Probate in Florida

Probate is triggered when a person dies owning assets in their individual name that do not pass automatically through a beneficiary designation, right of survivorship, or a properly funded trust. Common triggers include a house, bank account, or vehicle titled solely in the deceased’s name, whether or not the deceased left a valid will. Even a complete estate plan can result in some probate if certain assets were never retitled or given a beneficiary designation.

Assets that pass by beneficiary designation, such as retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and payable-on-death bank accounts, avoid probate entirely, as does property held jointly with right of survivorship. Assets titled in the name of a properly funded revocable living trust also avoid probate, since the trust document, not the court, controls how they are distributed. A Lady Bird deed can likewise allow Florida real estate to pass directly to named beneficiaries outside of probate.

Summary administration is available for estates with probate assets of $150,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years, and it does not require a personal representative to be appointed. Formal administration applies to larger or more recently opened estates and involves the appointment of a personal representative, a three-month creditor claim period, and ongoing court supervision through final distribution. Summary administration is typically completed in weeks to a few months, while formal administration generally takes eight to twelve months for an uncontested estate.

In most cases, yes. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires a personal representative to be represented by a Florida-licensed attorney throughout formal administration, unless the personal representative is the estate’s only interested person. Summary administration does not require the appointment of a personal representative, so this rule applies differently, but most petitioners still use an attorney because of the risk of an incorrectly filed petition or an overlooked creditor claim.

Yes, if the trust is properly funded. A revocable living trust avoids probate only for assets that have actually been retitled into the trust’s name during the grantor’s lifetime. A trust that exists on paper but was never funded with real estate, bank accounts, or other assets does not prevent those unfunded assets from going through probate, so reviewing your trust’s funding periodically is the only way to confirm it will work as intended.