When you hire a probate lawyer, a fee agreement in writing is a smart way to not only protect yourself but understand what fees you can expect. This agreement will state how the attorney charges for the legal services (based on hours, fixed rate, or a percentage), when payment is due, and the costs you will be responsible for, such as filing fees.
A probate attorney can help with many complex issues ranging from will disputes, tax liability, finding estate assets, obtaining appraisals, creditors, and transferring assets. An experienced probate attorney, will be familiar with the unique procedural rules in each county.
The most important and significant probate expense is the fee the probate lawyer charges. Depending on the lawyer, these fees may be hourly, flat rate, or based on a percentage of the estate. Lawyers are allowed to choose how they charge for their services, so you will need to have a consultation in order to determine how any particular attorney charges for their time. You should also be provided with a written contract outlining the details of the engagement/representation. In a typical Florida probate proceeding, attorney’s fees are usually the largest expense.
The probate attorney will be responsible for the estate meeting the necessary filing requirements, and for providing guidance throughout the probate process. The most important filing requirements are:
Not all estates require a probate lawyer. If an estate is small enough to qualify for a simplified probate process, known as a summary probate administration, then they are not required to hire an attorney to handle the process. However, many beneficiaries or family members find the complicated rules and red tape of the probate court too burdensome to tackle without guidance. In FL, the vast majority of probate administrations are “formal probates”, and FL law requires you to hire an attorney to initiate a formal probate, and that attorney must be designated as attorney of record.
The probate attorney’s fees you pay are usually well worth it. Probate is a time-consuming process and executors have many tasks that must be completed for the probate case to be closed. If you are not comfortable preparing and filing court-required documents, do not have time for what very well may become a part-time job, and want to ensure every step and document is completed properly, your probate lawyer will be an invaluable asset.
We often work with families so that our invoices are paid directly from the decedent’s assets, such as bank accounts or the sale of the decedent’s residence, in order to minimize out of pocket expenses for the family to whatever extent possible.
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The most common rate (reported by 35% of readers) was between $300 and $400, although half of readers paid less than that. Only 15% paid $400 or more per hour.
More than half (58%) of the probate attorneys in our national study reported that they offered free consultations. The typical time for these initial meetings was 30 minutes, though the overall average was higher (38 minutes). So when you’re looking to find a good probate lawyer, ask the potential attorneys whether they offer a free initial consultation. Even if they charge for their time , it can be worth your while to meet with more than one lawyer—and to go to the meetings prepared with a list of questions—in order to find the right attorney for your needs.
Nationally, the average minimum hourly rate attorneys reported was $250, while the average maximum was $310. Individual lawyers often charge different rates, depending on the client and the type of service they’re providing. Also, rates vary among attorneys depending on several factors, including:
It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that large estates tended to pay more for legal services. Big estates are more likely to have complex issues— including taxes and business assets —that require more of an attorney’s time and expertise. Also, some states limit fees according to the size of the estate, allowing attorneys to charge more for larger estates. More than a third (36%) of readers who were settling estates worth $1 million or more said that the estate paid $10,000 or more in legal fees, compared to 18% of those who were handling estates worth less than that.
Paying a percentage-based fee to probate lawyer can be very expensive for the estate, because the percentage is based on the gross value of the probate assets (for instance, the total value of a house, rather than the amount of equity that the estate owns in the property). Even in the states that allow percentage fees, the law doesn’t require this type of fee arrangement. So if you want to preserve the estate’s assets, you should try to negotiate for an hourly or flat fee with any attorney you’re considering.
The attorney’s experience. Not surprisingly, our study showed that hourly rates climbed as probate lawyers had more years in practice. But it’s worth keeping in mind that in this respect, at least, a higher hourly rate doesn’t necessarily translate into a higher total bill. Often, specialists with significant experience in estate administration may be able to answer your questions or handle difficult estate matters more quickly than less-seasoned lawyers.
If you’re serving as an executor, personal representative, trustee, or administrator of an estate, you might need a lawyer’s help with some part of the process. The good news is that estate funds will almost always pay for that help. Still, you don’t want to squander the estate’s money—and you probably want to know what to expect in the way of attorney’s fees. We surveyed readers around the United States who recently acted as executors, personal representatives, trustees, and/or administrators to ask about their fee arrangements with attorneys and their total bills. We then compared the survey results with data on fees reported by probate attorneys across the country. Here’s some of what we found out.
Florida adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC) to try and create a uniformed, streamlined probate process. Unfortunately, with just 18 total states adopting the code, it’s not as effective as it was intended to be. UPC notes there are three types of probate proceedings:
No probate - Disposition Without Administration - when final expenses cost more than the value of the estate). Summary administration - A shortcut to the probate process that can be used if death occurred two or more years ago; or, if the estate value is less than $75,000.
When someone passes away in Florida, it’s common (but not always a given) that their estate will have to go through the court process known as probate. Probate is the legal court proceeding that begins administering (settling) an estate. There actually isn’t a legal requirement to probate a Will in Florida, but you must file a Will with ...
There are a few ways to settle an estate in Florida: Assets that don’t require probate - Property held in Joint Tenancy; assets already designated to a beneficiary like a Payable on Death (POD) or Transfer on Death (TOD) asset; assets held in a Living Trust).
Yes, probate fees in Florida will have a wide range, but you can count on a few things almost certainly needing to be paid. If you’re going through probate, you’ll probably have to take care of the following: Court and filing fees. Attorney fees (if you use a probate attorney)
Small estates in Florida can qualify for a “simplified probate process.” To use this process, an
You can also set up a Revocable Living Trust, funded properly with your assets.
Small town rates may be as low as $150/hour; in a city, a rate of less than $200/hour would be unusual. Big firms generally charge higher rates than sole practitioners or small firms, unless a small firm is made up solely of hot-shot specialists.
Using this system, probating a typical California estate with a gross value of $500,000 would cost $13,000 in legal fees—a very large amount given the amount of legal work involved. The estate would do much better if it paid the lawyer by the hour.
These fees are often high under the circumstances because they are calculated based on the gross value of the probate assets, not the net value. For example, if you're handling an estate that includes a house worth $300,000, with $175,000 left on the mortgage, the lawyer's fee would be based on $300,000—not the $125,000 of equity the estate actually owns. And the probate paperwork for a transferring a $1 million house is basically the same as it is for transferring a $150,000 house—so why should the fee be so different?
Many lawyers bill in minimum increments of six minutes (one-tenth of an hour). So, if your lawyer (or a legal assistant) spends two minutes on a phone call on behalf of the estate, you'll be billed for six minutes.
A lawyer who does nothing but estate planning and probate will likely charge a higher hourly rate than a general practitioner. The advantage to you is that a specialist should be more efficient. Someone who has steered many probates through the local court has probably learned all the local rules and how to prepare and file documents the way the court likes them.
If your attorney employs less experienced lawyers (associates) and legal assistants (paralegals), their time should be billed at a lower hourly rate. This is very common in firms that do probate work; legal assistants often draw up the routine paperwork.
And even in those states, lawyers are not required by law to collect a percentage fee. You can and should try to negotiate an hourly rate or flat fee with the lawyer. But many lawyers prefer the "statutory fee" because it's usually very high in relation to the amount of work they have to do.
Florida law states that the attorney for the personal representative, for ordinary administration services, is entitled to compensation pursuant to Section 733.6171. Section 733.6171(3) states that a percentage of the value of the estate is presumed reasonable if calculated based on the percentage schedule:
Fees can be paid to the attorney for the personal representative, as well as attorneys for beneficiaries and litigants.
Probate is the court-supervised process of administering the estate of a deceased person, which includes paying off debts and distribu ting property to heirs . The estate is handled by either an executor named in the deceased person’s will or, if there was no will, by an administrator appointed by the probate court. This person is often simply called a “personal representative.”
The value of the estate is another factor that can influence how long the probate process takes. Logistically, the more assets and/or debts an estate has, the longer the probate process is likely to be. Moreover, if an estate has a high enough value to be subject to tax, that can also prolong the process as then the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also becomes involved.
Probate lawyer fees, also called estate lawyer fees, are monies paid directly to the attorney for legal services; these are not the same as “probate costs” in general, which can also include the following: Personal representative fees. Court fees. Publication of notice fees. Accounting fees.
Probating a will can take anywhere from a few months to more than a year , although most estates are closed within a year. How long the process takes can be influenced by many variables including whether the will was straightforward and unchallenged and also by how well organized the decedent was, i.e., whether the estate was “in order” with a will and other important legal documents such as deeds and titles at the time of his or her death.
Probate costs vary greatly from one location to another, but they commonly tally up to be somewhere in the range of 3% to 7% of the estate’s value. They can go much higher, though, and tend to do so as the value of an estate rises. Indeed, the higher the value of the estate, the higher the probate costs are likely to be.
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A probate lawyer’s fees are paid for by the estate , not by the executor or administrator.