Knowledge & Resources
Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
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Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
Florida is one of the strictest states on how a will is signed, and one of the few that will not accept a handwritten will from its own residents.
A Florida will must be signed by the testator at the end of the document, or have the testator's name subscribed at the end by someone else in their presence and at their direction. That signing, or the testator's acknowledgment of it, must happen in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses. The strict part comes next: the witnesses must then sign in the presence of the testator and in the presence of each other. Everyone in one room at one time is not merely advisable in Florida, it is what the statute describes.
Fla. Stat. § 732.502(1)
No. Section 732.502 requires two attesting witnesses, not a notary, and notarizing a Florida will does not make it valid. A notary appears only in connection with a self-proving affidavit, which is a separate matter and does not replace the witnesses.
Fla. Stat. § 732.502
No. Florida does not accept handwritten wills that were not properly witnessed, and it says so explicitly: a will in the testator's own handwriting must still meet the ordinary signing requirements. The narrow exception is a will executed by a nonresident elsewhere, and even that carves holographic wills out. A handwritten will made at home in Florida without two witnesses is worth nothing there.
Fla. Stat. § 732.502(2)
Any person competent to be a witness may witness a Florida will, and a will or codicil is not invalid because it was signed by an interested witness. The gift to that witness stands. Disinterested witnesses are still the better habit, since they remove a line of attack, but Florida imposes no penalty.
Fla. Stat. § 732.504
Any person of sound mind who is either 18 or older, or an emancipated minor, may make a will in Florida.
Fla. Stat. § 732.501
Fla. Stat. § 732.502 (Execution of wills). In writing, signed by the testator at the end (or their name subscribed by another in their presence and at their direction), in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses, who must sign in the presence of the testator and of each other.
Links last checked 2026-08-24.
This is general information about the law, not legal advice, and it has not been reviewed by an attorney licensed in Florida. Requirements change. Confirm the current rules for your state before you sign.
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