How Do I File for Probate in Florida?

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 $150,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years" (Fla. Stat. § 735.201(2), as amended by ch. 2026-57, § 7, Laws of Fla., eff. July 1, 2026); it ends in a court order of distribution with no personal representative and no Letters. Disposition without administration of intestate property in small estates (Fla. Stat. § 735.304, as amended by ch. 2026-57, § 10; Fla. Prob. R. 5.425: intestate, only exempt personalty plus non-exempt personalty ≤ $20,000 plus preferred funeral and last-60-days medical expenses, decedent dead more than 1 year, no administration pending) distributes by affidavit; a separate no-ceiling path (Fla. Stat. § 735.301; Fla. Prob. R. 5.420) covers estates whose non-exempt personalty does not exceed funeral plus last-60-days medical expenses. 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. The Circuit Court issues Letters of Administration 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.