Florida Estate Planning Glossary

Last updated June 27, 2026 · Reviewed by Neil Alan Milestone, The Florida Bar No. 309966

Probate: The court-supervised process of validating a will (if any), paying debts, and distributing a deceased person's assets. Florida has formal and summary paths.
Personal representative: Florida's term for the executor — the person appointed by the court to administer the estate in formal administration (Chapter 733).
Intestacy: Dying without a valid will. Florida's intestate-succession statutes (§732.102–.103) then decide who inherits — often not who you would have chosen.
Homestead: A Florida home that enjoys property-tax, creditor-protection, and inheritance protections under the Florida Constitution and §732.401/§732.4015 — including limits on who you can leave it to.
Elective share: A surviving spouse's right to 30% of the 'elective estate' (§732.2065), reaching beyond the will into trusts and accounts, so a spouse cannot be disinherited.
Revocable living trust: A trust you create and control during life that can pass assets to beneficiaries outside probate when funded.
Pour-over will: A short will used alongside a trust that 'pours' any assets left outside the trust into it at death.
Lady bird deed: An enhanced life estate deed: you keep full control of property during life and it passes to beneficiaries at death without probate. Florida is one of the few states that recognizes it.
Summary administration: A faster Florida probate path with no personal representative, for smaller estates (threshold rising to $150,000 on July 1, 2026) or where the decedent has been dead over two years.
Formal administration: Florida's standard probate (Chapter 733), with a court-appointed personal representative, a creditor period, and a full administration before distribution.
Durable power of attorney: A document letting an agent handle your finances; 'durable' means it survives incapacity. In Florida it is effective when signed — there is no springing POA (§709.2104).
Health care surrogate: A person you designate to make medical decisions for you if you cannot (§765.202).
Living will: A document stating your wishes about life-prolonging treatment if you are terminally ill or in an end-stage condition (§765.302).
Self-proving affidavit: A notarized affidavit signed with your will (§732.503) so it can be admitted to probate without locating the witnesses later.
Successor trustee: The person who steps in to administer a trust when the original trustee dies or can no longer serve.
Estate tax: A tax on an estate's value. Florida has no estate tax and no inheritance tax; a federal estate tax applies only to very large estates.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Definitions are simplified; the linked pages and the statutes themselves control. EstateDraftFL is software, not a law firm.

Last updated June 27, 2026 · Reviewed by Neil Alan Milestone, The Florida Bar No. 309966

Probate: The court-supervised process of validating a will (if any), paying debts, and distributing a deceased person's assets. Florida has formal and summary paths.
Personal representative: Florida's term for the executor — the person appointed by the court to administer the estate in formal administration (Chapter 733).
Intestacy: Dying without a valid will. Florida's intestate-succession statutes (§732.102–.103) then decide who inherits — often not who you would have chosen.
Homestead: A Florida home that enjoys property-tax, creditor-protection, and inheritance protections under the Florida Constitution and §732.401/§732.4015 — including limits on who you can leave it to.
Elective share: A surviving spouse's right to 30% of the 'elective estate' (§732.2065), reaching beyond the will into trusts and accounts, so a spouse cannot be disinherited.
Revocable living trust: A trust you create and control during life that can pass assets to beneficiaries outside probate when funded.
Pour-over will: A short will used alongside a trust that 'pours' any assets left outside the trust into it at death.
Lady bird deed: An enhanced life estate deed: you keep full control of property during life and it passes to beneficiaries at death without probate. Florida is one of the few states that recognizes it.
Summary administration: A faster Florida probate path with no personal representative, for smaller estates (threshold rising to $150,000 on July 1, 2026) or where the decedent has been dead over two years.
Formal administration: Florida's standard probate (Chapter 733), with a court-appointed personal representative, a creditor period, and a full administration before distribution.
Durable power of attorney: A document letting an agent handle your finances; 'durable' means it survives incapacity. In Florida it is effective when signed — there is no springing POA (§709.2104).
Health care surrogate: A person you designate to make medical decisions for you if you cannot (§765.202).
Living will: A document stating your wishes about life-prolonging treatment if you are terminally ill or in an end-stage condition (§765.302).
Self-proving affidavit: A notarized affidavit signed with your will (§732.503) so it can be admitted to probate without locating the witnesses later.
Successor trustee: The person who steps in to administer a trust when the original trustee dies or can no longer serve.
Estate tax: A tax on an estate's value. Florida has no estate tax and no inheritance tax; a federal estate tax applies only to very large estates.

General information about Florida law, not legal advice. Definitions are simplified; the linked pages and the statutes themselves control. EstateDraftFL is software, not a law firm.