How to Avoid Probate in Florida

Probate is the court process that validates a will, pays debts and transfers property after someone dies. It protects creditors and heirs, but it can take time, costs money and creates a public record. The good news: with planning, many families can keep most or all of their assets out of probate.

How Florida probate works

Florida has two main types of probate. Summary administration is a shorter process available when the non-exempt estate is worth $75,000 or less, or when the person died more than two years ago. Larger estates usually go through formal administration, where a personal representative is appointed, creditors are notified and the court oversees the process. Formal administration often takes several months or longer.

If you live outside Florida but own Florida real estate, your family may also face ancillary administration, a second probate in Florida in addition to the one where you lived.

6 ways to help your family avoid probate

1. Create a revocable living trust and retitle your assets into it. Assets the trust owns pass under the trust, not through the court.
2. Fund the trust. A deed moves your home into the trust; accounts can be retitled. An unfunded trust doesn’t avoid probate.
3. Use beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts and annuities, and keep them up to date.
4. Add pay-on-death or transfer-on-death designations to bank and brokerage accounts where appropriate.
5. Review joint ownership carefully. Joint accounts with rights of survivorship pass outside probate, but adding someone to an account can create gift, creditor and family-fairness issues.
6. Hold investment property in an LLC owned by your trust, which can simplify management and transfer.

Don’t forget the pour-over will

Even careful planners miss an asset. A pour-over will directs anything left in your name into your trust. Those leftover assets may still need probate, which is why funding matters.

Plan for incapacity, too

Probate is about what happens after death. A durable power of attorney and health care directives help your family avoid a different court process, guardianship, if you can’t make decisions during your lifetime.

This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change, and every family’s situation is different. Speak with an attorney about your circumstances.