A Florida probate flat fee is a fixed price for an attorney’s ordinary services in an estate administration, agreed before the work starts instead of calculated from the size of the estate. Florida law expressly allows it. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(2)(a) provides that the attorney, the personal representative, and the persons bearing the impact of the compensation “may agree to compensation determined in a different manner than provided in this section.” The statutory percentage schedule is a presumption, not a price list. A flat fee tends to save money on estates large enough that the schedule climbs faster than the work does, and it tends to cost money on estates small enough to qualify for a simplified procedure, or on estates that end up needing one of the twelve extraordinary services a flat fee was never meant to cover.
This guide sets the flat fee side by side with the statutory schedule in Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3), shows the arithmetic at eight estate values, and marks the exact line where a flat fee stops being the cheaper arrangement. It also covers what changed on July 1, 2026, when chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, doubled four small-estate thresholds and added a twelfth category to the list of extraordinary services. It is written for personal representatives in Polk County and across Florida who have been quoted a number and want to know what sits inside it.
Key Takeaways
- There is no mandatory statutory attorney fee in a Florida probate. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(2)(b)1 requires an attorney charging on the schedule to say so in writing.
- The schedule in Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3) applies to ordinary services in a formal estate administration. It sets no presumed fee for a summary administration.
- A flat fee prices ordinary services. The twelve categories of extraordinary service in Fla. Stat. §733.6171(4) are compensated separately, on top.
- Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, took effect July 1, 2026 and raised the summary administration ceiling from $75,000 to $150,000.
- The same act created Fla. Stat. §733.6125, under which a court shall award a prevailing personal representative taxable costs and attorney fees in a proceeding to enforce the representative’s authority.
- The attorney fee is not the only fee. Fla. Stat. §733.617 gives the personal representative a separate commission, presumed reasonable at 3 percent of the first $1 million.
- Any interested person may petition the court to increase or decrease the fee under Fla. Stat. §733.6171(5), and under Fla. Stat. §733.6175 the burden of proving it reasonable falls on the attorney and the personal representative.
What a Flat Fee Actually Buys
The word “flat” describes how the price is set. It says nothing about how much work is inside it. That distinction is where most misunderstandings about probate billing begin, and Florida’s compensation statute is built around it.
Fla. Stat. §733.6171(1) starts from a simple position: “attorneys for personal representatives are entitled to reasonable compensation payable from the estate assets without court order.” No judge signs off on a routine fee. The estate pays it, and the persons who inherit less because of it are the ones the statute calls the parties “bearing the impact of the compensation.”
From there the statute offers two routes. Subsection (3) supplies a percentage schedule that is presumed reasonable. Subsection (2)(a) allows everyone affected to agree on something else, and adds that compensation may also be determined in a different manner “if the manner is disclosed to the parties bearing the impact of the compensation and if no objection is made as provided for in the Florida Probate Rules.” A flat fee lives on that second route.
What the flat fee buys, in every version of the arrangement, is the set of tasks the statute treats as ordinary. Florida never defines “ordinary services” in a list. It defines the opposite. Subsection (4) enumerates extraordinary services and says the attorney “shall be allowed further reasonable compensation” for them, in addition to the fee for ordinary services. Everything not on that list, and not carved out by the engagement agreement, is ordinary: opening the estate, getting letters issued, the inventory, notice to creditors, routine claims handling, accountings, the petition for discharge, and distribution.
So a flat fee quote is really two decisions at once. The number is one. The boundary is the other, and the boundary is worth more attention than the number.
The Schedule a Flat Fee Is Measured Against
Whatever a flat fee turns out to be, it gets judged against the schedule in Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3). That subsection says compensation for ordinary services of attorneys in a formal estate administration is presumed reasonable if based on the “compensable value” of the estate, which the statute defines as the inventory value of the probate estate assets plus the income earned by the estate during the administration.
| Compensable value of the estate | Presumed reasonable fee | Statutory subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 or less | $1,500 | §733.6171(3)(a) |
| More than $40,000, not exceeding $70,000 | An additional $750 | §733.6171(3)(b) |
| More than $70,000, not exceeding $100,000 | An additional $750 | §733.6171(3)(c) |
| In excess of $100,000 | 3 percent on the next $900,000 | §733.6171(3)(d) |
| Above $1 million, not exceeding $3 million | 2.5 percent | §733.6171(3)(e) |
| Above $3 million, not exceeding $5 million | 2 percent | §733.6171(3)(f) |
| Above $5 million, not exceeding $10 million | 1.5 percent | §733.6171(3)(g) |
| Above $10 million | 1 percent | §733.6171(3)(h) |
Two features of that definition do real work and are easy to miss.
The first is the word formal. By its own terms the schedule addresses formal administration. It does not set a presumed fee for a summary administration, for an ancillary administration, or for a disposition without administration. When someone quotes “the statutory fee” on an estate that is not going through formal administration, the schedule they are quoting from does not describe that estate.
It is also worth being precise about what compensable value leaves out. The statute measures the inventory value of the probate estate assets. Property that passes outside probate is not in the inventory and therefore not in the figure: a home held as tenants by the entireties, a payable on death bank account, a retirement account with a living named beneficiary, a life insurance policy payable to a person rather than to the estate, and assets already titled in a funded revocable trust. A family that thinks of the estate as everything the decedent owned will consistently overestimate the schedule fee, sometimes by a wide margin, because the largest asset in the picture is frequently not a probate asset at all.
The second feature is that compensable value includes income earned by the estate during administration, not just what was there on the date of death. An estate holding a rental duplex and a brokerage account keeps generating compensable value for as long as it stays open. Under the schedule, a longer administration can raise the presumed fee even when the extra months produce no extra legal work. A flat fee is indifferent to that. It is fixed on the day it is signed.
The arithmetic runs quickly once the estate clears $100,000, because everything above that line is charged at 3 percent until the estate reaches $1 million. An estate with a compensable value of $500,000 produces a presumed fee of $3,000 plus 3 percent of $400,000, which is $15,000. At $1 million the presumed fee is $30,000. The shape of that curve is the whole argument for and against a fixed price: it is nearly flat below $100,000, where a flat fee has little room to beat it, and it rises in a straight line above that point regardless of how complicated the estate turns out to be. The chart below runs the schedule across eight estate values.
Ordinary Services vs. Extraordinary Services
This is the line that decides whether a flat fee holds. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(4) provides that in addition to fees for ordinary services, the attorney “shall be allowed further reasonable compensation for any extraordinary service,” and adds that what counts as extraordinary “may vary depending on many factors, including the size and complexity of the estate.”
The statute then gives a list. It is expressly not exhaustive, since the categories “may include, but are not limited to” the items enumerated. Until July 1, 2026 there were eleven. Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, added a twelfth.
Nothing in the statute requires an estate to hit one of these categories, and a large share of Florida administrations never do. The list matters because it describes the events that can move a quoted price, and because it is the vocabulary a fee agreement will use when it describes what falls outside the flat number.
Read that list as a map of everything that can sit outside a flat fee. A quote for “probate” is a quote for the ordinary work. If a beneficiary contests the will, if the homestead status of the house has to be litigated, or if the estate has to sell real property, the engagement agreement decides whether that work was inside the number or is billed on top of it. Most flat fee agreements bill it on top, which is consistent with the statute rather than a departure from it.
| Subdivision | Extraordinary service |
|---|---|
| (a) | Will contest, will construction, determination of beneficiaries, contested claim, elective share proceeding, apportionment of estate taxes, or any adversarial proceeding or litigation by or against the estate |
| (b) | Representation of the personal representative in an audit or any proceeding for adjustment, determination, or collection of taxes |
| (c) | Tax advice on postmortem tax planning |
| (d) | Review of the estate tax return and preparation or review of other tax returns the personal representative must file |
| (e) | Preparation of the estate’s federal estate tax return. If the attorney prepares it, one-half of 1 percent of the gross estate up to $10 million, and one-fourth of 1 percent above $10 million, is presumed reasonable for that service |
| (f) | Purchase, sale, lease, or encumbrance of real property, or involvement in zoning, land use, or environmental matters |
| (g) | Legal advice on carrying on the decedent’s business or other commercial activity |
| (h) | Legal advice on claims for damage to the environment |
| (i) | Legal advice on homestead status of real property, proceedings involving that status, and services related to protected homestead |
| (j) | Involvement in fiduciary, employee, or attorney compensation disputes |
| (k) | Proceedings involving ancillary administration of assets not subject to administration in Florida |
| (l) | New July 1, 2026. Involvement in any proceeding to enforce the authority of a personal representative as conferred by the Florida Probate Code |
Subdivision (e) deserves a second look, because it is the one place in the statute where an extraordinary service carries its own percentage. If the attorney prepares the estate’s federal estate tax return, one-half of 1 percent of the gross estate as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes is presumed reasonable for that single service, and the statute says those fees include a routine audit of the return that does not go beyond the examining agent level.
What Changed on July 1, 2026
Fee arrangements are usually compared against the statute as it stood when the last article about them was written. That is a problem this year, because the Florida Legislature moved several of the numbers in 2026, and the dollar figures that decide which procedure an estate uses are among them.
Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, is committee substitute for House Bill 1337. The Governor approved it on April 29, 2026, it was filed with the Secretary of State the same day, and section 14 of the act sets its effective date at July 1, 2026. For anyone comparing probate fee arrangements, three of its changes matter.
The first is a set of four dollar thresholds, each of which doubled. The most consequential is the summary administration ceiling in Fla. Stat. §735.201(2), which moved from $75,000 to $150,000. Estates of non-exempt assets between $75,001 and $150,000 that would have required formal administration before July 1, 2026 may now qualify for the shorter route.
The second change is a new statute. Section 5 of the act created Fla. Stat. §733.6125, headed “Proceedings to enforce authority.” It provides that in any proceeding to enforce the authority of a personal representative as conferred by the Probate Code, the court shall award to a prevailing personal representative taxable costs as in chancery actions, including attorney fees. It also lets the court direct that payment come from any person “whose action or inaction necessitated the enforcement proceeding,” or from any person having an interest in the estate, and to enter a judgment that may be satisfied from other property. Section 4 of the same act added subsection (28) to Fla. Stat. §733.612, confirming that a personal representative may institute such a proceeding without a court order.
The third change follows from the second. Section 6 of the act added subdivision (l) to the extraordinary services list, so an enforcement proceeding is now enumerated as extraordinary work. Taken together, the three provisions describe a specific situation: a person is obstructing the personal representative, the representative sues to enforce authority, the attorney’s time on it is extraordinary rather than ordinary, and if the representative prevails, the court must award those costs and fees and may direct them away from the estate and toward the person who caused the problem.
That sequence is worth raising when a flat fee is quoted. If a fee agreement bundles enforcement litigation into the flat number, the estate has paid for it up front and the §733.6125 award has nothing left to reimburse. If the agreement treats it as extraordinary and bills it separately, the award has something to attach to.
Three Fees, Not One
A quote described as “the flat fee for the probate” often gets read as the total cost of the estate. It is not, and the gap is usually the second and third fees rather than anything hidden in the first.
The second fee belongs to the personal representative. Fla. Stat. §733.617(1) entitles the representative to a commission payable from the estate assets without court order, computed on the same compensable value the attorney’s schedule uses. Subsection (2) presumes a commission reasonable in a formal administration at 3 percent of the first $1 million, 2.5 percent above $1 million up to $5 million, 2 percent above $5 million up to $10 million, and 1.5 percent above that. Subsection (3) then allows further reasonable compensation for the representative’s own extraordinary services, including the sale of real or personal property, litigation, tax proceedings, carrying on the decedent’s business, and dealing with protected homestead.
Two wrinkles in §733.617 are worth knowing before signing anything. Subsection (5) provides that where the compensable value is $100,000 or more and there are two personal representatives, each is entitled to the full commission a sole representative would receive. And subsection (6) provides that where the personal representative is a member of The Florida Bar and has rendered legal services to the estate, a fee for those legal services is allowed in addition to the commission as representative.
The third category is not compensation at all. Filing fees, publication of the notice to creditors, certified copies, recording fees, bond premiums, and appraisals are costs of the administration. They are paid by the estate whether or not any attorney is involved, and no fee arrangement makes them disappear. Our complete guide to Florida probate fees works through the current dollar amounts for each of them.
| Amount | Governing statute | How it is set | Typically inside a flat fee? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney compensation for ordinary services | Fla. Stat. §733.6171(1) and (3) | Agreement under (2)(a), or the presumed schedule in (3) | Yes. This is what the flat fee prices |
| Attorney compensation for extraordinary services | Fla. Stat. §733.6171(4), twelve enumerated categories | Reasonable compensation, in addition to the ordinary fee | No, unless the agreement says otherwise |
| Personal representative commission | Fla. Stat. §733.617(1) and (2) | Presumed at 3 percent of the first $1 million of compensable value | No. It belongs to the representative, who may renounce it under §733.617(4) |
| Personal representative extraordinary compensation | Fla. Stat. §733.617(3) | Further reasonable compensation for enumerated services | No |
| Court costs and administration expenses | Filing fees, publication, certified copies, bond, appraisals | Set by the clerk, the newspaper, and the vendors | No. Confirm in writing whether they are advanced or billed directly |
The practical consequence is that on a formal administration where nobody renounces anything, the presumed reasonable compensation under the two statutes together is roughly double the attorney figure alone. On a $500,000 estate, the attorney schedule presumes $15,000 and the representative’s commission presumes $15,000.
This is the single most common source of confusion in a fee conversation. A personal representative who has been quoted an attorney flat fee and then reads about “the statutory probate fee” is frequently reading about §733.617 rather than §733.6171, or about both figures added together. When the two numbers get compared to a single quoted fee, the quote can look either far cheaper or far more expensive than it is. The only way to compare them honestly is to decide first whether the representative intends to take a commission at all, and to write that decision into the file rather than leave it for the discharge petition.
When a Flat Fee Saves Money
Three situations account for most of the cases where a fixed price comes out ahead, and all three can be checked against the statute before anyone signs. None of them depends on anyone’s opinion of how probate should be billed. They depend on the size of the estate, the procedure it qualifies for, and how long it will be open.
The estate is well above $100,000 and the work is routine. Above that line the schedule charges 3 percent of every additional dollar until the estate reaches $1 million. Nothing in the administration of a $600,000 estate is inherently three times the work of a $200,000 estate, but the schedule presumes three times the fee. The chart below stacks the attorney schedule and the representative’s commission at four estate values so the combined presumption is visible.
The estate lands in the band that moved on July 1, 2026. An estate of non-exempt assets at, say, $120,000 opened before that date required formal administration, where the presumed attorney fee under the schedule would have been $3,000 plus 3 percent of $20,000, or $3,600, with a further $3,600 presumed for the representative’s commission. Opened on or after July 1, 2026, the same estate may qualify for summary administration under the amended Fla. Stat. §735.201(2). The §733.6171(3) schedule does not reach summary administration at all, so there is no presumed statutory fee to compare against, and a fixed quote becomes the reference point rather than a discount off one. Our comparison of summary administration and formal administration walks through which procedure an estate qualifies for.
The administration is going to stay open a while. Because compensable value under §733.6171(3) includes the income the estate earns during administration, a schedule-based fee is a moving target on any estate holding income-producing property. A rental property, an operating business interest, or a large fixed income portfolio all keep adding to the compensable value while the estate is open. A fixed price is set once and does not move with the estate’s earnings.
There is also the reason that has nothing to do with arithmetic. A fixed number is knowable in advance, and a personal representative who is personally exposed to beneficiaries asking what the administration cost can answer the question on day one rather than at discharge.
When a Flat Fee Does Not Save Money
The honest version of this comparison has to include the cases running the other way. There are five, and the first two are the ones that cost families the most.
The estate never needed an administration. Florida has procedures that avoid the process entirely. Under Fla. Stat. §735.301, no administration is required on an estate leaving only personal property exempt under §732.402, personal property exempt from creditor claims under the State Constitution, and non-exempt personal property worth no more than preferred funeral expenses plus the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness. Fla. Stat. §735.304, as amended effective July 1, 2026, covers intestate estates where non-exempt personal property does not exceed $20,000 plus those same expenses, provided the decedent has been deceased more than a year and no administration is pending. Fla. Stat. §735.303(2) lets a financial institution pay a family member the funds in a decedent’s qualified accounts without any court proceeding at all where the combined total does not exceed $2,000, and Fla. Stat. §735.302(1) allows a federal income tax overpayment of up to $5,000 to be refunded directly to a surviving spouse. A flat fee priced for a formal administration on an estate that fits one of these is the wrong product, not an expensive one.
The estate is under $40,000. The floor of the schedule is $1,500 for a compensable value of $40,000 or less. That is the presumed reasonable figure for ordinary services on the smallest formal administrations, and it is a low bar for a flat fee to clear. On very small estates the schedule is often the cheaper of the two.
Extraordinary services arrive. This is the most common surprise. A flat fee for ordinary services does exactly what it says. When the house has to be sold, when homestead status is disputed, when a creditor’s claim is contested, or when the estate has to litigate, §733.6171(4) contemplates additional reasonable compensation for that work. The flat fee was never the ceiling; it was the floor for the routine part.
Assets sit in another state. Subdivision (k) enumerates proceedings involving ancillary administration of assets not subject to administration in Florida as extraordinary. A Florida flat fee generally does not reach a second proceeding in a second state.
The decedent already had a fee agreement. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(6) provides that where a separate written agreement on compensation exists between the attorney and the decedent, the attorney must furnish a copy to the personal representative before employment begins and, if employed, must promptly file and serve a copy on all interested persons. If that attorney is employed, the compensation paid may not exceed what the agreement or the will provides. The same subsection is clear that a direction in a will to retain a particular attorney does not obligate the representative to hire that attorney.
The Written Disclosures Florida Requires
Fla. Stat. §733.6171(2)(b) requires a specific set of written disclosures, and the trigger is narrower than most summaries of it suggest. The requirement applies to “an attorney representing a personal representative in an estate administration who intends to charge a fee based upon the schedule set forth in subsection (3).” Where the fee is a negotiated flat amount rather than a schedule computation, the paragraph does not fire by its own terms.
The trigger is narrower again once the procedure is taken into account. Only one of Florida’s five routes for handling a decedent’s assets carries a presumed fee schedule at all, so only that one route can produce a fee “based upon the schedule set forth in subsection (3).”
| Procedure | Statutory test | Presumed attorney fee schedule? |
|---|---|---|
| Payment by a financial institution to a family member | Combined funds in the decedent’s qualified accounts at that institution not exceeding $2,000, no earlier than 6 months after death. Fla. Stat. §735.303(2) | No court proceeding at all |
| Disposition without administration | Only exempt personal property plus non-exempt personal property no greater than preferred funeral expenses and last-60-days medical and hospital expenses. Fla. Stat. §735.301(1) | No |
| Disposition without administration, intestate small estates | Non-exempt personal property not exceeding $20,000 plus those same expenses, decedent deceased more than 1 year, no administration pending. Fla. Stat. §735.304(1) | No |
| Summary administration | Entire estate subject to administration in Florida, less property exempt from creditor claims, not exceeding $150,000, or decedent dead more than 2 years. Fla. Stat. §735.201(2) | No |
| Formal administration | The default where no simplified procedure fits. Chapter 733 | Yes. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3) |
The five disclosures are worth reading in full anyway, because they are the clearest statement Florida law makes about what a personal representative is entitled to know. The attorney must disclose in writing that there is not a mandatory statutory attorney fee for estate administration; that the fee is not required to be based on the size of the estate and the presumed reasonable fee in subsection (3) may not be appropriate in all administrations; that the fee is subject to negotiation between the representative and the attorney; that the selection of the attorney is at the representative’s discretion and the representative is not required to select the attorney who prepared the will; and that the representative is entitled, at the conclusion of the representation, to a summary of ordinary and extraordinary services rendered for the fees agreed upon, consisting of either the total hours devoted to the representation or a detailed summary of the services performed.
Paragraph (2)(c) requires the attorney to obtain the representative’s timely signature acknowledging those disclosures. Paragraph (2)(d) supplies the consequence: an attorney who does not make the required disclosures “may not be paid for legal services without prior court approval of the fees or the written consent of all interested parties.”
Two practical points follow. A flat fee arrangement should still be reduced to writing, since §733.6171(2)(a) conditions an alternative fee on the manner being disclosed to the parties bearing its impact. And the closing summary of services described in subparagraph 5 is worth asking for in any engagement, schedule-based or not. It is the document that shows what the fee actually paid for.
What to Ask Before You Sign
Every question below has an answer somewhere in the statutes cited in this guide, which means every one of them can be checked rather than taken on faith. Ask them in writing and keep the reply with the engagement agreement.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which procedure is this quote priced for? | Formal, summary, ancillary, and disposition without administration are different amounts of work. Only formal administration has a presumed schedule under §733.6171(3) |
| Which of the twelve §733.6171(4) categories are excluded? | Names the boundary of the flat fee before a dispute defines it |
| How is extraordinary work billed if it arises? | Hourly, a second flat amount, or the presumed percentages in the statute are all possible |
| Is the personal representative’s commission included, waived, or separate? | §733.617(2) presumes 3 percent of the first $1 million. §733.617(4) allows the representative to renounce it |
| Are court costs, publication, and certified copies inside the number? | These are administration expenses, not compensation, and are usually billed separately |
| What happens if later-discovered assets change the compensable value? | A schedule fee moves with the estate. A flat fee should say in writing whether it does |
| Does the estate qualify for summary administration under the $150,000 threshold? | The amended §735.201(2) took effect July 1, 2026 and moved a large band of estates |
| Will I receive the closing summary of services described in §733.6171(2)(b)5? | It is the record of what the fee bought, and it is worth requesting in any engagement |
If the Fee Turns Out to Be Wrong
Florida does not leave a fee unreviewable simply because it was agreed in advance. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(5) provides that upon petition of any interested person, the court may increase or decrease the compensation for ordinary services, or award compensation for extraordinary services, “if the facts and circumstances of the particular administration warrant.”
The statute then sets out ten factors the court must consider, giving weight to each as it determines appropriate: the promptness, efficiency, and skill with which the administration was handled; the responsibilities assumed and potential liabilities of the attorney; the nature and value of the assets affected by the death; the benefits or detriments to the estate or interested persons from the services; the complexity or simplicity of the administration and the novelty of the issues; the attorney’s participation in tax planning and returns; the nature of the probate, non-probate, and exempt assets, the expenses of administration, the decedent’s liabilities, and compensation paid to other professionals and fiduciaries; any delay in payment after the services were furnished; any agreement relating to compensation and whether the written disclosures were made in a timely manner under subsection (2); and any other relevant factors.
Fla. Stat. §733.6175 supplies the procedure and, more importantly, allocates the burden. Subsection (3) places the burden of proving both the propriety of the employment and the reasonableness of the compensation on the personal representative and the person employed, and provides that anyone determined to have received excessive compensation from an estate “may be ordered to make appropriate refunds.” Subsection (2) makes the review part of the estate administration process and directs that the costs of it, including attorney fees, be paid from the estate unless the court finds the requested compensation to be substantially unreasonable. Subsection (4) permits the court to determine reasonable compensation without expert testimony.
Note where subsection (i) of the §733.6171(5) factor list points. Whether written disclosures were made in a timely manner is itself a factor in whether the fee stands. Documentation is not paperwork for its own sake here; it is evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a mandatory statutory attorney fee for a Florida probate?
No. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(2)(b)1 requires an attorney who intends to charge on the statutory schedule to disclose in writing that “there is not a mandatory statutory attorney fee for estate administration.” The schedule in subsection (3) creates a presumption of reasonableness, not an obligation. Subsection (2)(a) allows the attorney, the personal representative, and the persons bearing the impact of the compensation to agree on a different method, including a flat fee.
What does a Florida probate flat fee usually cover?
Ordinary services in the administration. Florida does not define ordinary services in a list; it defines the opposite. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(4) enumerates twelve categories of extraordinary service, including will contests, contested claims, elective share proceedings, tax work, the sale or encumbrance of real property, homestead status litigation, ancillary administration, and, as of July 1, 2026, involvement in a proceeding to enforce the personal representative’s authority. Work in those categories is compensated in addition to the fee for ordinary services unless the engagement agreement says otherwise.
Does the statutory schedule apply to a summary administration?
By its terms, no. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3) presumes a fee reasonable for “ordinary services of attorneys in a formal estate administration.” It sets no presumed figure for summary administration, ancillary administration, or disposition without administration. That matters more after July 1, 2026, because the amended Fla. Stat. §735.201(2) raised the summary administration ceiling from $75,000 to $150,000 and moved a large band of estates out of formal administration.
How is the personal representative’s compensation calculated?
Separately from the attorney’s. Fla. Stat. §733.617(1) entitles the personal representative to a commission from the estate assets without court order, computed on the same compensable value. Subsection (2) presumes it reasonable in a formal administration at 3 percent of the first $1 million, 2.5 percent above $1 million up to $5 million, 2 percent above $5 million up to $10 million, and 1.5 percent above that. Subsection (3) allows further reasonable compensation for the representative’s own extraordinary services. Subsection (4) permits the representative to renounce all or any part of the compensation, which a family member serving in the role frequently does.
What is the compensable value of an estate?
Fla. Stat. §733.6171(3) defines it as the inventory value of the probate estate assets plus the income earned by the estate during the administration. Two consequences follow. Assets that pass outside probate are not in the figure. And because estate income counts, a schedule-based fee on an estate holding rental property or an income portfolio keeps growing while the estate stays open, which a fixed fee does not.
Can a Florida probate fee be challenged after it is paid?
Yes. Fla. Stat. §733.6171(5) lets any interested person petition the court to increase or decrease compensation for ordinary services or to award compensation for extraordinary services, and lists ten factors the court must weigh. Fla. Stat. §733.6175(3) places the burden of proving the propriety of the employment and the reasonableness of the compensation on the personal representative and the person employed, and provides that anyone determined to have received excessive compensation from an estate may be ordered to make appropriate refunds. Under subsection (4) the court may make that determination without expert testimony.
What happens if the required fee disclosures are never made?
Fla. Stat. §733.6171(2)(d) supplies the consequence: an attorney who does not make the disclosures required by the section “may not be paid for legal services without prior court approval of the fees or the written consent of all interested parties.” Paragraph (2)(c) also requires the attorney to obtain the personal representative’s timely signature acknowledging the disclosures. Whether the disclosures were timely is itself one of the ten factors the court weighs under §733.6171(5)(i).
A flat fee is a pricing method, not a promise about the amount of work an estate turns out to need. The way to test one is to hold it against the statute: which procedure the estate qualifies for, which of the twelve extraordinary services in Fla. Stat. §733.6171(4) sit outside the number, whether the personal representative’s commission under Fla. Stat. §733.617 is in or out, and what happens to the fee if the compensable value changes. If you are weighing a quote on a Florida estate, contact The MTM Law Firm and bring the engagement agreement with you. You may also want to read our complete guide to Florida probate fees, our comparison of summary and formal administration, and our explanation of how attorney and personal representative compensation work together.