To open a probate estate in Florida, you file a petition for administration with the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, deposit the original will (if there is one) with the clerk, and ask the court to appoint a personal representative who will be granted Letters of Administration. Once the court issues those Letters, the personal representative has legal authority to gather assets, notify and pay creditors, and ultimately distribute what remains to the beneficiaries. Everything else in a Florida probate flows from that first appointment.
That sounds tidy on paper. In practice, the order in which you do things, the deadlines you trigger, and the creditors who surface after death are what decide whether an estate closes in eight months or drags on for two years. I’ve handled enough Palm Beach estates to know that the families who get hurt are usually the ones who started distributing assets before they understood what the decedent owed. So let’s walk through how to actually open an estate the right way.
What “Opening a Probate Estate” Actually Means in Florida
Probate is the court-supervised process of settling a deceased person’s affairs: proving the will, identifying assets, paying valid debts and taxes, and transferring whatever is left to the rightful heirs. “Opening” the estate is the front end of that process. Until the court appoints a personal representative (Florida’s term for what other states call an executor or administrator), nobody has the legal power to sign for the estate, access accounts titled in the decedent’s name alone, or sell real property.
Florida law governing all of this lives primarily in Chapters 731 through 735 of the Florida Statutes, known collectively as the Florida Probate Code, and in the Florida Probate Rules. Most estates in Palm Beach County run through the probate division of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.
One thing surprises almost every family I meet: Florida requires a licensed attorney to represent the personal representative in a formal administration. Rule 5.030 of the Florida Probate Rules makes this mandatory, with narrow exceptions for sole-interested-party estates. This is not a state where you can comfortably DIY a contested or creditor-heavy estate.
Which Type of Probate Are You Opening?
Before you file anything, you need to know which procedural track fits the estate. Choosing wrong wastes weeks.
Formal Administration
This is the standard, full probate process under Chapter 733. You use it when the estate’s non-exempt assets exceed $75,000, when more than two years have not passed since death, or whenever there are real complications, contested claims, litigation, or, importantly for our practice, significant creditor exposure. Formal administration is the only track that gives the personal representative the broad authority and the formal creditor-bar mechanism that protect the estate long term.
Summary Administration
A faster, lighter process under Chapter 735, available when the value of the estate (excluding the homestead) is $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years. There is no personal representative appointed in a summary administration; instead the court enters an order distributing the assets directly. It’s cheaper and quicker, but it offers far weaker tools for dealing with creditors, which is exactly why I steer families with unknown or disputed debts away from it.
Disposition Without Administration
A rarely used, informal path for very small estates where the only assets were used for final expenses and a limited statutory amount. Most Palm Beach estates don’t qualify.
If you’re unsure which fits, that’s the first conversation to have with a probate attorney, because the creditor consequences of the choice are real. Picking summary administration to save a few dollars and then discovering a $40,000 medical lien can leave heirs personally exposed.
Step One: Gather the Documents You’ll Need to File
Opening a formal administration goes much faster when you walk in with the right paperwork. Before the petition is drafted, collect:
- The original signed will and any codicils (not a copy, the wet-ink original);
- A certified copy of the death certificate, preferably the short form without cause of death for the public file;
- The names and addresses of all beneficiaries and heirs at law;
- A working inventory of assets, account statements, deeds, vehicle titles, and life insurance and retirement beneficiary designations;
- A list of known creditors, including mortgages, credit cards, medical providers, the funeral home, and any pending lawsuits;
- The proposed personal representative’s information and qualifications.
That last item matters. Florida restricts who can serve. Under Florida Statutes § 733.302 and § 733.304, a non-resident can only serve as personal representative if they are a close relative (spouse, child, parent, sibling, or certain other relations) or related by marriage. A friend who lives in New Jersey generally cannot serve. Convicted felons are also disqualified under § 733.303.
Step Two: Deposit the Will and File the Petition for Administration
Florida law requires that whoever has custody of the original will deposit it with the clerk of court within 10 days of learning of the death (§ 732.901). That deadline runs whether or not you’re ready to open probate, so don’t sit on the will.
To open the estate, your attorney files a Petition for Administration in the circuit court for the county of the decedent’s residence. The petition identifies the decedent, the will, the heirs and beneficiaries, the approximate value of the estate, and the person nominated to serve as personal representative. Filing fees in Palm Beach County run in the $230–$400 range depending on the type of administration.
If the will names a personal representative, that person typically gets priority. When there’s no will, § 733.301 sets the order of preference, starting with the surviving spouse.
Step Three: Prove the Will and Get Appointed
The court must be satisfied the will is valid. A will that was “self-proved” under § 732.503 (with the proper notarized affidavit of the witnesses) usually needs no further proof. If it wasn’t self-proved, an oath of a witness may be required, which is one more reason a properly drafted Florida will saves time. If you’re reviewing or updating estate documents, our overview of Florida wills and self-proving affidavits explains how to avoid this headache before it happens.
Once the court is satisfied, it enters an order admitting the will to probate and appointing the personal representative. The clerk then issues Letters of Administration, the single most important document in the case. The Letters are what banks, title companies, and brokerages will demand before they let the personal representative do anything. The representative also takes an oath and, unless the will waives it, may have to post a bond under § 733.402.
Step Four: Notice to Creditors, the Part Most Families Underestimate
This is where our office spends most of its energy, and where the biggest mistakes happen. Opening an estate doesn’t just empower you to collect assets; it starts the clock on creditor claims, and that clock is the personal representative’s best friend if it’s handled correctly.
After appointment, the personal representative must:
- Publish a Notice to Creditors once a week for two consecutive weeks in a local newspaper (§ 733.2121). In Palm Beach County, this is typically the Palm Beach Daily Business Review.
- Serve the Notice directly on all known or “reasonably ascertainable” creditors. This is non-negotiable. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Tulsa Professional Collection Services v. Pope requires actual notice to known creditors; publication alone isn’t enough to bar them.
- Conduct a diligent search for creditors, reviewing the decedent’s mail, bank statements, and records. Florida law expects real effort, not a shrug.
The payoff is the claims bar. A creditor who was served must file a claim within 30 days of being served, and the broader window closes three months after the first publication of the Notice (§ 733.702). With limited exceptions, claims filed after that are barred. And under the statute of repose in § 733.710, almost all claims are absolutely barred two years after death, regardless of notice. For estates with messy debt, those deadlines are gold, but only if you trigger them correctly. Get the notice wrong and a stale claim can come back to haunt the beneficiaries.
Because Palm Beach estates so often involve aggressive creditors, disputed medical bills, and out-of-state collection agencies, this firm builds the entire administration around the creditor timeline. If you want a fuller picture of how these disputes unfold, this rundown of from our colleagues at Morgan Legal captures the patterns we see again and again, whether the estate sits in New York or Florida.
Step Five: Inventory, Administration, and Eventually Closing
Within 60 days of issuance of Letters, the personal representative must file a verified inventory of the estate’s assets and their date-of-death values (Rule 5.340). From there the work is administrative: marshaling assets, objecting to improper claims, paying valid debts in the statutory order of priority under § 733.707, filing any required tax returns, and keeping accurate records.
Florida pays creditors in a strict priority order, and the personal representative who pays a lower-priority creditor before a higher one can be held personally liable. Class 1 covers administration costs and attorney’s fees; funeral expenses, taxes, medical bills of the last 60 days, and family allowances follow in their own classes, with general creditors last. This is precisely why we tell families: do not distribute anything to beneficiaries until the claims period has run and debts are resolved.
Once debts and taxes are paid, the representative files a final accounting and a petition for discharge, distributes the remaining assets, and the court closes the estate. A clean, uncontested formal administration in Palm Beach typically takes six to twelve months; creditor disputes or will contests can extend that considerably.
Common Mistakes When Opening a Florida Estate
- Distributing too early. The single most expensive error. Beneficiaries can be forced to return funds, and the personal representative can be surcharged.
- Choosing summary administration to dodge formal probate when the estate has unknown creditors. You lose the protective claims-bar machinery.
- Skipping direct notice to known creditors. Publication alone won’t bar a creditor you knew about.
- Missing the 10-day deadline to deposit the will. It can create liability and delay.
- Naming an ineligible personal representative who turns out to be a disqualified non-resident.
Estate administration is heavily document- and deadline-driven, and Florida’s probate courts don’t forgive missed steps just because the family meant well. If you’re weighing options across state lines, the team handling works hand-in-hand with Florida counsel on multistate estates, and our own Florida probate practice handles the Palm Beach side from petition through discharge.
When to Call a Probate Attorney
If the estate has real property, more than $75,000 in assets, any creditor you’re unsure about, or family members who don’t agree, you’re in formal administration territory, and Florida requires counsel anyway. The earlier an attorney is involved, the cleaner the creditor timeline and the lower the risk to the personal representative personally.
Our office focuses on exactly the estates that scare people: the ones with mounting medical bills, contested claims, and creditors who won’t stop calling. We open the estate, trigger the claims bar correctly, and protect the family from debts that were never theirs to pay. For a confidential review of your situation, contact our Palm Beach probate team or read more about how Florida probate works before you file.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do you have to open probate after someone dies in Florida?
Florida sets no single hard deadline to open probate, but the person holding the original will must deposit it with the clerk of court within 10 days of learning of the death. Practically, you should open the estate promptly because creditor and tax deadlines run from administration, and most claims are absolutely barred two years after death under Florida Statutes section 733.710.
What does it cost to open a probate estate in Florida?
Court filing fees in Palm Beach County typically run between about $230 and $400 depending on whether it’s a summary or formal administration. Attorney’s fees are separate and, for formal administration, are often based on the statutory fee schedule in Florida Statutes section 733.6171 or a negotiated reasonable fee. Publication of the Notice to Creditors and any bond add modest additional costs.
Do I need a lawyer to open probate in Florida?
In most cases, yes. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires the personal representative in a formal administration to be represented by a licensed Florida attorney, with a narrow exception when the representative is the sole interested person. Summary administration may not always require counsel, but given the creditor and liability risks, legal guidance is strongly advised.
What is the difference between summary and formal administration in Florida?
Formal administration is the full process under Chapter 733, used when non-exempt assets exceed $75,000 or the estate is complex, and it appoints a personal representative with broad authority and a formal creditor-bar process. Summary administration under Chapter 735 is faster and used when assets are $75,000 or less or the death occurred more than two years ago, but it offers much weaker protection against creditor claims.
When can beneficiaries receive their inheritance in a Florida probate?
Beneficiaries generally cannot be paid until the creditor claims period has closed and all valid debts and taxes are resolved. The claims window typically closes three months after the first publication of the Notice to Creditors. Distributing assets before then exposes both beneficiaries and the personal representative to personal liability if claims later surface.
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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 .