Court Safekeeping of Original Wills in Florida

Short answer Florida § 732.901 requires a will custodian to deposit the original with the clerk of the court having venue of the estate within 10 days after learning the testator died. The custodian must provide the death date or the last four Social Security digits, and the clerk must preserve the original for at least 20 years. The cited section governs delivery after death.

State

Florida

Statute checked

October 5, 2026

Sources

5 statutes

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At a glance

Statutory safekeeping route	Postdeath custodian deposit within 10 days of death information (§ 732.901(1)).
Who may deposit	Custodian of a will; pleading submission counts as deposit (§ 732.901(1),(3)).
Proper court or clerk	Clerk of court having venue of decedent’s estate (§ 732.901(1)).
Envelope and filing record	Give death date or last four Social Security digits; no wrapper terms stated (§ 732.901(1)).
Fee and receipt	§ 732.901 states no deposit fee or receipt requirement.
Custody before death	§ 732.901 addresses custody after death, not lifetime storage.
Retrieval before death	§ 732.901 gives no lifetime retrieval procedure.
Notice after death	Death information triggers custodian’s 10-day deposit duty (§ 732.901(1)).
Opening and release after death	Clerk retains original at least 20 years; court can compel delinquent custodian (§ 732.901(2),(4)).

After-death delivery

Under § 732.901(1), a will custodian must deposit the will with the clerk of the court having venue of the decedent’s estate within 10 days after receiving information that the testator died. The custodian must give the clerk the testator’s date of death or the last four digits of the testator’s Social Security number. This is an after-death duty; the section supplies no procedure for storing or retrieving a will during the testator’s lifetime.

What trips people up

An original submitted with a probate petition or another pleading is deemed deposited under § 732.901(3). § 732.901(4) requires the clerk to keep the original in its original form for at least 20 years, even if probate proceedings end or the will is not admitted. Making a film or electronic record does not remove that duty.

Common questions

Can a custodian be ordered to produce the will? Yes. On petition and notice, § 732.901(2) permits an order to produce and deposit it. If the custodian lacked just or reasonable cause for failing to deposit, the court must assess costs, damages, and a reasonable attorney’s fee against that custodian.

Does the duty cover a separate will writing? Yes. § 732.901(5) expressly includes a separate writing described in the statute it references.

Statutes and sources

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(1)–(5). Verbatim official text, source URL, and access dates appear in the source fields above.

Source links

Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(1) · accessed 2026-10-05

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(2) · accessed 2026-10-05

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(3) · accessed 2026-10-05

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(4) · accessed 2026-10-05

Fla. Stat. § 732.901(5) · accessed 2026-10-05

This page summarizes statutes governing court or clerk custody of wills, not advice about a particular will. Filing for safekeeping does not itself establish validity or admission to probate. Check current official law and the receiving court’s authorized procedure before acting.

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