Probate is the court-supervised process for administering property that a person leaves at death without an effective nonprobate transfer. Understanding the work involved can make the process less unfamiliar and help a family prepare useful records and ask the right questions.
What Goes on During Probate
Florida’s two principal administration procedures are formal administration and summary administration. Under the current summary-administration statute, the value route is an estate subject to administration in Florida, less creditor-exempt property, of $150,000 or less; alternatively, the person may have been dead for more than two years. A will must not direct administration under chapter 733. Eligibility and practical suitability require review, and separate limited procedures exist for certain small personal-property estates.
Probate administration concerns probate property. Assets with an effective survivorship arrangement, beneficiary designation or properly funded trust may pass outside it. Joint ownership alone does not establish survivorship; an interest held as a tenant in common can require probate. These distinctions are central to planning how property will pass.
To begin probate, the required documentation and forms, along with a filing fee, are submitted to the clerk of the circuit court, usually in the county where the decedent was residing at the time of death. The clerk of court will assign a file number as well as manage the paperwork that will be submitted during the administration of the estate. The proceedings are usually initiated by the personal representative named in the will, but sometimes other interested parties will do this instead.
Required notices give interested people an opportunity to exercise their rights, including raising appropriate objections. In formal administration, the court determines whether to admit a will and appoint a qualified personal representative. Letters of administration evidence the appointed representative’s authority. Summary administration generally uses a distribution order without this appointment process.
In formal administration, the personal representative identifies, secures and manages estate property, keeps records, gives required creditor notices and addresses valid claims, taxes and expenses in the proper order. Appropriate distributions then follow the will or, where no valid disposition governs, Florida intestacy law. The representative owes fiduciary duties and generally must be represented by a Florida attorney, subject to limited rule-based exceptions.
Closing ordinarily involves a final accounting and petition for discharge, with notice and an opportunity for objections, unless applicable requirements are properly waived or another authorized procedure applies. The representative documents distributions and other necessary completion steps before obtaining discharge. Counsel can help determine the correct sequence and preserve an appropriate reserve while unresolved matters remain.
Estate Planning Attorney
If you need to administer an estate or want to plan ahead, Verras Law can help you understand the steps and the information needed. Contact us to discuss the property, family circumstances and available options.
Sources: Florida Statutes § 735.201; Florida Statutes § 733.602; Florida Statutes § 733.901; Florida Probate Rules 5.030 and 5.400.
Updated October 26, 2026.