted on a website, then printed, signed, and witnessed on paper. An electronic will in Florida, usually called an eWill, stays digital the whole way through, and the Florida Electronic Wills Act adds requirements on top.
Florida Statute 732.522 says a digital signing has to be supervised by a notary public over audio-video technology, a process called remote online notarization. The finished eWill then goes to a qualified custodian based in Florida, as this Florida Bar overview of e-wills explains.
Most platforms, Succession Wills included, give you a document to print and sign with two witnesses. That’s the normal path, and it’s valid. Also worth reading: this look at online will creation and where AI-generated documents fall short.
What Does It Cost to Make an Online Will in Florida?
The cost of a will in Florida runs anywhere from free to about $4,500, depending on which route you take and how complicated your estate is. Online platforms usually land between $0 and $200. Attorney-drafted plans tend to start around $1,500.
What Online Will Platforms Charge
| Option | Typical Florida cost | Best for | Key drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online will platform | Roughly $0 to $200 | Simple estates, no Florida real estate, clear beneficiaries | You get a document, not legal advice |
| Attorney-drafted will | Roughly $1,500 to $2,200 flat fee | Homeowners, blended families, minor children | Higher upfront cost, scheduling |
| Attorney trust package | Roughly $3,500 to $4,500 | People actively trying to avoid probate | Only works if the trust is funded |
A paper will kit from the office supply store costs about the same, but you get less guidance and no simple way to change it later.
What a Florida Estate Planning Attorney Charges
Published estimates for an attorney-drafted Florida will run from roughly $200 to $1,000 for something simple, and flat-fee packages usually start closer to $1,500. What you’re paying for is judgment. An estate planning attorney in Florida can tell you what your situation actually needs, and this breakdown of making a will with a lawyer versus online compares both paths.
Where the Cheapest Option Ends Up Costing More
A DIY will usually goes wrong for one of two reasons: the signing got botched, or the document skipped something Florida-specific like homestead. Templates are rarely what fails. Both problems surface in probate, long after the one person who could have fixed them is gone.
How Do You Make an Online Will in Florida, Step by Step?
Making a Florida last will and testament online takes seven steps, and most people get through the drafting in under 30 minutes. Steps 5 through 7 are what actually make it legal, so don’t stop when the questionnaire ends.
Step 1: Inventory Your Assets and Decide Who Gets What
Write down what you own before you open any will platform: real property, bank and investment accounts, vehicles, anything with real or sentimental value. Then decide who gets what, including specific gifts and any money going to charity.
Step 2: Choose Your Personal Representative
Florida calls this person your personal representative. Other states call the same job the executor. They’ll gather your assets, pay your valid debts, and hand out what’s left to your beneficiaries. Your personal representative needs to be 18 or older with no felony conviction, and anyone living out of state generally has to be a close relative, so name an alternate too.
Step 3: Name a Guardian for Minor Children (and Pets)
If you have kids, naming a guardian for minor children is the most important line in the document, because without it a judge picks. You can also name someone to manage money left to a minor, and you can set up care for your pets by naming a caretaker and leaving funds for them.
Step 4: Complete the Will Online
Work through the questionnaire, which covers your family, assets, beneficiaries, guardianship, your personal representative, and funeral preferences. You don’t have to finish in one sitting. For a fuller walkthrough, see this guide on how to make a will.
Step 5: Print It and Sign at the End in Front of Two Witnesses
This is the step that makes or breaks everything. Print it out, get two witnesses in the same room, sign at the end while they both watch, then have each of them sign in front of you and in front of each other. Coffee for the neighbors is a reasonable price for a valid will.
Three ways people blow this: signing before the witnesses show up, mailing the will around for separate signatures, and skipping pages the platform told them to initial.
Step 6: Add a Self-Proving Affidavit With a Notary
A self-proving affidavit is a short sworn statement you and your witnesses sign in front of a notary public, then attach to the will. Florida doesn’t require it, but it’s worth doing. With one, the probate court won’t have to track down your witnesses years later and ask them to confirm the signing was done right. If you’re doing an eWill instead, notarization isn’t optional.
Step 7: Store the Original and Tell Your Personal Representative Where It Is
Florida probate needs the original signed will, not a copy, so keep it somewhere fireproof someone can actually get to. Tell your personal representative where it lives. A digital copy is a good backup and a bad substitute.
Most people knock this out in an afternoon. You can build your will online for free in under 20 minutes and print it for signing the same day.
Who Can Witness and Notarize a Will in Florida?
Any competent adult can witness your will in Florida. The notary is a separate job, and you only need one for a self-proving affidavit or an eWill.
Who Qualifies as a Witness in Florida
Your witness needs to be a competent adult who can watch you sign and understand what’s going on, and Florida has no residency requirement. Florida also won’t automatically void a will because a beneficiary witnessed it, which some other states will.
Why You Still Should Not Use a Beneficiary as a Witness
Legal and smart aren’t the same thing. A beneficiary signing as a witness hands anyone who’s unhappy with the will an argument about undue influence. Pick witnesses with nothing to gain: neighbors, coworkers, someone at your bank branch.
When Notarization Is Required and When It Is Optional
For a standard printed Florida will, skip the notary if you want. Your signature plus two witness signatures is enough. You’ll need a notary for two things: making the will self-proving, and executing an eWill, which requires notary supervision through remote online notarization.
What Should a Florida Will Include?
Your will should say who inherits what, who runs the estate, and who takes care of anyone who depends on you. It only kicks in after you die, so authority to act while you’re alive takes a different document, as this comparison of a will versus a power of attorney explains.
Provisions Every Florida Will Should Cover
- An inventory of property and assets
- Named beneficiaries and what each one receives
- Specific gifts to individuals or organizations
- Your personal representative, plus an alternate
- A guardian for minor children
- Instructions and funds for pet care
- Funeral, burial, or cremation wishes
- Any final instructions for loved ones
Provisions Florida Residents Often Leave Out
Name backup beneficiaries in case your first choice dies before you do, and add a residuary clause to catch anything you didn’t list by name. Name an alternate personal representative too. And if you’re leaving an adult child out on purpose, say so in writing, because quietly skipping their name isn’t enough in Florida.
Do Beneficiary Designations Override Your Florida Will?
Yes, and this catches people constantly. The beneficiary you named on an account beats whatever your will says about that account. Your will only controls assets that go through probate, and anything with a named beneficiary skips probate entirely.
Which Accounts Pass Outside Your Will
- Life insurance policies with a named beneficiary
- Retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans and IRAs
- Payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts
- Transfer-on-death (TOD) brokerage accounts
- Real estate and accounts held jointly with rights of survivorship
So if your 401(k) still names an ex-spouse from 2009, your ex gets the 401(k).
How to Keep Your Will and Your Designations Aligned
Do a quick audit first. Check the named beneficiary on every life insurance policy, retirement account, and brokerage account you have, and fix the stale ones before you write the will.
Does an Online Florida Will Work if You Are a Snowbird or Own Property in Another State?
If you’re a snowbird, an online Florida will works fine as long as Florida is genuinely your legal domicile. Real estate is where it gets complicated, because property outside Florida answers to the law of the state it sits in.
How Florida Residency and Domicile Affect Your Will
Domicile is your permanent legal home, not just where you spend January. Florida looks at your declaration of domicile, voter registration, driver’s license, and where you file taxes. Make sure the will matches that record, and if you move later, check it against your new state’s rules.
Out-of-State Real Estate and Ancillary Probate
Say you own a house in Ohio. Ohio property law governs that house, so your Florida will can name who inherits it, but transferring the title may take a separate ancillary probate case up there. If you own real property in two states, have the plan reviewed.
When Is an Online Will Not Enough in Florida?
Four situations call for a professional: Florida homestead property, a spouse whose elective share is in play, a blended family, and any plan that genuinely has to avoid probate. In those four, get someone to look at your actual situation before you sign anything.
Florida Homestead Restrictions
The Florida Constitution limits how you can leave your homestead if you have a surviving spouse or a minor child. Protected homestead doesn’t pass just because your will says it should. A generic document that ignores those rules can be overridden, and your house can end up somewhere you never intended. That’s the best reason a Florida homeowner has to get real advice.
The Spousal Elective Share
A surviving spouse in Florida can claim about 30 percent of the elective estate no matter what your will says. The spousal elective share is a statutory right, so a will can’t quietly work around it. Planning for it, or getting it waived properly, is outside what an automated questionnaire can handle.
Blended Families, Minor Children, and Larger Estates
A blended family with kids from a previous relationship creates competing claims that boilerplate handles badly. A beneficiary with special needs can lose government benefits if you leave them money outright. Own a business? Succession and valuation questions come with it.
When a Revocable Trust Fits Better Than a Will
A will does not avoid probate. Every will goes through it, whether a lawyer wrote it or a website did, and the only reliable way around probate is a funded revocable living trust. That word “funded” is the whole game, because trust documents sit there doing nothing until you retitle the house and accounts.
What Happens if You Die Without a Will in Florida?
Die without a will in Florida and you die intestate, which means the state decides who inherits. Florida intestacy laws follow a fixed order that pays no attention to your relationships or your intentions. This article on the consequences of dying without a will goes deeper.
How Florida Intestacy Law Distributes Your Estate
Florida hands an intestate estate to your surviving spouse and descendants first, then parents, then siblings and their descendants. A long-term partner you never married gets nothing. Blended families see the strangest outcomes, since the estate gets split by statutory percentage instead of by what your family looks like.
Who the Court Appoints for Your Minor Children
With no guardian named, a Florida judge decides who raises your kids. The court aims for their best interests, but the judge has never met your family. Relatives who disagree can turn that decision into a contested proceeding.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Wills in Florida
Do you need a lawyer to make a will in Florida?
No. Florida law doesn’t require an attorney to create or execute a valid will. What a lawyer adds is judgment about your situation, especially around homestead property or a larger estate. For a simple estate signed correctly, an online will is legally sufficient.
Does an online will avoid probate in Florida?
No. Every will goes through Florida probate, whether it came from a website or a law firm. Avoiding probate takes a funded trust, or assets that pass by beneficiary designation or joint titling.
Do wills need to be notarized in Florida?
No. A printed Florida will is valid with your signature and two witness signatures alone. You only need a notary to make the will self-proving, or to execute an eWill.
Can you update an online will after you sign it?
Yes. You can update your will whenever you want, and decent platforms let you revise and reprint it. The new version has to be signed and witnessed with the same formalities as the original. Give it a look after any marriage, divorce, birth, or big change in assets.
How long does it take to make a will online?
Most people finish the drafting in 20 to 30 minutes, and gathering account details ahead of time eats most of the rest. Printing and signing with two witnesses and a notary runs maybe another half hour, so call it one afternoon start to finish.
You can build your will online and have a signed Florida will in hand today. If homestead property, a blended family, or out-of-state real estate is part of your picture, talk to our team before you start.
This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice. Consult a licensed Florida attorney about your specific situation.
