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Old 03-26-2025, 07:35 PM
retiredguy123 retiredguy123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rainger99 View Post
This is from the Florida statute.

3) Subject to subsection (2), compensation for ordinary services of attorneys in a formal estate administration is presumed to be reasonable if based on the compensable value of the estate, which is the inventory value of the probate estate assets and the income earned by the estate during the administration as provided in the following schedule:
(a) One thousand five hundred dollars for estates having a value of $40,000 or less.
(b) An additional $750 for estates having a value of more than $40,000 and not exceeding $70,000.
(c) An additional $750 for estates having a value of more than $70,000 and not exceeding $100,000.
(d) For estates having a value in excess of $100,000, at the rate of 3 percent on the next $900,000.
(e) At the rate of 2.5 percent for all above $1 million and not exceeding $3 million.
(f) At the rate of 2 percent for all above $3 million and not exceeding $5 million.
(g) At the rate of 1.5 percent for all above $5 million and not exceeding $10 million.
(h) At the rate of 1 percent for all above $10 million.

Probate calculator.

Florida Probate Calculator — Michelle Goff Law

I had an honest attorney tell me that it doesn't take much more time and effort to probate a $5 million dollar estate than it does to probate a $500,000 estate but you pay $255,000 for the $5 million estate and only $30,000 for the $500,000 estate.
Note that my mother's estate was in Maryland, not Florida. But based on that schedule, the reasonable fee would have been $4,500 for a task that took me less than one hour to accomplish. I assume that the statute only becomes relevant when someone disputes the legal services fee.