How Do I File for Probate in Florida?
Florida requires a lawyer: under Florida Probate Rule 5.030(a), every personal representative "shall be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida" unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person in the estate. Florida also publishes no statewide petition or Letters of Administration form — the petition is a verified pleading drafted to Rule 5.200 — so we do not generate a Florida petition.
Opening an estate in Florida
Florida is the unfavorable case for a self-service form-fill tool. There is NO statewide official fillable form for the petition for administration, for Letters of Administration, or for the summary-administration / disposition-without-administration petitions — Part V (Forms) of the Florida Probate Rules (effective Jan 1, 2026) contains only guardianship forms (Rules 5.901-5.930), and the Supreme Court's Workgroup on Uncontested Probate Proceedings is still drafting the proposed self-help estate forms ("Form 5.9XX"); its rule-amendment petition was due June 30, 2026 and its term runs through Aug 31, 2028 — nothing is adopted. Every petition is a verified pleading drafted to the Probate Rules (5.200 for formal, 5.530 for summary, 5.425 for disposition), and the Letters are issued by the clerk under seal, not filled out by the filer. Decisively, Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a) provides: "Every guardian and every personal representative, unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person, shall be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida." So even a perfect form-fill product could not lawfully serve most formal administrations. Practical self-service is limited to sole-interested-person estates and to the small-estate paths (summary administration / disposition by affidavit), which themselves bypass Letters and still lack a statewide form.
A simpler path may apply
Florida offers a small-estate or summary procedure that can transfer property without a full grant of Letters when the estate qualifies. This is often the honest self-service path where full administration is not.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Florida permits a self-represented person to open an estate and apply for Letters. What we do not do is produce the document for you here: florida requires a lawyer: under Florida Probate Rule 5.030(a), every personal representative "shall be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida" unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person in the estate. Florida also publishes no statewide petition or Letters of Administration form — the petition is a verified pleading drafted to Rule 5.200 — so we do not generate a Florida petition.
Florida offers a small-estate or summary procedure that can transfer property without a full grant of Letters when the estate qualifies. Florida uses a single "Letters of Administration" instrument and the title "personal representative" for both testate (executor-named) and intestate estates; appointment priority follows Fla. Stat. § 733.301 (nominee in will, then person selected by a majority in interest of the persons entitled to the estate, then a devisee; intestate: surviving spouse then heirs). Summary administration is available when "the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $75,000 or ... the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years" (Fla. Stat. § 735.201(2)); it ends in a court order of distribution with no personal representative and no Letters. Disposition without administration (Fla. Stat. § 735.301; Fla. Prob. R. 5.425: intestate, only exempt personalty plus non-exempt personalty ≤ $10,000 plus preferred funeral and last-60-days medical expenses, decedent dead more than 1 year) distributes by affidavit. The attorney-representation requirement of Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a) (sole-interested-person exception) is the defining constraint on do-it-yourself Florida probate.
Circuit Court handles decedents' estates in Florida. Clerk of the Circuit Court, after the court appoints the personal representative (the clerk issues Letters once appointment, bond, oath, and resident-agent steps are complete) issues the Letters after the court grants the petition.
In Florida the court issues Letters of Administration to the personal representative — the executor when there is a will, or the administrator when there is none. They give that person authority to act for the estate.
