Florida Probate Bond, Cost, Waiver and Whether You Get It Back

What Is a Probate Bond?

A probate bond is a promise by a surety company that the estate will be made whole if the personal representative fails to do the job properly, and I start here because almost nobody arrives knowing it. Florida law requires the bond to be payable to the Governor and the Governor's successors in office, conditioned on the performance of all duties as personal representative according to law, and it must be joint and several. The clerk approves it without a service fee.

Now the part worth stating before anything else. A probate bond does not protect the personal representative. It protects the estate, the beneficiaries and the creditors, and when a surety pays out it generally has the right to recover what it paid from the personal representative who caused the loss.

So the personal representative arranges the bond, signs for it, and gets no coverage from it. I say that early because people arrive assuming a bond is a safety net for the person serving, and it is closer to the opposite.

When Is a Bond Required in Florida?

Florida law states the rule and the 2 exits in one sentence, and I check the will for the second one before anything else. Unless the bond requirement has been waived by the will or by the court, every fiduciary to whom letters are granted must execute and file a bond with surety.

A third exclusion sits in the same section. The bond requirement does not apply to banks and trust companies authorized by law to act as personal representative, which is why a corporate fiduciary never posts one.

In practice most Florida wills drafted by an attorney waive bond, so the requirement usually surfaces in three situations. An intestate estate with no will to waive anything. An estate where the person appointed is not the person the will named. And an estate where a court looks at the facts and declines to waive it.

One more provision keeps a defective bond alive. No bond is void or invalid because of an informality in it, or because of an informality or illegality in the appointment of the fiduciary, and in that case the bond has the same force as if the appointment had been legally made and the bond executed properly.

How Much Does a Probate Bond Cost?

Two different numbers get confused here, and I separate them on the first call because that alone answers the question.

The amount of the bond is set by the court. Florida law directs that all bonds be in the penal sum the court deems sufficient after considering the gross value of the estate, the relationship of the personal representative to the beneficiaries, exempt property and any family allowance, the type and nature of the assets, known creditors, and liens and encumbrances on the assets.

Read that list. A judge weighing a bond for a daughter administering her mother's estate of bank accounts is doing a different calculation from one weighing a bond for a distant relative administering a portfolio of rental property with tenants and mortgages.

The premium is what a surety company charges to write a bond in that amount. No Florida statute sets it. The carrier prices it on the bond amount and on the applicant's credit, which is why two people posting identical bonds can be quoted different premiums, and why a personal representative with credit problems sometimes cannot obtain a bond at all.

Practice pointer. I get the court's bond amount first and then shop the premium, rather than the other way around. Families who call a surety before the amount is set are given a number based on a guess about the estate, and the guess is usually high because the caller describes gross value rather than what the court will actually consider.

Who Pays for It?

The estate pays, and I put the premium in the administration budget rather than asking anyone to carry it. Florida law provides that a personal representative or other fiduciary required to give bond shall pay the reasonable premium as an expense of administration.

The phrase "expense of administration" settles an argument I see families have regularly. The personal representative fronts the premium and is reimbursed from the estate, and serving does not mean personally absorbing the cost of being bonded.

The qualifier is reasonable. A premium out of line with the market is open to challenge in the same way any other administration expense is, so keeping the quote and the comparison is worth the file space.

Do You Get a Probate Bond Back?

No, and I would rather say so before a client budgets for a refund. A bond premium buys coverage for a period, the way a premium on any insurance policy does, and the surety keeps it whether or not a claim is ever made.

The bond is one line in a larger cost picture. The clerk's filing fee, publication and the attorney's fee are the rest of it, and the probate cost calculator puts a number on the whole thing, while the county-by-county study shows how little the filing fee actually varies across Florida. The bond premium is the one cost that scales with the size of the estate rather than the county.

The confusion comes from how a bond is described. The bond is named by its face amount, that amount is frequently large, and people reasonably assume somebody is holding that money. Nobody is. The personal representative never pays the face amount. The personal representative pays a much smaller premium to a company that agrees to stand behind the face amount if something goes wrong.

The distinction matters for planning, because a bond is a recurring cost rather than a one-time deposit that comes back at the end. An estate that stays open for three years is renewing.

Does the Bond Protect Me if I Make a Mistake?

A common question I hear is, "If I am bonded, am I covered?" No, and it is the reverse of what people expect. The bond protects the estate and its beneficiaries from the personal representative, so a surety that pays a claim generally turns around and seeks the money from the personal representative who caused the loss. What actually protects somebody serving in the role is doing the job correctly, keeping the estate's money separate, and not distributing anything before the creditor period has run.

How Long Does a Probate Bond Last?

Through the administration, and in my experience renewed annually for as long as the estate stays open.

A surety can also ask to be let out. On the petition of any interested person, the surety is entitled to be released from liability for the future acts and omissions of the fiduciary. Pending the hearing the court may restrain the fiduciary from acting, except to preserve the estate. On hearing, the court sets the amount of a new bond and a date for filing it, and a fiduciary who fails to give the new bond is removed at once.

Coverage does not move. The original surety remains liable under its original bond for all acts and omissions of the fiduciary occurring before the new surety is approved and the new bond is filed and approved, and the new surety is liable only after that. The approval date is the dividing line, with no gap and no retroactive coverage.

Separately, a surety's exposure has a ceiling in one specific situation. No surety is charged beyond the value of the assets of an estate because of any omission or mistake in pleading, or false pleading, by the personal representative or curator.

How to Get the Bond Waived

Two routes, and I point clients at the cheaper one years before it matters.

The first is the will. A waiver of bond is one sentence, written while the person is alive, and it costs nothing to include. Most Florida wills drafted by an attorney contain one, which is the practical reason bond questions cluster in intestate estates.

The second is the court. A request to waive or reduce bond is made in or alongside the petition for administration, and a judge weighs the same considerations that set the amount, including the size of the estate, the relationship between the personal representative and the beneficiaries, and the creditors. Written waivers and consents signed by all the beneficiaries carry real weight in an uncontested estate.

Avoid treating a bond waiver as free protection given up. A waiver removes the estate's recovery route if the personal representative mishandles things, which is a reasonable trade when a sole beneficiary is serving as her own personal representative and a poor one when siblings do not trust each other. Getting the appointment right is covered on executor vs. executrix in Florida, and letters of administration covers the step the bond sits inside.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Situations

The intestate estate with three siblings. A Pinellas County family had no will, so there was nothing to waive bond, and two of the three siblings objected to waiving it by consent. The court set a bond, the premium became an expense of administration, and the estate carried it for the two years the house took to sell. A will waiving bond would have removed the cost and the argument together.

The credit problem nobody anticipated. A nominated personal representative in a Brevard County estate could not obtain a bond on acceptable terms because of his own credit history. The nomination was sound and the qualification rules were met, and the practical obstacle was a private company's underwriting rather than anything in the probate code. The family used the statutory order of preference to have another relative appointed.

Sources of Law

• Fla. Stat. §733.402(1) (unless waived by the will or by the court, every fiduciary to whom letters are granted shall execute and file a bond with surety as defined in Fla. Stat. §45.011, approved by the clerk without a service fee, payable to the Governor and the Governor's successors in office, conditioned on the performance of all duties according to law, and joint and several); (2) (no bond is void or invalid because of an informality in it or an informality or illegality in the appointment, and the bond has the same force as if the appointment had been legally made); (3) (the section does not apply to banks and trust companies authorized by law to act as personal representative).
• Fla. Stat. §733.403 (bonds shall be in the penal sum the court deems sufficient after consideration of the gross value of the estate, the relationship of the personal representative to the beneficiaries, exempt property and any family allowance, the type and nature of assets, known creditors, and liens and encumbrances on the assets).
• Fla. Stat. §733.404 (no surety for a personal representative or curator shall be charged beyond the value of the assets of an estate because of any omission or mistake in pleading or of false pleading by the personal representative or curator).
• Fla. Stat. §733.405(1) (on the petition of any interested person the surety is entitled to be released from liability for the future acts and omissions of the fiduciary); (2) (pending hearing the court may restrain the fiduciary from acting except to preserve the estate); (3) (the court prescribes the amount of the new bond and the date for filing, and a fiduciary who fails to give it shall be removed at once); (4) (the original surety remains liable under its original bond for all acts and omissions occurring before approval of the new surety and filing and approval of the new bond, and the new surety is liable only after filing and approval).
• Fla. Stat. §733.406 (a personal representative or other fiduciary required to give bond shall pay the reasonable premium as an expense of administration).
• ⚠ No premium figure is quoted on this page. Surety premiums are set by the carrier on the bond amount and the applicant's credit, are not fixed by Florida statute, and vary between applicants. Obtain a quote from a surety once the court has set the bond amount.
• ⚠ Whether a bond is required or waived is decided estate by estate. Nothing here predicts what a court will order in any case. Confirm your own position before accepting an appointment.
• Advertised fees are honored for 90 days from the posted date. Government costs, including filing fees, publication, recording and certified copies, are additional and passed through at cost. General information about Florida law, not legal advice.

What I See in These Files

In 14 years of law practice the bond is the part of a Florida probate people understand least and worry about most. I have a few take-home points.

The first is direction. Almost everyone who asks me about a bond believes it is there to protect them, and it is there to protect everyone else from them. That misunderstanding has a practical cost, because a personal representative who thinks they are insured is less careful with the estate's money than one who understands that the surety will come looking for reimbursement. Nothing about being bonded reduces personal exposure.

The second is the drafting side. A bond waiver is a single sentence in a will and it is free when the will is written. When it is missing, the estate pays a premium every year it stays open, and in a family where the siblings are not getting along the waiver request turns into a contested motion. I also litigate probate disputes in court, work most planning attorneys never do, and the estates where bond becomes a fight are almost always the ones with no will at all.

Avoid asking for a bond waiver reflexively in an estate where the beneficiaries have real disagreements. The bond exists so that a beneficiary who is wronged has somewhere to go, and waiving it removes that route. The right question is whether the people the estate is for would want it, not whether the person serving would prefer to skip the paperwork.

Updated on September 14, 2026. Reviewed by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. General information about Florida law, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Whether your estate needs a bond depends on your facts, which we confirm at a free consult.