Estate litigation in Florida is the formal court process used to resolve disputes that arise during the administration of a deceased person’s estate, including challenges to a will, fights among heirs over distributions, and claims that a personal representative breached a duty. These disputes are handled in the probate division of the circuit court where the decedent lived, and they are governed primarily by the Florida Probate Code (Chapters 731 through 735, Florida Statutes) and Part I of the Florida Probate Rules. When heirs cannot agree, or when a creditor and the family pull in opposite directions, litigation becomes the mechanism that decides who gets what, in what order, and whether the people in charge are doing their jobs.
I have spent years guiding Palm Beach families through exactly this kind of conflict, and I can tell you that most heir disputes are not really about money in the abstract. They are about a perceived slight, a sibling who got the keys to the house, a second spouse no one trusted, or a parent who changed the will three weeks before dying. The law channels those raw human feelings into specific causes of action. Understanding those causes of action, and the deadlines attached to them, is the difference between a grievance and a winnable case.
Why Heirs End Up in Litigation
Florida is a magnet for estate disputes for reasons that are demographic before they are legal. We have an older population, significant wealth, frequent remarriages, and a steady stream of out-of-state and international heirs who never met the people now controlling the estate. Add Florida’s strong homestead protections and its relatively generous creditor-claim framework, and you have fertile ground for conflict.
In my experience, the recurring triggers fall into a handful of buckets:
- A last-minute will or trust amendment that disinherits one child or dramatically favors a caregiver or new spouse.
- A personal representative who goes silent — no accounting, no communication, no distributions — leaving beneficiaries to assume the worst.
- Lifetime transfers, such as a parent adding one child to a bank account or deed before death, that strip assets out of the estate.
- Ambiguous or contradictory documents, where an old will, a newer trust, and beneficiary designations point in different directions.
- Creditor claims that consume the estate, pitting heirs against the people the decedent owed and against each other over who bears the loss.
That last category deserves special attention in Florida, because creditors are not bystanders. They are parties with enforceable rights that can outrank a beneficiary’s expectations entirely.
The Most Common Types of Estate Litigation in Florida
Will and Trust Contests
A will contest is a formal challenge asking the court to refuse to admit a will to probate, or to revoke probate of a will already admitted. Under Florida law the usual grounds are lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, or improper execution under Section 732.502, Florida Statutes, which sets the witnessing and signing formalities a valid will must satisfy.
Undue influence is the workhorse claim in Palm Beach. Florida courts apply a well-developed framework: if a person who is a substantial beneficiary occupied a confidential relationship with the decedent and was active in procuring the will, a presumption of undue influence can arise and shift the burden of proof. The leading authority remains In re Estate of Carpenter, and the legislature later codified the burden-shifting effect in Section 733.107, Florida Statutes. Proving these cases is fact-intensive — it lives in medical records, bank records, the drafting attorney’s file, and the testimony of people who watched the relationship up close.
Timing is everything. Once a will is admitted and you receive formal notice of administration under Section 733.212, you generally have three months to file objections to the will’s validity, the qualifications of the personal representative, or the venue. Miss that window and your objection is ordinarily barred. This is the single most common way otherwise valid claims die.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty by the Personal Representative
The personal representative (Florida’s term for an executor or administrator) is a fiduciary. Under Sections 733.602 and 733.609, Florida Statutes, that person must administer the estate diligently, in the best interests of the beneficiaries and creditors, and is personally liable for losses caused by a breach. When a representative self-deals, sits on assets, pays themselves excessive fees, fails to file an inventory, or simply will not produce an accounting, beneficiaries can petition the court to compel action, to surcharge the representative for losses, and ultimately to remove and replace them under Section 733.504.
These cases often resolve faster than will contests because the documentary trail either exists or it does not. A representative who cannot account for estate money is in a difficult position, regardless of how the family feels about the underlying will.
Disputes Over Creditor Claims
This is where our practice spends a great deal of its energy, and where heirs are most often blindsided. Florida runs a structured claims process. The personal representative must publish a notice to creditors and serve known or reasonably ascertainable creditors directly. A creditor then has a limited time to file a statement of claim — generally the later of three months from first publication or thirty days from being served — or the claim is barred under Section 733.702, Florida Statutes. Layered on top is the two-year statute of repose in Section 733.710, which bars most claims against the estate two years after death no matter what.
Heirs litigate over creditor claims in two directions. Sometimes a beneficiary wants to object to a claim under Section 733.705, forcing the creditor to file an independent action within thirty days to enforce it. Other times heirs fight each other over who absorbs the debt, because Florida law sets a statutory order for paying claims and abating gifts. If the estate is insolvent or close to it, the math determines whether a specific bequest survives at all, and that math is frequently contested.
Homestead and Spousal Rights Disputes
Florida’s constitutional homestead protection is a recurring flashpoint. Homestead generally passes outside the probate estate and is shielded from most creditors, but its descent is restricted when the decedent leaves a spouse or minor child. Separately, a surviving spouse has the elective share under Sections 732.201 through 732.2155 — typically thirty percent of the elective estate — plus other entitlements. Second-marriage estates produce some of the most bitter litigation we see, because the new spouse’s statutory rights collide head-on with the children’s expectations.
The Probate Litigation Process, Step by Step
Estate litigation rides alongside the ordinary probate administration rather than replacing it. The general arc looks like this:
- Administration opens. A petition is filed, a personal representative is appointed, and letters of administration issue. If a New York or other out-of-state estate also owns Florida property, an ancillary administration may run in parallel; understanding matters when a decedent’s affairs span more than one state.
- Notice goes out. Beneficiaries receive a notice of administration; creditors receive notice to creditors. The clock starts on nearly every deadline that matters.
- Objections and claims are filed. Heirs object to the will or the representative; creditors file statements of claim; the representative objects to claims it disputes.
- Discovery. Depositions, document requests, and subpoenas to banks, physicians, and the drafting attorney. This is where undue-influence and breach cases are won or lost.
- Mediation. Florida courts almost always order mediation before trial, and the large majority of estate disputes settle there.
- Trial and final distribution. If mediation fails, the probate judge decides — there is no jury in Florida probate proceedings — and the estate is distributed and closed.
One feature surprises many clients: Florida law allows the court, in its discretion, to award attorney’s fees to be paid from the estate, and even to direct fees against a specific party or against another party’s share when conduct warrants it. That possibility shapes settlement leverage from day one.
Deadlines That Quietly Decide Cases
If you take one thing from this article, make it this: Florida estate disputes are governed by hard deadlines, and the courts enforce them strictly. The ones that end cases before they begin include the three-month window to object to a will after notice of administration, the creditor-claim periods under Section 733.702, the two-year statute of repose under Section 733.710, the thirty-day deadline to sue after a claim is objected to under Section 733.705, and the time limits on electing the spousal elective share. A meritorious undue-influence case is worth nothing if the objection is filed in month four. Calendar these dates the moment you suspect a problem.
Resolving Disputes Without a Trial
Not every conflict belongs in a courtroom, and good counsel will tell you so. Many heir disputes resolve through a family settlement agreement, in which the beneficiaries agree to distribute the estate differently than the will or statute would dictate. Florida recognizes these agreements, and they can resolve a will contest without anyone ever proving capacity or undue influence. Others resolve through a negotiated accounting, a partial distribution, or the voluntary resignation of a problematic personal representative in exchange for a release.
The strategic question is rarely “can we sue” but “what does a win actually get this family, net of fees, delay, and relationships.” That calculus is where an experienced probate litigator earns their keep.
When to Bring in a Palm Beach Estate Litigation Attorney
Call counsel early — before deadlines run, before you sign a waiver you don’t understand, and before assets disappear. We routinely help clients who are beneficiaries fighting an unresponsive representative, representatives defending good-faith decisions against angry heirs, and creditors trying to preserve a claim against an estate that would rather ignore them. If you want to understand how a contested estate proceeds in another jurisdiction for comparison, Morgan Legal’s team explains the mechanics of a , and our Florida colleagues outline local practice on their page.
For background on the documents that drive these fights, see our overview of wills and their validity requirements and our practical guide to Florida probate administration. If your situation is time-sensitive, contact our Palm Beach office to review your deadlines before they expire.
Heir disputes are painful, but they are also solvable. The Florida Probate Code gives families a clear, if unforgiving, framework — and the families who do best are the ones who learn the rules early and act inside the deadlines rather than against them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline to contest a will in Florida?
Once a will is admitted to probate and you are served with formal notice of administration under Section 733.212, Florida Statutes, you generally have three months to file objections challenging the will’s validity, the personal representative’s qualifications, or venue. Missing this three-month window ordinarily bars the objection, even if the underlying undue-influence or capacity claim is strong, so it is critical to act quickly.
On what grounds can heirs challenge a will in Florida?
The most common grounds are lack of testamentary capacity, undue influence, fraud, duress, mistake, and improper execution that fails the witnessing and signing formalities of Section 732.502. Undue influence is the most frequently litigated claim; under Section 733.107 and Florida case law such as In re Estate of Carpenter, a presumption can arise when a substantial beneficiary in a confidential relationship was active in procuring the will.
How do creditor claims affect what heirs receive in a Florida estate?
Creditors who timely file a statement of claim within the periods set by Section 733.702, and within the two-year statute of repose in Section 733.710, have enforceable rights that are paid before beneficiaries receive distributions. Florida law sets a statutory order for paying claims and abating gifts, so in an insolvent or near-insolvent estate, creditor claims can reduce or eliminate a beneficiary’s inheritance entirely.
Can a personal representative be removed for mismanaging a Florida estate?
Yes. The personal representative is a fiduciary under Sections 733.602 and 733.609 and can be removed under Section 733.504 for failing to administer the estate properly, self-dealing, refusing to account, or otherwise breaching their duties. The court can also surcharge the representative personally for losses caused by the breach and compel an accounting.
Do estate disputes in Florida go to a jury trial?
No. Florida probate and estate litigation matters are decided by a probate judge, not a jury. Most disputes are resolved earlier through court-ordered mediation or a family settlement agreement, and only the cases that do not settle proceed to a bench trial before the judge.
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For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of probate in Palm Beach. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
