Contesting a will in Florida means asking a probate court to declare some or all of a will invalid, usually on grounds such as lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, or improper execution. Under Florida Statute 732.5165, a will procured by fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence is void, and the same is true of a revocation procured those ways. Most challenges must be raised within 90 days of the formal notice of administration, or the right is gone for good.
That last sentence is where I lose most people who call my Palm Beach office. They assume a will fight is something you can start whenever the dust settles and emotions cool down. In Florida, the clock is unforgiving, and it runs whether you are grieving, traveling, or simply unaware that the estate has been opened. So before we talk about grounds, let me be blunt about the part that actually decides who wins: timing and standing.
Who Can Contest a Will in Florida?
You cannot walk into a courthouse and object to a will because you think it is unfair. Florida law requires that you be an “interested person” — someone whose financial stake in the estate is affected by the outcome. In practice, that usually means one of the following:
- A beneficiary named in the will being challenged.
- A beneficiary named in a prior will who was cut out or reduced in the current one.
- An heir who would inherit under Florida’s intestacy laws if the will were thrown out entirely.
- A creditor of the estate whose ability to collect depends on how assets are distributed.
That creditor category matters more than most general-practice attorneys appreciate. On estates loaded with debt — unpaid medical bills, business obligations, judgments, disputed loans — the validity of the will can change which assets are reachable and in what order claims get paid. A creditor with a properly filed claim can have a real interest in whether a self-serving last-minute will survives. If you are sorting out an estate where the debts rival the assets, our overview of Florida probate administration walks through how claims and distributions interact.
The 90-Day Deadline You Cannot Ignore
Here is the rule that ends more will contests than any weak set of facts ever will. Once a personal representative is appointed, they serve a formal Notice of Administration on interested persons. Under Florida Statute 733.212, you have three months from the date that notice is served on you to file an objection challenging the validity of the will, the venue, or the court’s jurisdiction. Miss it, and the statute says your objection is “forever barred.”
“Forever barred” is not lawyer hyperbole. Florida courts enforce that language strictly. There is essentially one narrow escape hatch: estoppel, where the personal representative misstated the deadline and you reasonably relied on it. Do not plan around that exception. Plan around the calendar.
A few practical wrinkles I see constantly in Palm Beach County:
- Service triggers the clock, not the date of death. Someone can die in January and the notice may not land until June. Your 90 days run from service.
- Different people get served on different dates. Your sibling’s deadline may not be yours.
- Filing an objection is not the lawsuit itself. The objection preserves your rights; you then have to actually prosecute the contest, typically within 30 days of being served with a motion to strike or risk having the objection abandoned.
If you have received a notice and the date is ambiguous, do not guess. Treat the earliest plausible date as the trigger and talk to a probate attorney immediately.
Legal Grounds for Contesting a Will in Florida
Florida recognizes a defined set of grounds. Disliking the outcome is not one of them. To set a will aside, you generally have to prove one of the following.
Lack of Testamentary Capacity
The testator must have understood, at the moment of signing, three things: the general nature and extent of their property, the people who would naturally be expected to inherit, and the practical effect of signing the document. The legal threshold is lower than people expect. A person can be forgetful, physically frail, even diagnosed with mild dementia, and still have a “lucid interval” sufficient to make a valid will. What you need is evidence about the testator’s mind on the signing day specifically — medical records, the drafting attorney’s notes, witness recollections — not a general impression that they were declining.
Undue Influence
This is the heart of most contested estates I handle. Undue influence is more than persuasion or a strong personality. The contestant must show the testator’s free will was overpowered — that someone substituted their own intentions for the testator’s at the time of execution. Florida law and case law recognize a presumption of undue influence that shifts the practical burden when three elements line up: the alleged influencer (1) was a substantial beneficiary under the will, (2) occupied a confidential or fiduciary relationship with the testator, and (3) was active in procuring the will. Courts weigh additional “Carpenter factors,” drawn from In re Estate of Carpenter, such as presence during signing, securing witnesses, knowing the contents beforehand, and giving instructions to the drafting lawyer. For a deeper look at how these will-contest battles play out, Morgan Legal’s discussion of covers parallel principles, though Florida applies its own statutory presumption.
Fraud, Duress, and Mistake
Fraud comes in two flavors: fraud in the execution (the testator was tricked about what they were signing) and fraud in the inducement (they were fed lies that shaped how they distributed property). Duress involves coercion — threats or pressure that left the testator no real choice. Mistake is narrower and harder, since Florida courts are reluctant to rewrite an unambiguous document. All three, under Section 732.5165, render the affected portion void.
Improper Execution
Florida’s formalities under Section 732.502 are strict. The will must be signed by the testator (or by another at the testator’s direction and in their presence), and signed by at least two witnesses, all in each other’s presence. Get the choreography wrong — a witness who stepped out of the room, a missing signature — and an otherwise sincere will can fail. Holographic (unwitnessed handwritten) and oral wills are not valid in Florida, even if they would be honored in another state.
Revocation and Later Wills
Sometimes the fight is not that the offered will is invalid, but that a later valid will or codicil supersedes it. If a newer document surfaces, the question becomes which instrument controls — and whether any revocation was itself procured by improper means.
The Burden of Proof
Who has to prove what is often the whole ballgame. As a starting point, the party challenging the will carries the burden. The proponent shows the will was validly executed; the contestant then must prove the ground they assert. But the undue-influence presumption is a meaningful lever: once the contestant establishes those three elements, the burden of producing evidence shifts to the beneficiary to come forward with a reasonable explanation. That shift is why building the factual record early — before memories fade and before the personal representative consolidates control — is so important.
The Will Contest Process, Step by Step
- Confirm standing and the deadline. Are you an interested person, and when were you served? Everything flows from these two answers.
- File a timely objection to the validity of the will under Section 733.212 to preserve your rights.
- Initiate the contest by filing a petition that states your grounds, then prosecute it within the time the rules require.
- Discovery. This is where contests are won or lost — depositions of the drafting attorney and witnesses, subpoenas for medical and financial records, and review of the testator’s communications.
- Mediation. Florida courts routinely order mediation, and the majority of estate disputes settle. A negotiated split often beats the cost and risk of trial.
- Trial. If it does not settle, a judge (these are typically bench trials) decides validity based on the evidence.
A Word on No-Contest Clauses and Costs
Many wills contain an “in terrorem” or no-contest clause threatening to disinherit anyone who challenges the document. Good news for Floridians: under Section 732.517, such clauses are unenforceable in Florida wills. You will not lose your inheritance simply for raising a legitimate challenge. That said, litigation is expensive, and Florida generally follows the American rule on fees — each side usually bears its own — though courts have discretion to assess fees against the estate or a party in certain circumstances. Go in with a clear-eyed cost-benefit analysis, not just righteous anger.
How This Plays Out in Palm Beach Estates
Palm Beach County sees more than its share of high-value estates, blended families, late-in-life marriages, and caregivers who become beneficiaries. Those are precisely the fact patterns that breed undue-influence claims. They are also estates where creditors — lenders, business partners, medical providers — have genuine stakes in whether a questionable will stands. If you are a beneficiary who got cut out, an heir watching a caregiver inherit everything, or a creditor whose recovery depends on the estate’s true plan, the analysis is the same: confirm your standing, mind the 90-day clock, and preserve the evidence now.
For estate planning and probate matters across Florida, our colleagues at the Morgan Legal Florida probate practice handle these disputes statewide. If your matter touches New York — out-of-state property, a New York domicile question, or a multi-state estate — Morgan Legal’s New York team explains how work, which is useful when an estate straddles both states.
Before you do anything else, get the will and your notice in front of someone who litigates these cases. You can also review our guidance on Florida wills and estate planning to understand what a valid will should have looked like in the first place. The strongest contests start the day the notice arrives, not the week the deadline expires.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to contest a will in Florida?
Generally three months (90 days) from the date you are served with the formal Notice of Administration, under Florida Statute 733.212. Miss that window and your objection is ‘forever barred,’ with only a narrow estoppel exception when the personal representative misstated the deadline. The clock runs from service, not from the date of death.
What are valid grounds to contest a will in Florida?
Florida recognizes lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, and improper execution (failure to meet the witnessing formalities). A later valid will or codicil can also supersede an earlier one. Disagreeing with how property was divided, by itself, is not a legal ground.
Can a no-contest clause cause me to lose my inheritance in Florida?
No. Under Florida Statute 732.517, no-contest (in terrorem) clauses in wills are unenforceable. You can challenge a will on legitimate grounds without forfeiting a bequest you would otherwise receive, though you should still weigh the cost and risk of litigation.
Who has the burden of proof in a Florida will contest?
The party challenging the will generally bears the burden of proving the asserted ground. However, for undue influence, once the contestant shows the alleged influencer was a substantial beneficiary, held a confidential relationship with the testator, and was active in procuring the will, a presumption of undue influence shifts the burden of producing a reasonable explanation to the beneficiary.
Can a creditor of the estate contest a will?
Yes, if the creditor qualifies as an interested person whose financial recovery is affected by the will’s validity. On debt-heavy estates, which instrument controls can change which assets are reachable and how claims are paid, giving a creditor a genuine stake in challenging a questionable will.
Have a question about your estate?
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For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida probate administration. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .