Florida Statute 733.106
“Costs and attorney fees”
What it means
§733.106 decides who pays the lawyers in probate proceedings. Costs may be awarded as in chancery actions. A person who offered a will for probate in good faith receives costs and attorney fees from the estate even if probate is denied or revoked. Any attorney who has rendered services to an estate may be awarded reasonable compensation from it.
Subsection (4) is the part litigants feel: when fees are paid from the estate, the court may direct which part of the estate pays — including assessing them against one or more persons' shares in the proportions the court finds just, after weighing 8 listed factors. No finding of bad faith is required.
- Costs may be awarded as in chancery actions in all probate proceedings.
- A good-faith proponent of a will in due form gets costs and fees from the estate even if probate is denied or revoked.
- Any attorney who rendered services to an estate may be awarded reasonable compensation from it.
- Under §733.106(4), the court may direct what part of the estate pays — including a specific person's share.
- The court weighs 8 factors: merits, participation, benefit, and who unjustly increased the costs.
- Assessing a person's share requires no bad faith, wrongdoing, or frivolousness.
How it plays out
§733.106(4) changes how people litigate. A beneficiary who assumes the estate pays for the fight learns the court can charge the fees to their share alone — without finding they acted in bad faith. When a contest is brewing, we walk clients through the subsection (4) factors early, because the realistic question is rarely whether the fees get paid. It is whose inheritance they come out of.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 733.106 does real work:
Questions people ask
