When someone you trust needs your estate planning documents, it helps to have a simple answer to the question of where they are.
For our clients, that answer is our Palm Harbor office. Permanent storage of your original estate planning documents in our fire-resistant and flood-resistant safes is included in our transparent, flat fees for document preparation, at no additional charge.
Those fees also include witnessing, notarization, duplication, scanning, and delivery of paper and PDF copies of your signed documents. There is no additional charge for these services.
Safekeeping also helps avoid a question about revocation. An original will last held by its maker, but missing after death, can give rise to a presumption that it was intentionally destroyed to revoke it. Evidence can overcome that presumption. Preserving the original with our office helps your family avoid having to resolve that uncertainty.1
Florida offers a way to prove a lost will, but a copy does not automatically take the original’s place in probate. Additional proof is required.2
Copies have an important job, too. Your health care surrogate should have a copy of the document naming that person, and your health care providers should have the instructions relevant to your care. Your financial agent may need a copy of your power of attorney. We can help you decide what should be shared and when an original may be needed.3, 4
Please let the people you have chosen to assist you know that our office holds your originals. They should have our contact information, even if you prefer to keep the details of your plan private.
Your documents remain yours. If you need an original returned or would like to make different arrangements, contact us so we can coordinate that with you.5
My hope is that you will feel comfortable setting your plan aside and getting on with your life, knowing where the documents are when someone needs them. Safekeeping is one small way we help make that possible.
Contact our office if you have questions about your originals or would like to review your estate plan.
For more detail, read Keeping your original estate planning documents safe and see How We Work.
Sources
Legal authorities reviewed October 26, 2026. Statutory references are to the 2026 Florida Statutes.
- Presumption of revocation. The rebuttable presumption, evidence concerning custody, and separate lost-will proof requirements. In re Washington’s Estate, 56 So. 2d 545, 547 (Fla. 1952); In re Estate of Parker, 382 So. 2d 652, 653 (Fla. 1980); Pilak v. Reigel, No. 5D2025-0269, slip op. at 4-5 (Fla. 5th DCA Feb. 6, 2026).
- Lost or destroyed wills. Additional proof required to establish a lost or destroyed will. Florida Statutes section 733.207.
- Copies of a power of attorney. Effect of copies and possible need for an original for real property recording. Florida Statutes section 709.2106 subsection 5.
- Access to health care documents. Copy to the surrogate and guidance on access for providers and trusted people. Florida Statutes section 765.202 subsection 1; AHCA Health Care Advance Directives guide.
- Preserving client originals. Advisory guidance on client originals and client wishes. Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 06-1.