Florida Statute 732.517
“Penalty clause for contest”
What it means
A no-contest clause — the classic 'anyone who challenges this will gets nothing' — doesn't work in Florida. §732.517 makes any provision that purports to penalize an interested person for contesting the will, or for starting other proceedings about the estate, unenforceable. A beneficiary can bring a challenge and, win or lose, keep whatever the will left them.
Florida is deliberately in the minority here: the policy is that wrongdoing — fraud, undue influence, a forged signature — should be exposed in court, not deterred by the fear of forfeiting an inheritance. The parallel rule for trusts is §736.1108.
- A no-contest / in terrorem clause in a Florida will is unenforceable.
- It cannot penalize an interested person for contesting the will or bringing estate proceedings.
- A beneficiary may challenge and keep their gift regardless of the outcome.
- Florida is a minority state — most states enforce these clauses at least partially.
- The matching rule for trusts is §736.1108.
How it plays out
We get asked to write no-contest clauses constantly, usually by a parent bracing for a fight among children. In Florida we can't give them teeth — §732.517 voids them outright. What we can do is build a will that's hard to contest: clean execution under §732.502, a self-proving affidavit, contemporaneous capacity documentation, and sometimes a lifetime record of intent. The deterrent Florida allows is a well-proved will, not a threat of disinheritance the courts will ignore.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.517 does real work:
Questions people ask
