Short answer: In Florida, a real estate attorney is not required for most residential closings — but for anything with money, title, or leverage at stake, the attorney you choose determines whether problems get caught before closing or after. In Orlando and the surrounding Florida counties, the right choice usually comes down to five things: real estate depth, direct attorney involvement, whether the firm can also handle title and closing, litigation capability, and clear communication about scope and cost.
Do you need a real estate attorney in Florida?
Florida does not require an attorney to close a residential real estate transaction. Title companies can issue title insurance and conduct closings without one. That is why many buyers and sellers never speak to a lawyer during a transaction at all.
The distinction matters when something in the file is not routine. A title company can identify a defect in the chain of title; it cannot advise you on how to resolve it, draft the instrument that cures it, or represent you if the other side refuses to perform. Situations where legal representation typically earns its cost include:
- Commercial purchases, sales, leases, and financing
- Title defects, boundary questions, liens, or unresolved probate in the chain of title
- Seller financing or private lending
- Deed preparation and property transfers between family members or entities
- Landlord matters and evictions
- Contract disputes, failed closings, or any matter heading toward litigation
1. Look for genuine real estate depth, not a general practice
"Real estate" appears on a large share of Florida law firm websites. The useful question is narrower: is real property the core of the practice, or one item on a long list?
Ask what portion of the firm's work involves real estate, and whether the firm has handled your specific issue — a commercial acquisition, a lender's loan documentation, a landlord-side eviction, a quiet title action, a deed with a homestead complication. Transactions have patterns, and the value of an experienced real estate attorney is largely pattern recognition: seeing the problem in the title commitment or the contract before it becomes expensive.
Hennen Law is a real-estate-focused Orlando firm. Michael W. Hennen has more than 25 years of experience, including sophisticated transactional and litigation work at Shutts & Bowen LLP, where he was a partner, and Akerman LLP, where he was an associate.
2. Ask who will actually handle your file
At larger firms, the attorney you meet is often not the attorney who does the work. Files are staffed down to associates and paralegals, and questions travel through layers before they reach someone who can answer them.
Ask directly: Who will draft my documents? Who will I call with questions? Who attends the closing? If the answer is a name you have not met, understand that before you engage the firm. Some matters are large enough to require a team. Many do not, and direct attorney involvement usually means faster answers and fewer things lost in a handoff.
3. Consider whether the firm can handle title and closing too
In most Florida transactions the legal work and the closing sit with two different companies. When a legal question surfaces mid-transaction — a survey exception, an heir who never signed, a payoff that doesn't reconcile — the title company has to stop and wait for a lawyer.
When one office serves as both counsel and closing and title agent, that gap closes. Legal issues that arise during the transaction can be addressed by the same office that is preparing the closing documents. If you are a seller, ask whether the firm can serve as the closing agent, and confirm what the title and closing fees are alongside the legal fee.
4. Confirm the firm can litigate, not just paper the deal
Transactional and litigation skill are different disciplines, and most real estate matters never require the second one. But the possibility of litigation shapes how a transaction should be documented in the first place.
An attorney who has tried real property disputes drafts differently — clearer default provisions, cleaner remedies, better records. And if the deal does fall apart, you are not starting over with a new firm that has to learn the file. Ask whether the firm handles real property litigation: contract disputes, foreclosure, quiet title, partition, evictions, and construction or lien claims.
5. Get scope and cost in plain terms before you engage
Before you sign an engagement letter, you should know what the fee covers, what falls outside it, whether the matter is billed hourly or at a flat fee, and what costs (recording fees, documentary stamp tax, title premiums, court costs) are separate from the fee.
You should also get a straight answer about the practical path forward. Not every problem is worth litigating, and not every transfer needs a complex structure. An attorney who tells you when the cheaper or simpler option is the right one is giving you useful advice.
Why local Florida experience matters
Real estate practice is county-level work. Recording requirements, clerk procedures, local court practice, municipal and county land use rules, HOA and condominium dynamics, and even the customary allocation of closing costs vary across Florida.
An attorney working regularly in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, and the surrounding counties knows how filings are handled locally and how long things realistically take. If your property is in Florida, there is a real advantage to counsel who practices here.
Questions to ask before you hire
- What share of your practice is real estate, and have you handled matters like mine?
- Will you personally handle my file, or will it be assigned to someone else?
- Can your office also serve as the title and closing agent?
- Do you handle real property litigation if this matter becomes contested?
- Which counties do you regularly work in?
- How are your fees structured, and what costs are separate?
- How quickly do you typically respond, and what is the best way to reach you?
Red flags
- No clear answer about who will do the work
- A quoted price with no written scope behind it
- Pressure to sign an engagement before your questions are answered
- A deed or transfer offered as a form-fill product with no review of title, homestead status, documentary stamp tax, or the effect on your existing mortgage
- Predictions of a specific outcome in a contested matter
Talk to an Orlando real estate attorney
Hennen Law, PLLC represents property owners, investors, lenders, landlords, developers, and sellers throughout Florida — commercial and residential transactions, attorney-led closings and title, lender representation, landlord matters, deeds and property transfers, and real property litigation.
The office is at 425 W Colonial Dr #204, Orlando, FL 32804, open Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5PM. To discuss a specific matter, call 407-203-1102 or use the contact form.