Medicaid & Long-Term Care
The 2026 figures for Florida nursing-home (ICP) Medicaid, and the cost of the care it pays for.
$2,982 per month. Florida's 2026 income cap for nursing-home Medicaid; income over the cap can still qualify through a qualified income trust (a special account sometimes called a Miller Trust). Check your eligibility →
$2,000. The 2026 countable-asset limit for a single Florida Medicaid applicant; the homestead, one car, personal belongings, and prepaid burial arrangements do not count toward it. The three tests, step by step →
$162,660. The most the at-home spouse (called the community spouse) can keep in countable assets in 2026 when the other spouse applies for Florida nursing-home Medicaid. What the at-home spouse keeps →
$752,000. Florida's 2026 home-equity limit for a single Medicaid applicant; there is no cap at all when a spouse, a child under 21, or a disabled child lives in the home. How your home is treated →
$10,645 per month. Florida's 2026 transfer-penalty divisor. Gifts made in the look-back window are added up and divided by this number to set the months of Medicaid ineligibility. Estimate a penalty →
60 months. The Medicaid look-back. Florida reviews the five years of transfers before a nursing-home application, and most gifts in that window are penalized, even ones the IRS calls tax-free. How the look-back works →
About $10,300 per month. What a semi-private room in a Florida nursing home costs in 2026, roughly $124,000 a year; a private room runs about $12,200 a month. The 2026 cost of care →
100 days. The most Medicare ever pays toward a skilled-nursing stay, with a $217 daily copay from day 21 in 2026, and nothing for the long-term custodial care most residents need. Who actually pays for the nursing home →
Federal Estate & Gift Tax
The 2026 federal figures, and the one state figure Florida families ask about most.
$19,000. The 2026 federal annual gift exclusion per recipient. Give this much to any number of people each year with no gift tax and no return to file. Run your gift numbers →
$38,000. What a married couple can give each recipient in 2026 by electing to split gifts. How gift splitting works →
$15,000,000. The 2026 federal lifetime gift and estate tax exemption per person ($30 million for a married couple), now permanent and indexed for inflation. The 2025 law that locked it in removed a cliff families had been rushing to plan around, and we covered what that permanence changed for Florida. What counts against it →
$0. Florida's state estate tax, inheritance tax, and gift tax. The state charges none of the three, which is why the state you moved from usually matters more than Florida does. Which states still tax estates →
$194,000. The 2026 annual limit on tax-free gifts to a spouse who is not a US citizen; the usual unlimited transfer between spouses does not apply. The non-citizen spouse rules →
One caution the IRS figures never mention. A gift that is completely tax-free can still trigger the Medicaid transfer penalty above. Tax-free is not Medicaid-safe.
Probate Costs
What Florida probate costs in 2026, from the clerk's filing fee to the number that dwarfs it.
$3,000. The attorney fee Florida law presumes reasonable for ordinary probate work on a $100,000 estate. Calculate the fee on your estate →
$60,000. The combined presumed-reasonable figure on a $1,000,000 Florida estate, a $30,000 attorney fee plus a $30,000 personal-representative commission. The schedule is a ceiling, not a mandate, and a flat fee is often less. The full fee schedule →
$400 or $401. The 2026 filing fee for a formal administration in every one of Florida's 10 largest counties, a statewide spread of exactly one dollar. The county-by-county fee study →
$345 or $346. The filing fee for a summary administration of an estate of $1,000 or more; under $1,000 it is $235 or $236, and disposition without administration is $231 or $232. All the posted fees →
$75 to $250. What the required newspaper notice to creditors costs. It is a flat $105 where a weekly legal-notice paper serves the county ($75 in Polk), and typically $150 to $250 in the large metro counties. Where the cost really varies →
$150,000. The summary administration ceiling. Estates at or under it qualify for Florida's fast, low-cost probate, a threshold raised from $75,000 on July 1, 2026. Check if you qualify →
2 years. The other door into summary administration. Once a death is more than two years old, the estate qualifies at any size, because Florida bars creditor claims after two years. The two-year rule →
6 to 12 months. How long a formal administration typically runs; a summary administration often closes in weeks to about two months. Summary vs. formal →
A number on this page worrying you?
The figures are the easy part. Whether they apply to your family, and what to do about it, is a free 30-minute conversation.
Book your free consultHomestead & Asset Protection
The protection numbers behind Florida's reputation as a debtor-friendly state.
No dollar limit. Florida's constitution protects a primary residence from forced sale by most creditors at any value; a multimillion-dollar home on a city lot is fully protected. How far the shield goes →
Half an acre, or 160 acres. The homestead size limits. Up to half an acre inside a municipality, up to 160 acres outside one, with no cap on value within them. The size rules and the exceptions →
$214,000. The federal bankruptcy cap on a homestead acquired within roughly the last three years and four months; own the home longer and the unlimited Florida protection generally applies even in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy wrinkle →
Age 46. The disability-onset limit for an ABLE account, raised from 26 in 2026; it pairs with a special needs trust to provide for a loved one without cutting off their benefits. Protecting a loved one's benefits →
The Elective Share
The two numbers behind the rule that you cannot disinherit a spouse in Florida.
30%. The share of the elective estate a surviving spouse can claim under Florida law no matter what the will or trust says; the elective estate reaches trusts, joint accounts, life insurance, and retirement accounts, not just probate assets. How the elective share works →
6 months or 2 years. The deadline to claim it. It is the earlier of six months after being served with the notice of administration, or two years after the death. Miss the window and the right can be lost. The deadline and the math →
Cross-Border & Foreign Accounts
The 2026 figures for foreign accounts, foreign gifts, foreign sellers, and foreign owners of US assets.
$10,000. The combined high point that triggers the yearly FBAR. Once all your foreign accounts together cross it at any moment in the year, every account must be reported. Who must file →
$16,536. The yearly cap on the penalty for an innocent (non-willful) missed FBAR, applied per yearly form rather than per account. The penalties, and the cheaper fixes →
$165,353 or half the account. The willful FBAR penalty, whichever is greater, applied per account, per year, over a six-year window. Willful vs. non-willful →
$100,000. The foreign gift and inheritance reporting line. Receive more than this from one foreign person in a year and Form 3520 is due, even though no tax is owed on the gift itself. The reporting rules →
About $20,573. The far lower 2026 threshold for reporting gifts from a foreign corporation or partnership, adjusted for inflation each year. The thresholds in full →
25%. The maximum penalty on an unreported foreign gift, accruing at 5% for each month the form is late; reasonable cause can erase it. How penalties get removed →
15%. FIRPTA withholding on the gross price when a foreign person sells US real estate; a 10% rate applies from $300,000 to $1,000,000 and a full exemption at or under $300,000 when the buyer will live there. Cut it before closing →
$60,000. The entire US estate-tax exemption a non-resident non-citizen gets on US assets, against roughly $15 million for a US person; a $2,000,000 US estate can owe about $733,000. The $60,000 trap →
Business & LLC Numbers
The 2026 figures every Florida business owner and private lender should have at hand.
$25. The state fee to dissolve a Florida LLC, filed online; the wind-down around that filing is where the real mistakes live. Dissolving an LLC, step by step →
120 days. How long the members have to revoke a dissolution and resume business as if it never happened. The undo button →
$100 plus $138.75. What reinstating an administratively dissolved Florida LLC costs. That is a $100 fee plus $138.75 for each missed annual report, and the reinstatement is retroactive once processed. Fix a dissolved LLC →
35 cents per $100. Florida's documentary stamp tax on a promissory note, capped at $2,450 for unsecured notes; Florida courts have refused to enforce notes that skipped it. The doc stamp trap →
18%, 25%, 45%. Florida's usury lines. Above 18% is usurious on loans of $500,000 or less, above 25% is criminal, above 45% a felony, and fees count toward the rate. The usury math →
$25 per series. What Florida charges to designate a protected series under its new series-LLC law, effective July 1, 2026, with strict record-keeping conditions on the shield. The new law, honestly →
How to Cite This Page
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to cite these figures. Each one is re-verified against its primary source (the Florida statutes, posted clerk fee schedules, IRS annual figures, the Florida DCF Medicaid manual, and FinCEN penalty tables), and each stat's linked guide carries the full citations. The address of this page never changes; the year in the title is refreshed annually, so a citation made today keeps pointing at the current figures. Cite it as StepUp Law, "Florida Estate Planning Numbers (2026)," stepuplaw.com.
Our posted flat fees (separate from the law's numbers)
Everything above is what the law charges or allows, not what we charge. Our own fees are flat and posted. An attorney-prepared lady bird deed is $399 for one owner or $449 joint, plus recording, and the full schedule is on the pricing page. Posted fees are honored for 90 days from the posted date; government costs (recording, filing, publication, certified copies) are additional and passed through at cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Is This Page Updated?
Whenever the law changes, and at least once a year when the new figures publish. The web address never changes; only the year in the title does. Each number here also lives on a linked guide that carries the full legal citations, and those guides are refreshed on their own schedule, so if a figure ever disagrees between the two, the linked guide is the one being updated first.
Are These Official Figures?
They come from official sources, including Florida statutes, posted clerk of court fee schedules, IRS annual figures, the Florida DCF Medicaid manual, and FinCEN penalty tables. Two caveats. Some numbers are presumed-reasonable ceilings rather than mandates, like the Florida probate attorney fee schedule, and a few, like nursing home costs, are survey medians rather than legal limits. Each stat line says which it is, and the linked guide carries the primary citation.
What Changed for 2026?
The biggest Florida change is the summary administration ceiling, which doubled from $75,000 to $150,000 on July 1, 2026, so far more estates qualify for the fast, cheap probate. Florida also launched protected series LLCs on July 1, 2026 at $25 per series. On the federal side, the lifetime gift and estate exemption rose to $15 million (from $13.99 million in 2025), the ABLE account disability-onset limit rose from age 26 to 46, and the planned FBAR penalty inflation adjustment was cancelled, so the $16,536 and $165,353 figures held steady.
Can I Rely on These Numbers?
For research and comparison, yes; for a decision, confirm first. These are general figures, not legal advice, and several change every January. More important, the right number for your family depends on facts a summary line cannot capture, such as what counts as a countable asset, whether a fee schedule applies to you, and whether a deadline has started running. That is what the free 30-minute consult sorts out.
Sources of Law
All figures retrieved August 10, 2026 from the pages linked above, each of which cites and is verified against the primary source. Key authorities:
- Medicaid: 2026 Florida ICP figures (income cap $2,982/mo, asset limit $2,000, community spouse allowance $162,660, home-equity limit $752,000, transfer-penalty divisor $10,645/mo), Florida DCF ESS Policy Manual; 42 U.S.C. §1396p(c) (60-month look-back) and §1396p(f); Fla. Stat. §409.9101 (estate recovery). flsenate.gov
- Care costs: CareScout (Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey, Florida statewide medians; CMS CY 2026 skilled-nursing coinsurance ($217/day, days 21 to 100).
- Federal gift and estate tax: IRC §2503(b) and §2010; IRS 2026 figures ($19,000 annual exclusion; $15,000,000 lifetime exemption, made permanent and indexed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025)); IRC §2523(i) ($194,000 annual exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse). Florida imposes no state estate, inheritance, or gift tax.
- Probate: Fla. Stat. §733.6171 (presumed-reasonable attorney fees) and §733.617 (personal-representative commission), flsenate.gov; §28.2401 (filing service charges); §733.2121(2) (publication of the notice to creditors); §735.201 (summary administration) as amended by Laws of Fla. ch. 2026-57 ($75,000 raised to $150,000 effective July 1, 2026; Florida republishes its statutes annually, so the Online Sunshine page linked here still showed the prior figure on August 12, 2026, and the session law controls); §733.710 (2-year claim bar); county clerk fee schedules and publisher rate cards as compiled in our county cost study.
- Homestead and asset protection: Fla. Const. Art. X, §4(a) to (b) (exemption from forced sale; size limits); 11 U.S.C. §522(p) ($214,000 bankruptcy cap for homesteads acquired within 1,215 days). ABLE accounts: 26 U.S.C. §529A (disability onset before age 46).
- Elective share: Fla. Stat. §732.2065 (30% of the elective estate); §732.2135 (election deadline). flsenate.gov
- Foreign accounts and cross-border: 31 U.S.C. §§5314, 5321(a)(5) and 31 C.F.R. §§1010.350, 1010.821 (FBAR threshold and penalties; per-form non-willful rule per Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023)); IRC §6039F (foreign gift reporting thresholds and penalty); IRC §§897, 1445 (FIRPTA withholding and tiers); IRC §§2101 to 2108 (non-resident estate tax; the $60,000 exemption equivalent) and Form 706-NA.
- Business and lending: Fla. Stat. ch. 605 (§605.0707 dissolution; §605.0708 120-day revocation; §605.0715 reinstatement; §§605.2101 to 605.2802 protected series) with Sunbiz posted fees ($25 dissolution; $100 reinstatement plus $138.75 per missed annual report; $25 per series designation); §201.08(1)(a) (documentary stamp tax on notes; $2,450 unsecured cap); §§687.02 to 687.03 and §687.071 (usury).
Updated on August 19, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. This page is general information about Florida and federal law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Figures change, several of them every January, and how any figure applies depends on your specific facts. Do not send confidential information until we have agreed to represent you.