Expert witness fees in Florida are set by agreement between the parties under section 92.231 of the Florida Statutes and then taxed as costs against the losing side, but the prevailing party only gets to recover them if a signed written report was served on the opposing parties within the deadlines in section 57.071. Miss that report requirement and the expert can still testify, yet the fee claim becomes very hard to collect. The rules below walk through how the fee is set, what you have to do to preserve the right to recover it, and the situations that change the math.
How the Fee Amount Gets Set
Section 92.231 does not fix a rate or a cap. It provides that a testifying expert receives a fee “in an amount agreed to by the parties,” along with the cost of any exhibits the expert uses, and that this amount is taxed as costs in the judgment.1Justia. Florida Code 92.231 – Expert Witnesses; Fee The negotiation sits with the parties and the expert.
Depositions are the common sticking point. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.390 fills the gap: when the parties and the expert cannot agree on a deposition fee, the court sets “a reasonable amount” and a reasonable time for payment. Whatever the court finds reasonable can then be taxed as costs the same way a trial testimony fee can.
What courts treat as reasonable turns on the expert’s qualifications and specialty, the complexity of the subject matter, the time invested, and prevailing rates for similar experts in the relevant field. A board-certified forensic accountant on a multimillion-dollar fraud case commands a substantially higher rate than a general contractor opining on a roof leak. Some circuits have formalized the process with standing orders that require the parties to agree on an hourly rate at the outset, with disputes over charges above that rate resolved by a post-trial cost motion.2Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. Order on Retained Expert Witness Fees
The Written Report Prerequisite
Section 57.071 is the quiet dealbreaker. Expert witness fees cannot be taxed as costs unless the retaining party gives each opposing party a signed written report that summarizes the expert’s opinions, the factual basis for those opinions, any documentary evidence relied on, and the authorities supporting the conclusions.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 57.071
The timing is strict. The report must be served at least five days before the expert’s deposition or at least 20 days before discovery cutoff, whichever comes first, unless the court orders otherwise. Cases proceeding under the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure are exempt.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 57.071 Attorneys who retain experts late in a case, or who prioritize deposition prep over the report, often reach the cost-taxation stage only to find the statutory prerequisite was never satisfied. The statute uses mandatory language, and courts are generally unforgiving.
What You Can Recover, and What You Can’t
The recoverable category is testifying experts. Section 92.231 applies to experts who “have testified in any cause,” and the fee plus exhibit costs is taxed as costs once the amount is set.1Justia. Florida Code 92.231 – Expert Witnesses; Fee The prevailing party in a civil action collects under Florida’s general cost-recovery statute, section 57.041, which provides that the party recovering judgment “shall recover all his or her legal costs and charges.”4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 57.041 – Costs; Recovery From Losing Party For a testifying expert this normally covers trial testimony time, deposition fees, and exhibit costs.
Consulting experts who never testify are a different story. Section 92.231 only covers witnesses who have testified, and section 57.071’s report requirement likewise assumes a testifying expert. Fees paid to a pure consultant generally cannot be taxed as costs. They may still be recoverable as a component of attorney’s fees where a statute or contract shifts fees, treated as part of the attorney’s reasonable expenses in preparing the case rather than as a standalone cost item.
Claiming the Fee After Trial
Expert fees are not automatic. The prevailing party has to ask for them, and the request has to be supported.
- Confirm first that the signed written report required by section 57.071 was served on all opposing parties within the statutory deadlines. Without it, the claim is vulnerable before it starts.3Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 57.071
- File a post-trial motion to tax costs that details the expert’s fee, what it covered, and why the amount is reasonable.2Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. Order on Retained Expert Witness Fees
- Attach invoices, time records, and the fee agreement between the retaining party and the expert. Courts expect enough detail to evaluate whether the rate and hours were reasonable for the complexity of the case.
- Be ready to respond to objections. The opposing party can challenge the fees as excessive, unnecessary, or unsupported, and the burden to justify each component sits with the party seeking recovery.
Courts have discretion to reduce or deny the award. Common grounds include rates that exceed what similarly qualified experts charge in the same geographic area, hours that appear inflated for the issues the expert addressed, and fees for work that duplicated the attorney’s own analysis without adding independent value. An expert billing $750 an hour for work most peers in the area would perform for $400 will see a reduction regardless of credentials.
Offer of Judgment and Who Ends Up Paying
Florida’s offer of judgment statute, section 768.79, can flip the direction of fee shifting entirely. If a defendant serves a written offer of judgment that the plaintiff rejects, and the plaintiff’s eventual judgment comes in at least 25 percent below the offer, the defendant recovers reasonable costs and attorney’s fees from the date the offer was served.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 768.79 – Offer of Judgment and Demand for Judgment
The rule runs the other way too. If a plaintiff serves a demand for judgment that the defendant rejects, and the plaintiff’s recovery exceeds the demand by at least 25 percent, the plaintiff recovers costs and attorney’s fees from the date of the demand. The statute expressly includes “investigative expenses” in recoverable costs.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 768.79 – Offer of Judgment and Demand for Judgment A well-timed offer or demand can push tens of thousands of dollars in expert costs onto the other party when the trial result lands within the statutory threshold.
No Contingency Fees for Testifying Experts
Paying a testifying expert on a contingency basis is improper. Under ABA Model Rule 3.4, which Florida’s ethics rules follow, an expert cannot be paid a fee tied to the outcome of the case.6American Bar Association. Ethics Issues in the Use of Expert Witnesses An expert who stands to earn more from a favorable verdict has a financial reason to shade testimony, which is exactly what courts rely on expert testimony not to do.
The prohibition targets testifying experts. Consulting experts who never take the stand generally fall outside the rule because they aren’t presenting testimony that a financial stake could influence.6American Bar Association. Ethics Issues in the Use of Expert Witnesses Paying a testifying expert a reasonable hourly or flat fee remains perfectly proper. The line sits between compensating for time and compensating for results.
If the Case Is in Federal Court
Federal cases filed in Florida follow a different framework. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4)(E) requires the party seeking expert discovery to pay the expert “a reasonable fee for time spent responding to that discovery,” unless manifest injustice would result. That covers deposition testimony, and some courts extend it to reasonable preparation and travel time.
Where the state system leaves the fee to the parties under section 92.231, the federal rule gives the court direct authority to cap what the discovering party must reimburse. Even if an expert’s standard rate is $800 an hour, the court can limit reimbursement to what it finds reasonable for the field and the issues.
After trial, the prevailing party in federal court recovers expert costs by filing a Bill of Costs on Form AO 133. The bill needs itemized documentation for each cost category and an affidavit verifying that each item is correct and was necessarily incurred.7United States Courts. Bill of Costs (AO 133) The clerk may tax costs after 14 days’ notice, and either party can seek court review within seven days after that.
A Pending Change to Fee-Hearing Experts
A March 2026 decision from Florida’s 6th District Court of Appeal may remove a whole category of expert cost from attorney’s fee disputes. In Ruffenach v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, the court held that trial judges are not always required to receive expert testimony or hold evidentiary hearings before awarding attorney’s fees under a statute, rule, or contract.8Florida Courts. Ruffenach v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company
The court found that the longstanding requirement for expert testimony on fee reasonableness was a judicial invention dating to 1964 with no basis in any statute or rule, and that trial judges are themselves experienced in attorney’s fees and capable of evaluating reasonableness from billing records, affidavits, and counsel’s representations.8Florida Courts. Ruffenach v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company The decision certified conflict with 37 other appellate decisions, making review by the Florida Supreme Court likely. If the ruling stands, attorneys would no longer need to retain a separate fee expert just to collect on an attorney’s fee award, which the court described as feeding “a cottage industry of people who testify as fee experts and ask for exorbitant hourly rates to do so.”