How to Open a Probate Estate in Florida: A Step-by-Step Guide

To open a probate estate in Florida, you file a petition for administration in the circuit court of the county where the decedent lived, deposit the original will with that court within ten days of learning of the death, and ask the court to appoint a personal representative who will then receive letters of administration. Those letters are the document that actually gives someone legal authority to act for the estate. Until they issue, no one can lawfully gather assets, pay bills, or settle the claims that creditors are entitled to bring.

That last point matters more in Florida than most people expect. Our state has one of the most creditor-conscious probate codes in the country, and the moment you open an estate you start a clock that determines who gets paid, in what order, and whether the heirs receive anything at all. This guide walks through how to open a Florida probate estate the right way, with the creditor side kept front and center where it belongs.

What “opening a probate estate” actually means in Florida

People use “opening probate” loosely. Legally, it means three distinct things happening in sequence: depositing the will, petitioning for administration, and obtaining the appointment of a personal representative. Florida calls the executor a personal representative (the terms are interchangeable in casual speech, but the statute uses the former).

Probate is the court-supervised process of transferring a deceased person’s assets that were titled in their name alone, with no beneficiary designation and no surviving joint owner. If everything the decedent owned passed by beneficiary designation, joint title, or a funded revocable trust, you may not need to open a probate estate at all. But if there is a bank account in the decedent’s sole name, a piece of real property, a vehicle, or an uncollected debt owed to them, those are probate assets and they need a court-appointed fiduciary to reach them.

Step 1: Determine which type of administration you need

Florida offers more than one path, and choosing correctly at the outset saves months. The two principal forms are formal administration and summary administration, governed by Chapters 733 and 735 of the Florida Statutes respectively.

• Formal administration — the default, full process. Required when the probate estate exceeds $75,000 in non-exempt assets, or when the decedent has been dead less than two years and you need a personal representative with ongoing authority (for example, to manage a business, prosecute a lawsuit, or negotiate with creditors).
• Summary administration — available when the value of the probate estate subject to administration is $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years. It is faster and cheaper, but it does not appoint a personal representative, which limits flexibility.
• Disposition without administration — a narrow option, mostly for reimbursing whoever paid final medical and funeral expenses out of a very small estate.

Here is the trap on the creditor side: summary administration does not give you a clean, court-driven mechanism to cut off creditor claims the way formal administration does. In a creditor-heavy estate, the apparent savings of summary administration can evaporate the first time an unknown medical lien surfaces. We routinely steer families toward formal administration precisely because it lets us publish notice and run the claims bar period under the court’s supervision.

Step 2: File in the correct county and court

Probate is handled by the circuit court, not the county court, and venue lies in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death. If the decedent was a Palm Beach County resident, you file with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in West Palm Beach. If the decedent lived out of state but owned Florida real property, venue lies in the county where that property sits — this is called ancillary administration.

Two filings happen almost simultaneously:

1. Deposit the original will. Under Florida Statute 732.901, the custodian of the will must deposit it with the clerk within ten days of learning of the death. This is a legal obligation, not a courtesy, and holding a will back can expose the custodian to liability.
2. File the petition for administration. This document names the proposed personal representative, identifies the heirs and beneficiaries, states the approximate value of the estate, and asks the court to admit the will to probate.

Step 3: Qualify and appoint the personal representative

Not just anyone can serve. Under Florida Statute 733.302 and 733.303, a personal representative must be either a Florida resident, or — if a nonresident — a spouse, sibling, parent, child, or other close relative of the decedent (or a relative of those people). A nonresident friend or business partner generally cannot serve. The person must also be at least 18, mentally and physically capable, and never convicted of a felony.

If the will names an executor who qualifies, the court ordinarily honors that choice. If there is no will, Florida Statute 733.301 sets the priority order: the surviving spouse first, then the person selected by a majority of the heirs, then the heir nearest in degree of kinship.

Once appointed, the personal representative receives letters of administration. In nearly all formal administrations the court also requires the representative to be represented by an attorney, because the role carries fiduciary duties to both beneficiaries and creditors. Getting this structure right early is the same diligence we bring to , where the rules differ but the fiduciary stakes are identical.

Step 4: Notify creditors — the heart of a Florida probate

This is the step that defines a creditor-heavy estate, and it is where careful work pays for itself many times over. Once appointed, the personal representative must do two things under Florida Statutes 733.2121 and 733.212:

• Publish a Notice to Creditors once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper in the county. This starts a three-month claims period for unknown creditors. Any creditor who does not file a statement of claim within that window is generally barred.
• Serve actual notice on reasonably ascertainable creditors. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Tulsa Professional Collection Services v. Pope requires direct notice to creditors you know about or could find with diligent effort. Those creditors get the later of three months from publication or thirty days from being served.

The diligent-search requirement is where representatives stumble. You cannot simply publish and hope. You must review the decedent’s mail, bank statements, and medical records to identify hospitals, card issuers, and lenders, then serve them individually. Skip this and a missed creditor can reopen the estate even after distribution. Identifying and managing these claims is one of the , and it is precisely where an experienced probate attorney earns their keep.

The order in which creditors get paid

When an estate has more claims than assets, Florida Statute 733.707 sets a strict priority of payment. Class 1 covers costs of administration. Class 2 covers reasonable funeral expenses up to a statutory cap. Later classes cover taxes, the expenses of the last 60 days of the decedent’s last illness, and finally all other claims. A personal representative who pays a lower-priority creditor before a higher one can be held personally liable for the shortfall — a real risk that makes the order of payment something to get right, not guess at.

Step 5: Inventory the assets and handle exempt property

Within 60 days of appointment, the personal representative files an inventory listing the probate assets and their date-of-death values. At the same time, the family should identify exempt property and the homestead. Florida’s homestead protection is constitutional and powerful: a properly characterized homestead passes outside the reach of most creditors entirely, and it is not even a probate asset in the ordinary sense. Sorting exempt from non-exempt property early changes the entire creditor analysis and frequently determines whether heirs inherit anything.

Step 6: Settle claims, pay valid debts, and close the estate

After the claims period closes, the representative reviews each filed claim. Valid claims are paid in statutory order; questionable ones can be formally objected to, which forces the creditor to file an independent lawsuit within 30 days or lose the claim. Only after debts, taxes, and administration costs are resolved can the representative distribute what remains to the beneficiaries and petition to close the estate. A clean estate with no disputes can close in six to nine months; a contested or creditor-laden one can run well past a year.

Common mistakes when opening a Florida probate estate

• Choosing summary administration to save money when the estate has unknown creditors, then losing the protection of a court-supervised claims bar.
• Publishing notice but skipping the diligent search for ascertainable creditors, leaving the estate exposed to reopening.
• Distributing assets to heirs before the claims period ends, which can make the personal representative personally liable.
• Missing the ten-day deadline to deposit the original will.
• Paying the loudest creditor first instead of following the statutory order of payment.

If you are unsure which path fits your situation, that uncertainty is the signal to get advice before you file, not after. Our Florida team handles these estates daily; you can review our or reach us through our contact page to talk through the specifics of the estate you are dealing with.

When to call a probate attorney

Florida requires attorney representation in most formal administrations, so the question is usually not whether but when. Call before you file if the estate involves real property, a business, contested heirs, or — most importantly here — significant or uncertain debts. A creditor-heavy estate rewards planning at the front end and punishes improvisation at the back end. Getting the notice, the claims bar, and the order of payment right from day one is the difference between a clean close and years of exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to open a probate estate in Florida?

There is no single hard deadline to open the estate itself, but the custodian of the original will must deposit it with the clerk of court within ten days of learning of the death under Florida Statute 732.901. Practically, you should open promptly because the creditor claims period only begins once a personal representative is appointed and notice is published. Waiting also makes it harder to locate assets and ascertainable creditors.

How much does it cost to open a probate estate in Florida?

Costs include the court filing fee (typically a few hundred dollars), the cost of publishing the Notice to Creditors, and attorney’s fees, which Florida Statute 733.6171 ties to a percentage of the estate’s value unless another arrangement is agreed. Summary administration is cheaper than formal administration, but in a creditor-heavy estate the protection formal administration provides often outweighs the added cost.

Do I need a lawyer to open probate in Florida?

In most formal administrations, yes. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires the personal representative to be represented by an attorney unless the representative is the sole interested person. Summary administration and disposition without administration can sometimes be handled without counsel, but estates with real property, contested heirs, or significant debts almost always call for an attorney.

What is the difference between formal and summary administration?

Formal administration is the full process: it appoints a personal representative, issues letters of administration, and runs a court-supervised creditor claims period. Summary administration is available when the probate estate is $75,000 or less or the decedent died more than two years ago; it is faster and cheaper but appoints no personal representative and offers weaker tools for cutting off creditor claims.

What happens to creditor claims if I never open probate?

If you never open probate, the estate’s debts are not formally barred and the assets generally cannot be legally transferred. Creditors may still pursue the estate, and after two years many claims become unenforceable under Florida Statute 733.710, but that two-year bar does not clear title to assets or distribute them. Opening probate and publishing notice is the reliable way to cut off claims and pass clean title.