West Palm Beach probate litigation attorney

A West Palm Beach probate litigation attorney works on the estates that are fought over rather than simply administered — will contests, trust disputes, and fiduciaries who will not account. Contested estates from West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Jupiter, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Riviera Beach are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, at the Main Courthouse, 205 N Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. That is where a will is challenged, where a personal representative is removed, where a trustee is called to account, and where a beneficiary who has been cut out finds out whether the law agrees.

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. handles contested probate, will contests, trust litigation and fiduciary removal in all 67 Florida counties, in English and in Spanish. The initial consultation is free.

Updated August 5, 2026. Every deadline and statute on this page was read against the current Florida Statutes this week. The one that ends most Palm Beach County cases before they start is §733.212(3) — 3 months, not 90 days, from service of the notice of administration.

What is probate litigation?

Probate litigation is any estate dispute a judge has to decide rather than a clerk simply record. Uncontested probate is paperwork: a petition, a notice, an inventory, a discharge. Probate litigation begins the moment two people who both have standing disagree about the will, the money, or the person holding it.

In Palm Beach County that usually means one of six things:

Dispute	What is actually being contested	Governing section
Will contest	How the document was made — capacity, undue influence, execution	§732.5165
Revocation of probate	A will already admitted, challenged before final discharge	§733.109
Removal of a personal representative	Conduct after appointment — waste, conflict, refusal to account	§733.504
Trust contest	A revocable trust or amendment procured by influence or fraud	§736.0406
Breach of fiduciary duty / accounting	A trustee’s numbers, distributions, or silence	§736.0813
Financial exploitation of an elder	Transfers made before death, not by the will	§825.103

The last row is the one families miss. If the accounts were emptied before the death, the will may be beside the point — the money never reached the estate, and the claim is against the person who took it, not against the document.

Who can contest a will in Florida?

Only an interested person. §731.201(23) defines that as “any person who may reasonably be expected to be affected by the outcome of the particular proceeding involved.” In a will contest that is a practical test, not a family one: would you receive more if this will were set aside than you receive under it?

That covers more people than most callers assume, and fewer than some hope.

You generally can contest even if you are not named in the will, so long as you would take without it — as an intestate heir under §732.103, or as a beneficiary of an earlier will that this one replaced. Being written out is not a bar to standing. Being written out is often the evidence.

A step-child normally cannot, unless legally adopted or named in a prior will — a step-child is not an heir under Florida’s intestacy statute and has nothing to inherit if the will falls. That is a hard answer, and it is better heard in a free consultation than after a filing fee.

A surviving spouse has rights that do not depend on contesting anything at all. The elective share under §732.2065 is “an amount equal to 30 percent of the elective estate” — available whatever the will says. A spouse who is considering a contest should have the elective share priced first; it is frequently the larger and vastly cheaper number.

A creditor is an interested person too, for the limited purposes that affect the debt. Standing is issue-specific, not global.

On what grounds can you contest a will?

Not because the split feels unfair. Florida does not police generosity. §732.5165 is one sentence and it names the whole list:

“A will is void if the execution is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence.”

Four grounds, plus a fifth that comes from elsewhere in the code:

• Undue influence — someone in a position of trust overbore the testator’s free will. The most common ground by a wide margin, and the subject of the two sections below.
• Lack of testamentary capacity — the testator did not understand the nature of the act, the extent of the property, or the natural objects of their bounty. Capacity is measured at the moment of signing, which is why a dementia diagnosis is evidence but not proof.
• Improper execution — §732.502 requires signature at the end, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, who sign in the presence of the testator and of each other. Formality failures are rarer than they were, and fatal when they occur.
• Fraud, duress or mistake — a forged signature, a page swapped after execution, a document the testator was told was something else.
• Revocation — a later will or codicil that superseded the one being offered.

Two features of §732.5165 matter enormously in practice:

• Only the part so procured fails. “Any part of the will is void if so procured, but the remainder of the will not so procured shall be valid.” A contest does not have to be all-or-nothing. Attacking the one clause that changed is often the stronger case.
• A procured revocation is also void — “If the revocation of a will, or any part thereof, is procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence, such revocation is void.” Which can bring an earlier will back into force. If a good will was torn up under pressure, that act is attackable on its own.

How long do you have to contest a will in Palm Beach County?

Three months from the date you are served with the notice of administration, under §733.212(3). Miss it and the objection is “forever barred.”

Three things about that deadline are worth knowing before it passes:

• It is 3 calendar months, not 90 days. Served on 1 January, the deadline is 1 April — 91 days. In a leap year the gap widens. Counting 90 days from service can make a live case look dead, and can make a diary date land after an absolute bar.
• It runs from service, not from death, and not from when you found out. Two siblings served two weeks apart have two different deadlines.
• It can be extended only for estoppel based on a misstatement by the personal representative about the deadline itself — and never later than the earlier of final discharge or one year after service.

If you were never served, the three-month clock has not started against you. That fact is worth checking before anyone concludes it is too late.

The other clocks that run alongside it in a contested estate:

Clock	Period	Section
Objection to the will after service of the notice of administration	3 months from service	§733.212(3)
Petition to revoke probate	Any time before final discharge of the personal representative	§733.109
Creditor claim after publication	3 months from first publication	§733.702
Creditor claim, absolute outer bar	2 years from death, regardless of anything	§733.710
Action against a trustee, matter disclosed in an accounting	6 months from receipt	§736.1008

That last one catches beneficiaries constantly. A trust accounting that carries a proper limitation notice starts a six-month fuse on everything it adequately disclosed. Filing it in a drawer does not stop the clock.

Can you contest a will after probate has already started?

Yes — and after it has been admitted. A will that has already been admitted to probate is challenged by a petition to revoke probate under §733.109, which “any interested person, including a beneficiary under a prior will, unless barred under s. 733.212 or s. 733.2123, may commence… before final discharge of the personal representative.”

Two consequences follow, and they cut in opposite directions.

In your favour: the estate does not get to outrun you. While the revocation proceeding is pending, the personal representative continues administering “as if no revocation proceeding had been commenced, except that no distribution may be made to beneficiaries in contravention of the rights of those who, but for the will, would be entitled to the property.” The protection is automatic on filing.

Against you: final discharge closes the door. Once the personal representative is discharged, the revocation route is gone. In a small, cooperative Palm Beach estate discharge can arrive faster than a family expects — which is why “we were waiting to see how it played out” is the most expensive sentence in probate.

If you were served with the notice of administration, the §733.212(3) three-month bar governs regardless of how much time is left before discharge. Service is the tighter clock. Assume it applies to you.

How do you prove undue influence?

You often do not have to prove it outright — and that single fact decides more Florida cases than any other rule in the probate code.

Start with the default. Under §733.107(1) the proponent first establishes that the will was executed and attested properly. The burden then moves to the person challenging it. That is why most contests are uphill.

Then read subsection (2). Where the presumption of undue influence applies, it is a presumption that shifts the burden of proof under ss. 90.301–90.304, “adopted to implement the public policy of this state against abuse of fiduciary or confidential relationships.”

In plain terms: once the presumption triggers, the favoured beneficiary has to disprove undue influence. The family stops having to prove what happened behind a closed door.

Florida courts have long looked at whether the beneficiary was in a confidential relationship with the decedent, was substantially benefited by the will, and was active in procuring it — and, on that last element, at conduct such as being present when the will was signed, being present when the testator expressed the wish to make it, recommending the attorney, knowing the contents before execution, giving the instructions to the drafter, securing the witnesses, and safekeeping the will afterwards.

What that means for the evidence you gather:

• Medical records for the twelve months around signing — not to prove incapacity, but to establish dependence.
• Who drove to the lawyer’s office. Who made the appointment. Who sat in the room. Who paid.
• Bank and brokerage statements, especially new joint accounts, new signature cards, and new powers of attorney.
• The drafting attorney’s file — notes, intake forms, correspondence. Frequently decisive, and frequently obtainable.
• Isolation — changed locks, blocked calls, a new phone number, visitors turned away.
• Timing. A will changed weeks after a hospitalisation, in favour of the person who managed the discharge, is a different document from one signed in good health five years earlier.

If those facts are present, say so at the first meeting. If they are not, expect a harder case — and you should hear that at the first meeting too, not after the retainer is signed.

What is the penalty for undue influence?

There are three separate consequences, and they stack.

1. The document dies. Under §732.5165 the will — or the part procured — is void, and the estate passes under the prior will or the intestacy statute instead. The same rule applies to trusts: §736.0406 voids a trust, amendment or restatement so procured, and voids a revocation so procured.

2. Civil liability, potentially trebled. Where the conduct amounts to exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult, §772.11 gives a person injured by a violation of §825.103(1), proved “by clear and convincing evidence,” a cause of action for threefold the actual damages — subject to a written pre-suit demand and a 30-day compliance window.

3. Criminal exposure. §825.103 makes exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult a felony, graded by value: third degree under $10,000, second degree from $10,000 to under $50,000, first degree at $50,000 or more. Charging is the State Attorney’s decision, not a private party’s.

There is no fine or automatic forfeiture attached to losing a will contest itself. The consequence is that the influenced document does not govern.

Can an executor of a will remove a beneficiary?

No. A personal representative — Florida’s term for what most people call the executor — administers the estate. They do not rewrite it. A personal representative has no power to disinherit anyone, to reduce a share, to change a percentage, or to decide that a beneficiary no longer deserves what the will leaves them.

What a personal representative can do, which is what usually prompts the question:

• Delay. Distribution can lawfully wait for creditor periods, tax clearance, or the sale of real property. It can also unlawfully wait for no reason at all, and the two look identical from the outside.
• Charge the estate. Fees, costs and attorney’s fees reduce what is left. §733.707 sets the statutory order in which the estate pays.
• Contest your claim to be a beneficiary at all, if the will is ambiguous or a later document exists.
• Sell the asset you wanted. A specific devise generally survives; residuary property may not.

None of that is removal, and none of it is discretionary in the sense of a personal judgment about you. If a personal representative is behaving as though the inheritance is theirs to allocate, that is not a power they have — it is a ground to remove them.

As a beneficiary of a will, what are my rights in Florida?

Six, concretely:

• To be served and kept informed. You are entitled to the notice of administration and to the estate’s inventory. Silence is not an administrative style; it is a warning.
• To an accounting. A personal representative who cannot produce the estate’s assets or account for a sale is exposed under §733.504.
• To object to the will, the personal representative’s qualifications, the venue, or the court’s jurisdiction — within the §733.212(3) window.
• To petition for removal of the personal representative, on the grounds set out in the next section.
• To the statutory protections if you are a spouse or child — the 30% elective share under §732.2065, exempt property under §732.402 (household furniture, furnishings and appliances up to $20,000 net value, plus two qualifying motor vehicles, plus §529 college plans), family allowance, and homestead protection.
• To ask the court who pays. Under §733.106, costs may be awarded as in chancery actions, an attorney who has rendered services to an estate may be awarded reasonable compensation from it, and the court decides “from what part of the estate they shall be paid” — including, where warranted, against an individual beneficiary’s share.

What you do not have is a right to a particular timetable, or to be consulted on decisions the will commits to the personal representative.

What is a no-contest clause, and does it stop you?

In Florida, no. §732.517 is a single sentence: a provision in a will purporting to penalize any interested person for contesting the will, or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate, is unenforceable.

In terrorem clauses are enforceable in many states. They are not enforceable here, in wills or in trusts. The clause may still be sitting in the document — drafters copy them from out-of-state forms constantly — and it may still read as though it works. It does not.

This is the single most common reason people never make the call. Whatever the risks of contesting a will in Florida, forfeiting what you were already left is not among them.

Can a personal representative be removed in Palm Beach County?

Yes, on twelve enumerated grounds under §733.504. The ones that arise in real Palm Beach County cases are rarely the dramatic ones:

• Failure to comply with a court order, unless superseded on appeal
• Failure to account for a sale, or to produce the estate’s assets when required
• Wasting or maladministration of the estate
• Holding or acquiring interests adverse to the estate that interfere with administration
• Failure to give bond, or to answer a demand or file a return required by law
• Conviction of a felony, incapacity, or removal of domicile from Florida where domicile was a qualification

Note the fourth. A personal representative who is also a beneficiary, and who is buying estate property or preferring their own claim, may be removable on conflict grounds without any allegation of dishonesty. Removal is about the estate’s protection, not the fiduciary’s character.

How much does it cost to remove an executor or trustee?

The honest answer is that removal is priced by how it is defended, not by how it is filed. A personal representative who resigns when the petition lands costs a fraction of one who litigates the accounting. What can be said in advance:

• The estate may bear some of it. §733.106(3) permits reasonable compensation from the estate to an attorney who has rendered services to it, and subsection (4) lets the court direct which part of the estate pays — including charging it against the share of a beneficiary whose conduct drove the cost.
• A good-faith proponent is protected. Under §733.106(2), a person who offered a will for probate in good faith may recover costs and fees from the estate even if probate is denied or revoked. Good faith matters to the bill, not only to the outcome.
• Removal and surcharge are different asks. Removing the fiduciary is faster than recovering what they lost. Deciding whether you want both, or only one, changes the number more than any hourly rate does.

As a beneficiary of a trust, what are my rights?

More than most trust beneficiaries in Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and Boca Raton are ever told.

§736.0813 opens with a duty, not a discretion: “The trustee shall keep the qualified beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration.” It then requires, within 60 days of accepting the trust, notice of the acceptance and the trustee’s name and address; within 60 days of the trust becoming irrevocable, notice of its existence, the settlor’s identity, and your right to request a copy of the trust instrument; and a trust accounting to each qualified beneficiary at least annually, on termination, and on a change of trustee.

A trustee who will not tell you the trust exists is already in breach of the first sentence of the statute.

Two more that decide trust cases:

• §736.0706 — removal. The settlor, a cotrustee or a beneficiary may ask the court to remove a trustee for a serious breach of trust; where lack of cooperation among cotrustees substantially impairs administration; where unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer effectively means removal best serves the beneficiaries; or on a substantial change of circumstances, with a suitable successor available.
• §736.1008 — the six-month fuse. A beneficiary is barred from suing for breach of trust as to any matter “adequately disclosed in a trust disclosure document” unless the proceeding is commenced within 6 months after receipt. Read every accounting the week it arrives.

And on timing: §736.0207 provides that an action to contest the validity of a revocable trust “may not be commenced until the trust becomes irrevocable by its terms or by the settlor’s death.” You cannot pre-empt a trust contest while the settlor is alive — which is precisely why the evidence has to be preserved before then.

How much does it cost to contest a will, and how long does it take?

It depends on whether the other side is defending conduct or defending a document, and on whether the §733.107(2) presumption is in play. A contest where the presumption shifts the burden is a different economic proposition from one where it does not, and that assessment can usually be made in the first meeting.

What can be said in advance is what drives the number:

• the volume of medical and financial records that have to be obtained and read
• whether a guardianship or a power of attorney ran alongside the will
• how many beneficiaries must be served and how many are represented
• whether the estate holds Florida real property, a closely held business, or out-of-state assets
• whether the fight is over the will alone or over lifetime transfers as well
• whether the personal representative is also the favoured beneficiary — which merges two disputes into one

On timing: a contested Palm Beach County matter that settles at mediation and one that reaches an evidentiary hearing are not the same length of case, and which one you are in is usually clear within a few months rather than at the outset.

What you will not read here is an estimate of your odds, or a success rate. Rule 4-7.13 prohibits promises about outcomes, and no honest lawyer can price a case they have not seen.

Can you contest a will without a lawyer?

You can file. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 generally requires a personal representative to be represented by an attorney, and a party appearing pro se in a contested probate proceeding is litigating evidence, expert testimony and burden-shifting against counsel who does this for a living.

The realistic answer for most people is narrower than yes or no: the free consultation is worth having before you decide, because the three-month bar in §733.212(3) does not pause while you research. A conversation costs nothing and establishes whether there is a case at all. Filing late costs the case permanently.

What is different about litigating in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit?

Two local rules that surprise out-of-county counsel and cost families weeks:

• Proposed orders do not go through the e-filing portal, and they do not go by email. The Fifteenth Circuit runs its own submission and scheduling system at e-services.15thcircuit.com. An order sent the usual way simply waits.
• An original will cannot be e-filed. It must be mailed or hand-delivered to the Clerk. Families who scan and upload it have not deposited it — and the deposit obligation runs on its own clock after death.

The Clerk also operates five courthouse locations, and the right one depends on geography:

Location	Address	Serves
Main Courthouse	205 N Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, FL 33401	West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington
South County	200 W Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444	Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Highland Beach
North County	3188 PGA Blvd, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410	Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Tequesta, Juno Beach, North Palm Beach
West County	Belle Glade	The Glades communities
Royal Palm Beach Branch	Royal Palm Beach	Central-west county

⚠️ Where the original will actually goes. Not to the counter nearest you. The Palm Beach County Clerk is explicit — the original will cannot be e-filed, and it must be hand-delivered or mailed to the Probate Division at P.O. Box 4667, West Palm Beach, FL 33402. A death certificate may be submitted electronically. The will may not.

There is no filing fee to deposit a will, and under §732.901 the custodian has 10 days from learning of the death to deposit it. A custodian who fails to do so without just cause can be ordered to pay “all costs, damages, and a reasonable attorney’s fee.” The Probate Division can be reached at (561) 355-2986.

What does “probate litigation specialist” mean in Florida?

It is a regulated term. The Florida Bar certifies in Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Rule 4-7.14 permits specialist or expert only where the claim is objectively verifiable — by that certification, or by the lawyer’s training, record and substantial involvement in the area.

What is verifiable about this office:

• Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002, licensed and in active practice in Florida since 2013. Anyone can confirm it free in The Florida Bar’s member directory.
• Practice concentrated in probate, wills, trusts and the transfer of Florida real property.
• Solo practice: the same person answers the phone, files the petition and appears in court.
• Service in English and Spanish, in all 67 counties — Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, Duval and the rest.

What you will not read here is that this is the best firm in Palm Beach County. Rule 4-7.13 prohibits unsupported comparisons.

What to do this week

If you have been served with a notice of administration, the clock in §733.212(3) is already running and it does not pause while you decide.

Bring three things:

1. The will, and any earlier will or codicil you have ever seen.
2. The notice, with its date of service — the date on the envelope decides the deadline.
3. Anything showing who was near the decedent in the final year. Calendars, texts, bank statements, the name of the person who drove to the lawyer’s office. That last category decides more cases than the will itself.

Speak to a West Palm Beach probate litigation attorney directly. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. — (305) 224-6811. Free consultation in English or Spanish, for contested estates anywhere in Palm Beach County: West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach and Riviera Beach. You can also write from the contact page.

For the underlying law on challenging a will statewide, see contesting a will in Florida. Esta página en español: herencias y sucesiones en Florida.

Related: Florida probate litigation lawyer · Florida trust litigation attorney · Boca Raton probate litigation attorney · Fort Lauderdale probate litigation attorney · Miami probate litigation attorney. Esta página en español: impugnar un testamento en Florida.

About this page. Author and reviewer: Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002, in practice in the state since 2013. Every statute cited was read against the Florida Statutes, and the Fifteenth Circuit courthouse locations and filing rules confirmed, on August 5, 2026.

This page offers general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice for a specific case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every estate turns on its own facts, and the law changes.