Florida Statute 732.806
“Gifts to lawyers and other disqualified persons”
What it means
Any part of a written instrument making a gift to the lawyer who prepared it or supervised its execution, or who solicited the gift, is void — and the same goes for a gift to anyone related to that lawyer. The one exception: the lawyer or recipient is related to the person making the gift.
“Related” is defined broadly — spouses, lineal ascendants and descendants, siblings, relatives in a close familial relationship, their spouses, and cohabitants — and the rule reaches lawyers in the same firm. Naming the lawyer as a fiduciary (personal representative or trustee) is not a gift and is not voided.
- Void: a gift to the preparing, supervising, or soliciting lawyer, or to a person related to that lawyer.
- Exception: the lawyer or other recipient is related to the maker of the instrument.
- Fiduciary appointments — the lawyer as personal representative or trustee — are outside the prohibition.
- Only the tainted part is void; the rest of the instrument stands.
- Courts must award costs, including attorney fees — but not against a party who brought the action in good faith.
- Applies to written instruments executed on or after October 1, 2013.
How it plays out
This is Florida's only categorical gift ban. Every other challenge — undue influence, lack of capacity — requires proof about the decedent's mind; §732.806 voids the drafter's gift automatically. When we review an estate plan that benefits its own drafting lawyer, the analysis is short: check the relationship exception and the execution date, and the gift either stands or it doesn't. The fee-shifting subsection does real work too, since a good-faith challenger does not risk paying the other side's lawyers.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.806 does real work:
Questions people ask
