Wills & Will Drafting

Will Drafting Attorney in Boca Raton, Florida

A will is the one document almost everyone needs and almost everyone gets wrong when they do it themselves. Drafting is only half the job — Florida's execution rules are where homemade wills fail, years later, when nobody can fix them.

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45 years in practice · 5550 Glades Rd, Suite 500, Boca Raton, FL

A last will and testament being signed with a fountain pen

Situations we handle

The problems clients bring through the door

A downloaded form already signed

Online templates rarely satisfy Florida's two-witness requirement or include a self-proving affidavit, and they almost never account for homestead. The result looks like a will and behaves like a lawsuit.

No personal representative named

If nobody is named — or the person named has moved, died or is not qualified to serve in Florida — the court decides, and family members compete for the role.

Minor children

Parents need to name a guardian and, just as importantly, decide who holds the money. A minor cannot inherit outright; without direction the funds go into a court-supervised account until age 18.

Specific gifts that no longer exist

Wills that leave a named account, a car or a particular property often fail when that asset was sold. Drafting should anticipate change rather than freeze one moment in time.

A will contradicted by beneficiary forms

Retirement accounts, annuities and life insurance pass by designation, not by will. Uncoordinated paperwork is how a disinherited person still ends up with the largest share.

An outdated will after divorce or remarriage

Florida law voids some provisions in favor of a former spouse but not all of them. Assuming the statute cleans it up for you is a costly bet.

What Florida requires for a valid will

Section 732.502 of the Florida Statutes requires that a will be in writing, signed by the testator at the end, and signed by two witnesses who sign in the testator's presence and in the presence of each other. Miss any part of that sequence and the document may be denied admission to probate entirely.

Florida does not recognize handwritten holographic wills executed without witnesses, no matter how clearly they express intent. Nuncupative — oral — wills are not recognized at all.

A self-proving affidavit, signed by the witnesses before a notary at the same time, allows the will to be admitted without tracking those witnesses down years later. It costs nothing extra at signing and saves considerable expense afterward.

What a properly drafted will actually does

A will directs assets that are titled in your sole name without a beneficiary designation, and it names the person who will administer your estate.

Names a personal representative and an alternate, both qualified to serve under Florida law.
Directs the residue of your estate with clear contingencies if a beneficiary dies before you.
Names a guardian for minor children and creates a trust to hold their share until an age you choose.
Handles specific gifts, personal property lists and charitable bequests without creating ambiguity.
Addresses homestead consistent with Florida's constitutional restrictions when a spouse or minor child survives you.
Includes a self-proving affidavit so probate does not stall on proof of execution.

Drafting, review and signing

The free consultation establishes your family, your assets and the people you trust. A flat fee is quoted, then a draft is prepared and reviewed with you paragraph by paragraph — no statute citations, no guessing at what a clause means.

Signing happens at the Glades Road office with two witnesses and a notary present, arranged by the firm. You leave with the original in a form the court will accept and a copy for your records, plus clear instructions on where the original should live and who should be told.

If you already have a will, bring it. Sometimes a short codicil is all that is needed; more often, given how much Florida practice has changed, a clean restatement is cheaper than patching.

Boca Raton & South Florida

Wills for Boca Raton and the surrounding communities

Because a Florida homestead cannot be freely devised when a spouse or minor child survives, will drafting in Boca Raton almost always begins with the residence. Condominium ownership adds association rules and estoppel requirements that surface during administration in Palm Beach County.

Clients who moved here from the Northeast or Midwest frequently arrive with a will from their prior state and a new Florida residence. Reviewing both together prevents a plan that only works in the state you left.

Will signings are handled at the Glades Road office for clients throughout Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Deerfield Beach, Parkland, Coral Springs and Fort Lauderdale, with evening and weekend appointments available.

A will signed correctly today spares your family a fight later.

Call for a free consultation and Robert G. Harris will tell you exactly what your will needs to say — and what it must avoid.

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Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Only if it was signed with two witnesses who signed in your presence and in each other's presence. Florida does not recognize unwitnessed handwritten wills, and it does not recognize oral wills at all. Intent alone does not carry a document through probate here.

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