What Probate Actually Costs in Florida's 10 Largest Counties (2026)

2026 Probate Filing Fees in Florida's 10 Largest Counties

These are the fees each clerk of court actually posts, read directly from the official fee schedules in August 2026. "Formal administration" is the full probate most estates use. "Summary administration" is the faster small-estate version, with a higher and lower tier depending on whether the estate is at least $1,000. "Disposition without administration" is the no-probate option for tiny estates that qualify.

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.

*Duval's figures are from the clerk's posted January 2026 schedule. Small extras apply everywhere, including a caveat filing at $40 to $42, reopening a closed estate at $50, exemplified certificates at $7, and certified copies a few dollars each. Every source is listed at the bottom of this page.

The Whole State Is Within One Dollar

Six of the ten counties post $400 for a formal administration. The other four (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Duval) post $401. That is the entire statewide spread, one dollar. The reason is that the fee is not set by the county at all. Florida law sets a base charge of $395 for opening a formal administration, adds a $4 statutory service charge, and the last dollar or two comes from small clerk add-ons. The counties are all pricing the same statute.

So the question families sometimes ask, whether probate would be cheaper "if we file it somewhere else," has a double answer. The savings would be a dollar, and you do not get to choose. Florida law fixes probate venue in the county where the person lived. If your mother lived in Broward, her probate is filed in Broward, and the clerk's fee will be $401.

Where the counties genuinely differ is in what each one requires you to file, and where. We wrote that up county by county in our filing guides for the Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Hillsborough, Duval, Pinellas, and Lee County probate courts, each with the courthouse address, where the original will goes, and the local checklist that county rejects filings over.

The Newspaper Notice: Where the Cost Actually Varies

Every formal administration has to publish a notice to creditors, once a week, for two consecutive weeks, in a newspaper in the county. This is the government cost that actually varies, because each newspaper sets its own legal-notice rate.

Where a weekly business or legal-notice paper covers the county, the price is low and flat. The Business Observer's posted 2026 rate for a notice to creditors is a flat $105 in its eight-county footprint (including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Lee, and Sarasota) and a flat $75 in Polk. La Gaceta posts $90 total across its nine-county footprint. In the big metro counties served mainly by daily papers (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Duval), there is no posted flat rate and firms report typical costs of $150 to $250 for the two-week run.

The practical point is that the newspaper is chosen when the case is filed, and choosing a qualifying lower-cost paper is one of the small ways a probate attorney quietly saves the estate money.

The Number That Dwarfs Every Filing Fee

Here is the honest scale of things. The clerk collects $400 or $401 once. The newspaper collects $75 to a few hundred dollars once. The attorney fee is the number that decides what probate actually costs, and Florida law publishes a schedule of fees that are presumed reasonable, $3,000 on a $100,000 estate and $30,000 on a $1,000,000 estate, plus a separate commission for the personal representative (the person the court puts in charge).

Presumed reasonable is a ceiling the estate can agree to, not a mandate. A flat-fee attorney often charges well below the schedule for a routine estate. Run your numbers in the Florida probate cost and attorney fee calculator, which uses the statutory schedule, then compare it against a flat quote.

How Families Actually Lower the Cost of Probate

Three doors, checked in order.

• Disposition without administration. For tiny estates (essentially exempt property and final expenses), a $231 filing and no probate at all. Rare, but free money when it fits.
• Summary administration. For estates of $150,000 or less (the threshold was raised from $75,000 on July 1, 2026), or when the death was more than two years ago. Lower filing fee, no personal representative, and a far smaller attorney fee. Our summary administration guide has a two-minute qualifier.
• Skip probate for the next generation. The cheapest probate is the one that never happens. A lady bird deed on the home and a funded living trust for the rest pass property outside probate entirely, which is why planning costs hundreds and probate costs thousands.

Here is what this study should leave you with. Stop worrying about the filing fee, and put the attention on whether your family needs formal administration at all, and on what the attorney will charge. Those two decisions are worth thousands. The clerk's fee is the same everywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The out-of-state daughter comparing cities. A daughter in New Jersey handling her father's Orlando estate asked whether filing "through Miami" would be cheaper, having read that big-city courts cost more. The filing fees differ by one dollar, and venue was never a choice, because her father lived in Orange County and the case belonged there. The real savings came from the estate qualifying for summary administration.

The estate that shrank the newspaper bill. A personal representative in Pinellas was quoted several hundred dollars for the creditor notice in a daily paper. The same legally sufficient notice ran in a qualifying weekly at the posted $105 flat rate. Small money, but it is the kind of line item that shows whether anyone is watching the estate's costs.

Sources of Law and Data

All figures retrieved August 9, 2026. Fee schedules change; confirm the posted fee with the clerk before filing.

• Fla. Stat. §28.2401: probate filing service charges ($395 formal base, $340/$230 summary tiers, plus the $4 charge under subsection (3)). flsenate.gov
• Fla. Stat. §733.2121(2): notice to creditors published once a week for 2 consecutive weeks. flsenate.gov
• Fla. Stat. §50.061: legal-notice rates (commercial-rate override explains per-paper pricing). flsenate.gov
• Fla. Stat. §735.201: summary administration eligibility. flsenate.gov
• Fla. Stat. §733.101: probate venue (the county where the decedent was domiciled). flsenate.gov
• County clerk fee schedules (all retrieved 2026-08-09): Miami-Dade · Broward · Palm Beach · Hillsborough · Orange · Pinellas · Duval (posted January 2026 schedule) · Lee · Polk · Brevard
• Publication rate cards (2026): Business Observer legal notices ($105 flat; $75 Polk) · La Gaceta legal ad rates ($90 total). Metro-county figures ($150 to $250) are typical ranges reported by Florida probate firms, not posted flat rates.

Updated on August 9, 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. Figures are the posted government fees on the dates shown and are not our attorney fees; government costs are passed through at cost. This page is general information, not legal advice.