Orlando Estate Planning Attorney: Wills, Trusts and Incapacity Documents

Estate planning with attorney Jose Lorenzo for Orlando and Orange County

People usually call an Orlando estate planning lawyer at a specific moment: a diagnosis, a new baby, a closing on a Central Florida home, a second marriage, or a bank refusing a parent’s power of attorney. Whatever brings you here, the work is the same: a set of documents drafted to be accepted by Florida courts, Florida banks and Florida hospitals.

Personal attorney guidance, not a rotating file

I am one attorney. There are no associates and no rotating file assignments. You explain your family once, to the person who writes the documents, and when you call in three years to change something you reach the same person. The practical difference between that and a larger firm is set out in the comparison section below.

Individual and couple planning

Most of the Orlando plans I prepare are for one of two households: a single person, often widowed, divorced or never married, or a married couple who want their documents to work together. Estate planning for couples in Orlando is not one set of documents with two names on it. Each spouse signs his or her own will and his or her own incapacity documents, drafted so that the two plans agree with each other and with how the couple owns their home and accounts.

Many single clients want an Orlando estate planning attorney for a will and health care documents and nothing more. That is a complete plan for a lot of people, and it is the core package described below.

Do I need an estate planning attorney near me in Orlando?

Not in the sense of an office down the street. When choosing an Orlando wills and trusts attorney or an estate attorney in Orlando, ask how the lawyer handles Florida’s rules on homestead, spouses and signing, and how you can reach the lawyer with questions. For a search framed as “estate planning attorney near me,” an office address does not tell you who will draft your documents or how you will communicate with that person.

If you are comparing an estate planning lawyer in Orange County, the first thing to know about me is where I am. The principal office is in Kissimmee; meetings in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale are by appointment. Kissimmee is in Osceola County, Orlando’s neighbor to the south. I do not have an Orlando office, and I would rather tell you that now than have you discover it later. Orlando clients work with me by phone, Zoom or WhatsApp, and by email; when a document should be signed with witnesses physically present, I prefer a mobile signing, so the signing comes to you.

When to hire an estate planning lawyer is easier to answer than whom. The right time is before a change rather than after it: a move to Florida, a marriage or divorce, a new child, a home or business purchase, or a diagnosis, and in any case before a hospital stay makes the documents urgent. If you already have a plan, the list of reasons to update is the same test.

Remote estate planning in Orlando, done properly, is not a lesser version of the work: I explain on the first call how the signing will work for you, including whether any document should be signed with witnesses in the room.

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What does estate planning cost in Orlando?

I publish my estate planning fees. Here is how they work, and what each one includes.

A trust plan with the deed for your home starts at $3,075, plus any documentary stamp tax above the minimum. The $575 applies only when Florida real estate is moved into the trust, and it is per deed, so each additional Florida property is another $575. If a property is outside Florida, I advise you to have counsel in that state prepare and record the deed. My Orlando lady bird deed service is also $675, but it is a separate service that passes one property; it is not a will.

See the chart “Orlando estate planning fees at a glance” (opens the full-size image; the details are also in the text).

Every figure is agreed before drafting begins, so an Orlando estate planning flat fee here, for an individual or a couple, means you know the number before I write a word. The quote changes if the plan needs more than the documents listed, for example a business succession arrangement, a second property in another state, or a trust. I tell you the figure before that work starts.

Estate planning attorney cost varies widely in Orlando, which is one reason I publish mine. When you compare the cost of an estate planning package, compare what is included: the documents, the signing, the witnesses and notary, and, for a trust, what the quote covers on funding.

People ask how much a will costs, or how much a living trust costs in Florida, as if the document were the whole job. For a trust in particular, ask what each quote covers on funding, because a trust that is never funded does nothing. Retitling your bank and brokerage accounts is done by you, with the steps I give you. Reviewing documents you already have, including a plan signed in another state, is separate work, quoted before it starts.

A simple will cost is the easiest number to compare between lawyers. The harder comparison is what each will leaves out: the homestead, the spouse’s rights, and whether the person you named can serve.

How much does a living trust cost in Florida?

With me, a revocable living trust plan for one person starts at $2,500, and each Florida deed that moves real estate into the trust is $575, recording included, so a trust plan with the deed for your home starts at $3,075, plus any documentary stamp tax above the minimum. The trust plan figure depends on what the trust needs to hold and do, and I quote it once I understand that. Whoever prepares your trust, ask what the quote covers on funding.

What does an Orlando estate planning consultation cost?

The first conversation is free: a short phone call with me, so you can tell me what you have in mind, ask how the process works and decide whether you want to go ahead. There is no charge and no obligation. Only the initial consultation is free; representation fees and costs are agreed separately in writing.

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Choose between a will, a document package and a trust plan

Married couples: each spouse signs his or her own documents, and the couple receives a discount, quoted individually. Business owners: business succession planning is an additional service, quoted before that work starts.

Will-based planning and incapacity documents

What many people call an Orlando will package is what I call the core estate planning package. The core estate planning package is $1,500 for one person: a will, a durable power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogate, a living will and a preneed guardian designation. Each one does a different job, and together they are the basic estate planning documents most Orlando adults need.

As a last will and testament attorney in Orlando, I start with the will and consider which other documents your plan needs.

• Last will and testament. Names who inherits, who administers the estate and the guardian you nominate for your minor children. It operates only after death, and only through the court. Even what people call a simple will: Florida requires it to be signed at the end with two witnesses, and a simple document can still give a result nobody intended.
• Durable power of attorney. Lets a person you choose handle your financial and legal affairs; it is the financial power of attorney, and the document most people mean when they look for a power of attorney lawyer. A Florida power of attorney generally takes effect when you sign it, and because it is durable it keeps working if you become unable to act. It ends at death.
• Designation of health care surrogate. Lets a person you choose make medical decisions and receive your records. What other states call a medical power of attorney or a health care proxy, Florida calls a designation of health care surrogate.
• Living will. States your own wishes about end-of-life care, so no one has to guess. A living will is a medical document. It does not leave property to anyone, and it is not the same thing as a living trust. Working with a living will attorney in Orlando before a hospital stay gives you time to discuss your wishes.

The health care surrogate designation and the living will are both advance directives under Florida law (§ 765.101).

A preneed guardian designation, which names the person you want appointed if a court ever decides a guardian is needed, is included in the package. You will also see it written pre need guardian. Florida law gives the person you name a statutory presumption if a guardianship is ever opened. If planning came too late and a guardianship is contested, see removing a guardian.

Health care surrogate attorney for Orlando families

The designation of health care surrogate is the document an Orlando hospital asks for first, usually on the worst day a family has had in years. It names the person who speaks for you on medical decisions and, if you choose, gives that person access to your records straight away rather than only once you are incapacitated. I prepare the surrogate designation as its own document rather than folding health care into the durable power of attorney: the financial document falls under chapter 709, Florida’s power of attorney statute, and the health care document under chapter 765, Florida’s law on health care advance directives, and keeping them separate means each is read for the job it does. My page on the Florida health care surrogate explains the document in detail.

The will and health care surrogate package in Orlando is the core estate planning package: the will, the surrogate designation, the living will, the durable power of attorney and the preneed guardian designation, signed together.

Separate revocable trust engagement

A revocable living trust plan is a separate engagement, starting at $2,500. I quote it once I understand what the trust needs to hold and do. The trust plan includes my review of your estate plan and your trust, so that they work together. For your beneficiary designations, I advise you on what is necessary and how to get it done efficiently. The deed that moves your home into the trust is $575. That fee includes reading your recorded deed, deed preparation, online notarization, witnesses, county recording fees, and the minimum documentary stamp charge; documentary stamp tax above the minimum is separate. The $575 applies only when Florida real estate is moved into the trust, and it is per deed, so each additional Florida property is another $575. If a property is outside Florida, I advise you to have counsel in that state prepare and record the deed. A trust attorney or a trust lawyer in Orlando can help you plan for three common goals: keeping a house or accounts out of probate, letting someone step in without a court if they become incapacitated, or holding a child’s inheritance until an age they choose.

A living trust attorney helps with two parts of a plan: drafting and funding. The first is drafting: the trust itself, a pour-over will that catches anything never moved into the trust and nominates guardians for minor children, and the incapacity documents. The second is funding, and it is the part that decides whether the trust works. Real estate is funded by recording a new deed into the trust; in Orange County, deeds are recorded with the Orange County Comptroller, and in Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties with the clerk and comptroller (county table). Bank and brokerage accounts are retitled at the institution. You handle that step yourself, and I give you the steps to follow, because it is faster and less expensive for you to do it directly with your bank or brokerage than to pay counsel to do it. Retirement accounts and life insurance are usually handled by changing the beneficiary designation. An unfunded trust is an expensive folder.

Setting up a living trust in Florida with me follows five steps:

1. Consultation and quote. Drafting starts only after I understand what the trust needs to hold and do, and you have the fee in writing.
2. Drafting. The trust, the pour-over will and the incapacity documents, reviewed with you before anything is signed.
3. Signing. The trust is signed with the same formalities as a will, in the room or remotely (how signing works).
4. Funding. A new deed for each Florida property, retitling at your bank and brokerage, and beneficiary designations matched to the plan.
5. Later changes. A revocable living trust is changed by a signed amendment, or restated in full, without moving the assets out and back in.

For an Orlando couple, a revocable trust plan for a married couple may use one trust or two, with a pour-over will for each spouse. Which one fits depends on how you own your home and accounts now, and I quote the couple’s trust plan individually.

A Florida resident’s revocable trust that disposes of property at death must be signed with the same formalities as a will. That matters if you want a revocable trust lawyer to handle your Orlando plan remotely, and it is covered in the signing section below. My Florida living trust page goes further into how a revocable living trust in Florida works.

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Will vs. living trust in Florida

For estate planning in Orlando, the will vs. trust question in Florida usually turns on real estate, family structure and incapacity, not on the document’s name. On cost, an Orlando will package versus a living trust plan is $1,500 against a trust plan starting at $2,500. Each deed that moves Florida real estate into the trust is a separate $575, with recording included.

See the chart “Will or revocable living trust: what each one does” (opens the full-size image; the details are also in the text).

What are the pros and cons of a living trust in Florida?

The advantages are concrete. A successor trustee can step in at once if you become incapacitated, without a court proceeding. The terms stay private rather than filed publicly. Real estate in another state can pass without a separate proceeding there. And a child’s inheritance can be held until an age you choose instead of arriving as a lump sum at eighteen.

The disadvantages are just as real. A trust costs more to set up than a will. It has to be funded: deeds recorded, accounts retitled, beneficiary designations coordinated. And it does not remove your home from Florida’s homestead restrictions. Put side by side, the living trust in Florida pros and cons usually favor a trust when there is real estate, a blended family or a young beneficiary, and a will-based plan when the estate is simple. That is the conversation to have with any revocable living trust attorney before you sign.

Do I need a trust in Florida?

Not necessarily. A trust tends to earn its cost when you own real estate you want to pass without probate, own property in another state, have a blended family, want a child’s inheritance held until a later age, or want a successor trustee ready to manage your assets if you become incapacitated. If most of what you own already passes by beneficiary designation or joint ownership, and your family situation is simple, a will-based plan with the incapacity documents may be enough. For one Orlando home, a lady bird deed can sometimes do the job a trust would do for that property. And do you need a will in Florida if you have a trust? Yes: the pour-over will catches what’s left outside the trust and names your children’s guardian; a preneed declaration adds weight.

Is it better to leave a house in a will or a trust in Florida?

Usually a trust, or a lady bird deed, rather than a will alone. A house left by will goes through probate. A house held in a funded revocable trust, or covered by a recorded lady bird deed, passes without it. Whichever document you use, homestead still limits who can receive the house if you are survived by a spouse or a minor child, as explained below.

What should not go into a living trust?

Some assets are usually left outside a revocable trust and coordinated by beneficiary designation instead. Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s are the main example: ownership of the account generally cannot be moved into a trust during your life without being treated as a withdrawal, so the plan works through the beneficiary form. Life insurance and payable-on-death accounts are often handled the same way, and everyday items such as a car may be handled outside the trust depending on the plan. Which assets belong in your trust, and which pass by designation, is part of the funding advice in a trust plan.

Does a will or a living trust have to be recorded in Florida?

No. A Florida will is not recorded or filed while you are alive. After death, whoever has the original must deposit it with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, within ten days after learning of the death (§ 732.901). A revocable trust is not recorded either; what is recorded is the deed that moves Florida real estate into it. Keep the original will where it can be found.

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Irrevocable trusts, spendthrift trusts and asset protection

Revocable or irrevocable trust in Florida

A revocable living trust is yours to amend or revoke at any time, and for that reason Florida treats its property as yours: it avoids probate, but your creditors can reach it during your life (section 736.0505, Florida Statutes). An irrevocable trust works the other way. You transfer assets to a trustee, usually someone other than yourself, under terms you generally cannot take back. That loss of control is what produces any creditor protection or tax result, not the word “irrevocable” on the cover page.

When does a revocable trust become irrevocable in Florida? Upon the death of the grantor. After that, the successor trustee settles the trust under its terms: pays the expenses, files any tax returns, and distributes the assets or holds them in continuing trusts for the beneficiaries. The same is true when an irrevocable trust’s grantor dies; the trustee then closes the trust or keeps managing it as its terms direct.

Can an irrevocable trust be changed, terminated or decanted in Florida? More often than the name suggests, though not by the grantor alone. Florida law allows modifying or ending an irrevocable trust in some circumstances: by unanimous agreement of the trustee and beneficiaries after the settlor’s death (section 736.0412), by a court (section 736.04113), or by decanting, where a trustee with discretion over principal moves the assets into a new trust with updated terms for the same beneficiaries (section 736.04117). Each route has conditions, and breaking an irrevocable trust in Florida is never a substitute for drafting it carefully the first time.

The common types of irrevocable trusts in a family plan are an irrevocable life insurance trust, described below; an irrevocable trust fund for children or grandchildren, often funded with gifts; and longer-term trusts such as a dynasty trust. A testamentary trust in your will is also irrevocable once you die, though you can change the will freely until then.

Setting up or establishing an irrevocable trust in Florida follows the same broad steps as setting up a living trust, with two differences that matter: the trustee is usually not you, and transferring assets to the irrevocable trust is a gift you cannot take back. Florida does not require an irrevocable trust to be signed with the formalities of a will, as it does a revocable trust, but it is usually signed before two witnesses and a notary anyway, and any deed that funds it must be. A home moved into an irrevocable trust can keep the homestead property tax exemption only if the trust gives you the right to live there for life (section 196.041); that is a drafting decision, not an automatic result.

How much does an irrevocable trust cost in Florida? Irrevocable trusts, including life insurance trusts, are quoted individually and in writing before the work starts. An irrevocable trust attorney in Orlando should be able to tell you, before you sign, what the trust will and will not do for you. My Florida irrevocable trust page covers the statewide rules in more detail.

Spendthrift trust attorney for Orlando families

A spendthrift provision is a clause in a trust that stops a beneficiary from selling, pledging or giving away future distributions, and stops the beneficiary’s creditors from reaching them before they are paid out (section 736.0502). That is how a spendthrift trust works. It is not a separate kind of trust, but a trust with that clause, and the spendthrift trust language is usually a short paragraph. It can go in a revocable living trust, where it takes effect for the beneficiaries after your death, in an irrevocable trust, or in a testamentary trust written into your will. A trust that also gives the trustee discretion over whether and when to pay adds another layer, because there is nothing fixed for a creditor to claim. A share held this way protects an inheritance from a beneficiary’s creditors, lawsuits, a failed business, addiction or poor judgment, and it is easier to keep separate if the beneficiary divorces. That is what people usually want from an inheritance protection trust for a child or grandchild.

Can a spendthrift trust be broken? In limited ways. Florida lets certain claims reach a beneficiary’s interest despite the clause, including claims for child support and alimony (section 736.0503), and money already paid out to the beneficiary is no longer protected by it. A spendthrift provision protects the beneficiary, not you: it does nothing for the grantor who created the trust and can still benefit from it. Its disadvantage is the same as its purpose. The beneficiary cannot borrow against the share or sell it, and the trustee decides when money is paid out, so choosing that trustee is the real decision. A beneficiary can serve as his or her own trustee, but the protection is stronger when distributions are in someone else’s hands. A spendthrift trust has no separate cost: in a trust plan, the provision is part of the drafting, not a separate document.

Asset protection in Florida: what a trust can and cannot do

For asset preservation planning, an asset protection attorney in Orlando should first explain what Florida law already protects. Some states allow a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT), a self-settled trust that shields your own assets from your own creditors. Florida does not: if you can benefit from your trust, your creditors can reach whatever the trustee could pay to you (section 736.0505). A Florida resident who sets up an asset protection trust in another state cannot count on a Florida court honoring it. A revocable living trust gives no creditor protection at all, and a Florida land trust is a privacy tool rather than an asset protection trust.

What assets are protected in Florida? Much of the protection comes from other law, not from a trust:

• Your homestead, protected from most creditors by Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution.
• Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s (section 222.21).
• The cash value of life insurance and annuity contracts (section 222.14).
• Property a married couple owns as tenants by the entireties, which a creditor of only one spouse generally cannot reach.

Shielding assets from creditors is a question of timing as much as structure. A transfer made to hinder, delay or defraud a creditor can be undone under Florida’s fraudulent transfer law (chapter 726), so asset protection planning is done before a claim exists, not after a lawsuit is filed. Protecting your assets with a trust works for what you leave to others, through spendthrift and discretionary terms; for your own assets during your life, it depends on what you own, how it is already held, and whether you are willing to give up the benefit. That is part of the first conversation.

Irrevocable life insurance trusts

An irrevocable life insurance trust, often called an ILIT, is a trust that owns a life insurance policy on your life, or a second-to-die policy on a married couple, and receives the death benefit. When is one used? Mainly to keep the proceeds out of your taxable estate for federal estate tax, which matters only for larger estates because Florida has no estate tax of its own, and to control how the money reaches your family rather than paying it to a young beneficiary outright. How an ILIT works: the trustee, not you, owns the policy, so it becomes trust-owned life insurance, and makes the premium payments, usually from gifts you make to the trust. Those gifts are often paired with a short window in which the beneficiaries could withdraw them, called Crummey powers, so they qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion. An existing policy transferred into the trust is generally still counted in your estate if you die within three years of the transfer, which is why the trustee often buys a new policy directly. Like any irrevocable trust, an ILIT is hard to change once it is signed, so the beneficiaries and the trustee are chosen with care, and it is quoted individually.

For most families, putting or placing life insurance in a trust does not require an ILIT. Making a trust the beneficiary of life insurance, either your revocable living trust or a testamentary trust for your children, gives the same control over how the money is used, without the estate-tax planning.

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What should your estate plan address?

Decision-making during life

If I could get every Orlando household to fix one document, it would be the durable power of attorney. Without one, the alternative when someone loses capacity is a court guardianship, heard in the Ninth Judicial Circuit for Orange County residents: slower, public, supervised and expensive. Florida’s power of attorney law was rewritten effective October 1, 2011. A power of attorney signed today takes effect when you sign it; the “springing” power that waits for a finding of incapacity no longer works for documents signed on or after that date. Certain powers, including making gifts, creating or amending a trust and changing beneficiary designations, are not granted by general language. They must be listed in the document, with your signature or initials next to each one. The financial power of attorney Orlando banks are most likely to question is a form downloaded from a website, and it usually fails at exactly that point. My Florida power of attorney page covers the document in full.

Property and family goals after death

Most of what you own passes by how it is titled, not by what your will says. Retirement accounts, life insurance, annuities and payable-on-death bank accounts pass by beneficiary designation. A carefully drafted will controls none of them. Part of any estate plan is making sure the beneficiary designations already on file match the plan the documents describe, and I advise you on what is necessary to get that done efficiently. Probate is avoided the same way, by titling, not by writing “avoid probate” in a document. A will does the opposite: it is the instrument that sends an estate to court. Florida has no inheritance tax and no state estate tax, so the question for most Orlando families is not tax but who receives what, and how quickly. That includes any gift to charity in your will.

Can a lady bird deed replace an estate plan?

No, but it can be one part of one. A lady bird deed, formally an enhanced life estate deed, passes the one property it describes at your death without probate, while you keep the right to sell, mortgage or change your mind. It does nothing if you become incapacitated. It does not name a guardian for your children or cover your accounts, and it does not appoint anyone to act for you. If your only goal is keeping one Orlando home out of probate, my Orlando lady bird deed service may be all you need. It is a separate service from a will, even though both start at $675. If you want the whole picture, my comparison of the lady bird deed and the living trust sets out the trade-offs.

Digital accounts and online assets

Email, cloud storage, social media and online financial accounts sit behind passwords and service terms. Florida’s Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (chapter 740) lets you give your agent, personal representative or trustee authority over your digital assets, and lets you decide whether that person may also see the content of your electronic communications. A setting you chose in a provider’s own online tool can control that account over what your documents say. Your documents can address digital-asset authority; a current list of accounts, kept outside the documents, makes it usable.

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Which Orlando situations deserve particular attention?

Young families building in Lake Nona, Horizon West and Winter Garden, retirees who moved to Winter Park, Windermere or Dr. Phillips from the Northeast, couples in College Park and Baldwin Park with children from earlier marriages, and households in Kissimmee and Celebration across the Osceola County line each bring a different first question. Some neighbors are in other counties altogether: Clermont is in Lake County, and Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary and Oviedo are in Seminole County. The situations below are where Orlando plans most often need extra thought.

New Orlando residents with a plan from another state

Much of Orlando moved here from somewhere else, and so did the documents. Some travel well and some do not. It is the most common reason a new resident in Winter Garden or Dr. Phillips calls an estate planning attorney.

• The will. Under section 732.502(2), Florida Statutes, a will signed by someone who was not a Florida resident at the time is valid here if it was validly signed under the law of the place where it was signed, unless it is a holographic will. A handwritten, unwitnessed will is not valid in Florida even if the state where it was written would honor it. The Fourth District Court of Appeal applied that rule in Caveglia v. Heinen, 359 So. 3d 745 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023).
• The person you named to settle your estate. Under section 733.304, Florida Statutes, a person who does not live in Florida can serve as personal representative only if he or she is within the family relationships the statute lists. A trusted friend in another state may be exactly the right person and still be ineligible.
• The power of attorney. Banks and title companies read powers of attorney against Florida’s 2011 Act. A document signed elsewhere may still work here, but it is read against Florida’s rules, and a review before you need it checks the document against those rules.

Validity is not the same as workability. A will can be valid here and still produce a result you did not intend, because it was written for another state’s rules on spouses and real estate. A review after a move shows which of your documents still work as written and which should be updated.

Estate planning for young families and parents of minor children

Parents in Lake Nona and across Orlando usually start with the same question: who would raise the children? The will records the guardian you want, and a separate preneed guardian declaration filed with the clerk gives that choice more weight. The second question is who manages the money: if more than $15,000 in total is left to a child outright, a court guardianship of the property is generally required, and the child receives the whole balance at eighteen, which a trust avoids. The trust can be a separate revocable trust or a trust written into the will itself, called a testamentary trust. A testamentary trust costs less to set up because it is part of the will, but it comes into existence only when the will goes through probate. A separate revocable trust costs more and has to be funded during your life, but a child’s share held in it is managed without a probate proceeding. Life insurance and retirement accounts can go into either kind of trust by beneficiary designation, though a trust named for a retirement account needs careful drafting to avoid accelerated tax. Either kind of trust can include a spendthrift provision, which keeps a child’s share away from the child’s creditors until it is paid out. As a testamentary trust attorney for Orlando parents, I work out with you which one fits the family, and what it costs, before the drafting starts. My page on planning for parents of minor children covers guardians, trusts for children, life insurance and what happens if the other parent is still living.

Married couples and blended families

Estate planning for married couples in Florida has to account for rights a spouse holds whatever the documents say. The elective share entitles a surviving spouse to elect thirty percent of the elective estate (section 732.2065, Florida Statutes). The elective estate reaches well beyond the will, drawing in revocable trust property, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, and joint accounts, among others. Without a will, section 732.102 gives a surviving spouse only one half of the estate when the deceased spouse leaves descendants and either spouse has a descendant from another relationship. In a blended family, that is the outcome nobody chose. In a second marriage, these rules matter most. These rights can be addressed, but through a properly signed marital agreement or spousal waiver, not by drafting around them.

In a blended family, the planning work is making sure a surviving spouse is provided for while the children from an earlier relationship still receive what you intend. The usual tools are a trust that provides for the spouse during his or her lifetime and then passes to your children, beneficiary designations that match the plan, and a marital agreement where both spouses want one. As an estate planning attorney for blended families in Orlando, I draft each spouse’s plan so the two fit together, and I tell you where the homestead and elective-share rules limit what a document alone can do.

Joint will, mirror wills or a joint trust: what should a married couple sign?

It is one of the first questions couples ask when they look for a joint will attorney. Orlando couples get the same answer as couples anywhere in Florida.

Each spouse signs his or her own will. Under Florida law, signing a joint will, or two matching wills, does not by itself create a promise that neither of you will change your will later. If a couple wants that kind of promise to be binding, Florida requires it to be a written agreement signed in front of two attesting witnesses (section 732.701).

What most couples sign instead are mirror wills: two separate wills with matching terms, each usually leaving everything to the other spouse and then to the same children or beneficiaries. Without that written agreement, each spouse remains free to change his or her own will, including after the first spouse dies. Couples who use a trust choose between one joint revocable trust and two separate trusts; which fits depends on how the home and accounts are titled, and I quote a couple’s trust plan individually. Caution: a home or accounts you own with your spouse as tenants by the entireties generally lose that creditor protection once retitled into a revocable trust; keeping title in both names directly preserves it.

Married Orlando homeowners and the homestead rule

Your house is the asset most likely to defeat a plan, and Florida homestead is the reason. Under section 732.4015, Florida Statutes, homestead is not subject to devise if the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, except that it may be left to the spouse if there is no minor child. A will leaving the house to children from a first marriage, over a surviving second spouse, does not do what it says. Moving the house into a revocable living trust does not get around this. Section 732.4017 treats a lifetime transfer in trust as outside the devise rules only where the owner keeps no power to revoke, and a revocable trust is revocable by definition. A spouse’s homestead rights can be given up only by a valid waiver in the form Florida law requires. The property tax exemption is a separate question, handled by the Orange County Property Appraiser.

Estate planning for business owners and business succession

If you own a business, your estate plan and your company’s documents have to agree, and often they do not. An operating agreement that restricts transfers can override what your will says. A buy-sell agreement can require your estate to sell on terms your family never negotiated. An LLC interest with no succession provision can leave a spouse holding a minority stake in a company she has no role in. Estate planning for business owners here covers who takes over operations, who takes the economic interest, how the interest is valued, whether a buy-sell agreement is funded with life insurance, and whether the interest is better held in a trust. It is work done alongside your accountant and your company’s lawyer, and it is quoted before that work starts.

Spanish-speaking families

I speak Spanish, and Spanish-speaking clients in Orlando, Kissimmee and across Central Florida can have the whole conversation in Spanish. The documents themselves are in English: I explain them in Spanish, but I do not translate them word for word, and a client who needs a full written translation or an interpreter arranges one. Readers looking for an abogado de testamentos can start with my page on the testamento en Florida.

If you are looking for a Spanish-speaking estate planning attorney in Orlando, the first call can be in Spanish from the start. For a probate matter after a death, my Spanish page on the abogado de herencias en Orlando explains the process in Spanish. For a house in Winter Park, see Winter Park probate in Spanish.

My page on probate and estate planning in Central Florida covers the region’s courts and counties if your family is dealing with an estate rather than planning one.

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County offices that touch an Orlando-area estate plan

Office names as each county publishes them (October 2026). Circuit assignments: § 26.021.

Two practical points follow. A deed into a trust is recorded in the county where the property is located, not where you live, and the $575 deed fee includes that county’s recording fees. And the homestead property tax exemption is a separate matter with the property appraiser: when a home moves into a revocable trust, the deed and the trust are drafted so the exemption can continue, and the appraiser may ask to see them.

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How do consultation, drafting and signing work?

1. A free first call. A short phone call with me about what you have in mind and how the process works.
2. Engagement and questionnaire. The fee and scope are agreed in writing, and I email you an intake questionnaire.
3. Drafting. I draft the documents myself.
4. Your review. You read the drafts with my explanation in plain language, and I change what needs changing.
5. Signing. Remotely where Florida law allows it for your documents; otherwise a mobile signing with the witnesses in the room.
6. After signing. The originals, copies for the people you named and, for a trust, the funding steps.

Prepare for the conversation

If you decide to go ahead, I email you an intake questionnaire. It covers your family, the people you want to name and a general picture of what you own. You don’t need every answer before the work begins; anything you are unsure about, I work through with you. I then draft the documents myself and send them to you to read, with the reasoning explained in plain language, and I change what needs changing before anything is signed.

Which documents can be signed remotely in Florida?

Florida permits remote online notarization, and a Florida will can be signed electronically with an online notary and witnesses on the same audio-video session. Most of Florida’s estate planning requirements are signing requirements, and remote signing is not unlimited: the limits catch people who assume it is. The table below sets out what changes by document. I tell you which documents can be signed remotely in your situation before anything is scheduled.

See the chart “Signing remotely or in the room: what changes by document” (opens the full-size image; the details are also in the text).

My online estate planning page covers remote signing in more depth.

When I still recommend signing with witnesses in the room

Not every document, and not every client. Where capacity may later be questioned, where a family member has been applying pressure, or where the plan is complex enough that I want the signing handled with the witnesses physically present, I will tell you plainly. Remote signing is a genuine option, not a default, and knowing which situation calls for which is part of what you are hiring.

When a document needs witnesses physically present, I prefer a mobile signing: the signing comes to you, and it is arranged as part of the engagement at no extra charge. It is included in every fee on this page.

How long does it take?

I work on your timeline. Tell me when you need the documents signed, whether that is before a surgery, a closing or a trip, or simply by a date you choose, and the questionnaire, drafting, review and signing are scheduled around it.

Who keeps the signed documents?

For documents signed on paper, you keep all of the signed originals, and I keep a copy on file. For an electronic will, I serve as the qualified custodian of the electronic record. Give copies of the power of attorney and the health care surrogate designation to the people named in them, and keep your living will where your family can find it: Orlando hospitals cannot follow wishes nobody can produce.

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When should you update your estate plan?

• You moved to Florida, or you are planning to move away. See plans from another state.
• You married, divorced or separated. Florida law can treat provisions for a former spouse differently after a divorce, but the documents and beneficiary forms should still be updated.
• A child or grandchild was born or adopted, or a child reached adulthood.
• A person you named as personal representative, trustee, agent, health care surrogate or guardian died, moved away or is no longer the right choice.
• You bought or sold real estate, especially in another state, or bought into a business.
• You opened or changed retirement accounts, life insurance or payable-on-death accounts.
• Your health changed, or the health of someone who depends on you did.

A change to a will is made by a codicil or a new will, signed with the same formalities as the original.

A revocable trust is changed by a signed amendment, or by a restatement that replaces its terms in full while keeping the same trust, so assets already titled in it stay where they are. A power of attorney or health care surrogate designation is usually replaced by signing a new document and revoking the old one in writing. A health care surrogate designation can also be revoked orally or by destroying it. Give notice to the former agent or surrogate and to anyone, such as a bank or doctor, who has a copy.

Can you review documents I already have?

Yes. Tell me on the first call what you have and where it was signed. Reviewing existing documents is separate work, and I quote it before it starts. Being told nothing needs to change is a legitimate outcome.

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Common estate planning mistakes Orlando families make

• A trust that was never funded. The deed was never recorded or the accounts were never retitled, so the trust controls nothing. See funding.
• Beneficiary designations that contradict the plan. An old form on an IRA or life insurance policy pays whoever it names, whatever the will says. See titling and designations.
• A house left to the wrong person. A will leaving the homestead to children over a surviving spouse or a minor child does not do what it says. See the homestead rule.
• A personal representative who cannot serve. A friend in another state may be ineligible. See new residents.
• A power of attorney a Florida bank will not accept. A downloaded form, an old springing power, or one without the specially listed powers. See decision-making during life.
• A do-it-yourself will with signing or proof problems. Missing required witnesses can affect validity; a missing self-proving affidavit can make proof harder later. See notarization.
• No health care documents. Without a health care surrogate designation and a living will, nobody can produce your wishes at the hospital.
• No preneed guardian designation. If a guardian is ever needed, the choice is left to a court without your nomination.
• Nobody knows where the originals are. See who keeps the signed documents.

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Estate planning checklist: what should you gather before starting?

This on-page estate planning checklist is what helps most:

Keep sensitive details for the questionnaire, not the public web form. The problems with do-it-yourself documents are usually not in the blanks but in what the form never asked: your homestead, your spouse’s rights, and whether the person you named can serve.

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Comparing Orlando estate lawyers, and attorneys vs. document preparers

Estate attorney, estate lawyer, estate planner: do the titles mean anything?

Not much, and one of them is a warning. An estate attorney in Orlando, an Orlando estate lawyer and an Orlando wills and trusts lawyer are describing the same work. No Florida licensing distinction sits behind these labels. The exception is “estate planner,” which does not necessarily mean a lawyer at all. Financial advisors, insurance agents and document preparation services all use it. A document preparer who drafts your will or trust is practicing law without a license, and cannot advise you on homestead, the elective share or whether the person you named can serve. Ask one question and the ambiguity disappears: are you a member of The Florida Bar, and what is your bar number? Mine is 107002.

Are estate planners worth it?

A lawyer who drafts your plan is worth it when the plan has to survive Florida’s rules on homestead, spouses and signing, which is most plans. The problems a form or a non-lawyer misses do not show up while you are alive; they show up as a court case afterward, and the cost of a contested case after a plan fails is measured in tens of thousands of dollars. If “estate planner” means someone who is not a lawyer, the question to ask first is the bar number.

How a solo practice compares to firms with more lawyers

Here the same attorney handles every stage of your plan. That is a difference in structure, not a claim about talent. At estate planning law firms with several lawyers, a matter is often divided among people: one lawyer may take the first meeting, another may draft, staff may assemble the signing packet, and a different attorney may cover the signing. I am one attorney. The person who takes your first call is the person who drafts your will, sits with you through the signing, and answers the phone years later when you want to change something.

To be fair about the trade-off: larger Orlando estate planning firms offer bench depth, colleagues in other practice areas down the hall and coverage when someone is away, and for a very large estate with an international tax structure that depth is worth having. When comparing an Orlando estate planning law firm, ask who handles each stage, how you will contact that attorney and what happens if the attorney is unavailable. I also handle estate litigation, including will and trust contests, so the documents I draft are written by someone who has seen documents tested in court.

How do I choose an estate planning attorney in Orlando?

If you are asking who the best estate planning attorney in Orlando is for your family, the useful answer is the lawyer who answers these questions well. Ask them of any of the last will and testament lawyers you are comparing, including me.

• Who actually drafts the documents, and how much time will I have with that person?
• Will you advise me on my beneficiary designations and how my home is held, or only draft documents?
• Is the fee quoted before the work starts, and what does it include? Any lawyer offering an Orlando will package should be able to list every document in it.
• What is your answer on homestead? If a Florida lawyer does not raise it when you own a home, keep looking.
• Which of my documents can be signed remotely, and which should not be?
• Are you a member of The Florida Bar, and what is your bar number?

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Compare the available services

• You want a will, or a will with incapacity documents. The will starts at $675; the core estate planning package is $1,500 for one person.
• You want to keep assets out of probate and plan for incapacity through a trustee. A revocable living trust plan, a separate engagement starting at $2,500, plus $575 per deed when Florida real estate is moved into the trust.
• You want to protect a child’s inheritance, or you are weighing an irrevocable or life insurance trust. See irrevocable trusts, spendthrift trusts and asset protection; irrevocable trusts are quoted individually. My Florida irrevocable trust page covers the statewide rules.
• Your only goal is keeping one Orlando property out of probate. The Orlando lady bird deed service, a separate $675 service.
• You have minor children. Estate planning for parents in Florida.
• You are a couple who are not married. Estate planning for unmarried couples in Florida.
• You want to understand one document first. The durable power of attorney, the health care surrogate designation or the revocable living trust.
• Someone has already died and you are dealing with the estate. That is probate, not planning: see my Orlando probate lawyer page.

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Questions readers ask about estate planning in Orlando

Can I work with you remotely from Orlando?

Yes. Consultations are by phone, Zoom or WhatsApp, and by email; the intake questionnaire is emailed; and I tell you which documents can be signed remotely in your situation and which should be signed with witnesses physically present. When witnesses need to be in the room, I prefer a mobile signing, so the signing comes to you.

Is there a Lorenzo Law office in Orlando?

No. The principal office is in Kissimmee; meetings in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale are by appointment. Orlando clients work with me by phone, Zoom or WhatsApp, and when a document should be signed with witnesses in the room, I prefer a mobile signing, so the signing comes to you.

What is included in an Orlando estate planning package?

The core estate planning package is $1,500 for one person: a will, a durable power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogate, a living will and a preneed guardian designation. For parents of minor children, it also includes a preneed guardian declaration for the children, filed with the clerk, and a designation of health care surrogate for the children. A revocable trust is not included: a revocable living trust plan is a separate engagement, starting at $2,500, plus $575 per deed when Florida real estate is moved into the trust. Married couples do not share one set of documents; each spouse signs his or her own, and the couple’s plan is quoted individually with a discount.

How much does a will cost in Florida?

Wills start at $675 per person, all-inclusive for the agreed will service: advice, drafting, supervised signing, both witnesses, the notary and the self-proving affidavit, at the same price for every lawful signing method. A will together with the documents that work during your life is the $1,500 core estate planning package. Prices elsewhere vary with what is included, so compare what each quote covers rather than the headline number.

Does a living trust avoid probate in Florida?

For the assets it actually holds, yes: property titled in a funded revocable trust passes under the trust without a probate proceeding. Anything left in your own name with no beneficiary designation or joint owner can still require probate, which is why a trust is paired with a pour-over will and why funding matters. A revocable trust also does not override Florida’s homestead restrictions.

Does a will have to go through probate in Florida?

A will does not avoid probate; it is the document the probate court carries out. Whether an estate needs a probate proceeding at all depends on what was in the decedent’s name alone, with no beneficiary designation, joint owner or trust. Smaller estates may qualify for summary administration, a shorter form of probate, and some property passes without any court proceeding.

What happens if I die without a will in Florida?

Florida’s intestacy statutes decide who inherits, in a fixed order that starts with your spouse and descendants; the court appoints the personal representative; and, if you have neither a will nor a preneed guardian declaration, you will not have nominated a guardian for your minor children. In a blended family, a surviving spouse may receive only half of the estate (§ 732.102), which is rarely what anyone intended.

Does Florida have a transfer on death deed?

Not for real property. The Florida equivalent is the enhanced life estate deed, usually called a lady bird deed. Bank and brokerage accounts can pass by payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation.

Can my adult child help set this up for me?

Your son or daughter can help: make the call, gather documents and arrange the signing. You are the client. I confirm your wishes with you directly, and you decide who may be on the calls and who receives information.

Does a durable power of attorney cover medical decisions in Florida?

Not the way I prepare them. I draft the durable power of attorney for financial and legal matters and a designation of health care surrogate for medical decisions, so each document does one job. If the two ever conflict, the health care advance directive generally controls unless the power of attorney was signed later and says expressly that it governs.

Does a power of attorney need to be notarized in Florida?

Yes. A Florida durable power of attorney must be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary (section 709.2105, Florida Statutes).

How long is a power of attorney good for in Florida?

A durable power of attorney keeps working if you become incapacitated; that is what “durable” means. You can revoke it at any time while you have capacity, and it ends at your death: the agent cannot use it to settle your estate.

What are the types of power of attorney in Florida?

The names describe what the document covers and when it works. A general power of attorney gives broad authority over your financial affairs; a limited or special power of attorney covers one task or one asset, such as selling a single property. A durable power of attorney keeps working if you become incapacitated, while a non-durable one ends when you lose capacity, which is exactly when most families need it. A springing power, which waits for a finding of incapacity, cannot be created in Florida for documents signed on or after October 1, 2011. All of them are governed by Florida’s power of attorney statute, chapter 709, Part II, which sets the signing rules but does not prescribe one mandatory statutory form. What other states call a medical power of attorney is, in Florida, the designation of health care surrogate. The power of attorney in the core package is a durable general power of attorney, with the specially listed powers you choose. My Florida power of attorney page covers each type in more detail.

Does a Florida health care surrogate designation need to be notarized?

No. A designation of health care surrogate must be in writing and signed in the presence of two adult witnesses, at least one of whom is neither your spouse nor a blood relative, and the person you name as surrogate cannot act as a witness (§ 765.202). A notary is not required.

Is a health care surrogate responsible for my medical bills?

A health care surrogate makes your medical decisions and can see your records, and nothing in Florida law makes the surrogate personally responsible for your bills just by serving. Paying your bills from your own money is the job of the agent under your durable power of attorney.

Do I need a lawyer for a will in Florida, or can I write my own?

No law requires a lawyer. You can write your own, but a handwritten will is valid only if it is signed and witnessed exactly as section 732.502 requires, and an unwitnessed handwritten will is not valid in Florida. The same is true of a do-it-yourself living trust: a Florida resident’s trust that disposes of property at death must be signed with the formalities of a will, and a form will not fund it. The larger risk in a do-it-yourself will is what the form never asks: whether your homestead can go where you are leaving it, what your spouse is entitled to, and whether the person you named can serve.

Does a Florida will need to be notarized?

Not to be valid. It needs your signature at the end and two witnesses who sign in your presence and in each other’s. A self-proving affidavit, which does need a notary, lets the will be admitted to probate without tracking down the witnesses later, and a will should not be signed without one.

Talk to an Orlando estate planning attorney

Call (305) 224-6811 or use the contact form to reach an estate planning attorney serving Orlando, FL, and the rest of Orange County. A useful first conversation covers who is in your family, what you own and how it is held, any documents you already have, and when you need the plan signed. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is Lorenzo Law’s sole attorney (Florida Bar No. 107002) and handles Florida estate planning, probate and probate litigation, with consultations in English and Spanish. Lorenzo Law is a solo practice: the attorney you speak with at the first call is the attorney who handles any matter the firm accepts. The principal office is in Kissimmee; meetings in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale are by appointment, and consultations are available statewide by phone and video.

If you searched for “estate planning attorney free consultation,” the first call is with the attorney who would draft your documents. Please do not put Social Security numbers, account numbers or medical details in the web form.

Request a free initial consultation. Only the initial consultation is free; representation fees and costs are agreed separately in writing. Representation requires a conflict review, acceptance and an engagement agreement.

Request a free initial consultation or Call (305) 224-6811

¿Prefiere español? Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. atiende consultas en español sobre testamentos, poderes notariales, designaciones de sustituto para decisiones de salud y fideicomisos en vida para familias de Orlando y del condado de Orange. Lea también sobre el abogado de testamentos en Florida y el fideicomiso en vida en Florida.

Explore my Florida estate planning attorney page for the statewide picture, Orlando probate for handling an estate after death, Orlando probate litigation for a contested matter, and Central Florida for the region’s other counties.

Last updated: October 29, 2026. Written and reviewed by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., attorney, Florida Bar No. 107002. This page is general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice for any particular situation. Reading it or requesting a consultation does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Sources and authorities cited

Statutes cited are Florida Statutes (2026). The text of the law controls over any summary on this page.