Last updated September 9, 2026
Answer all four questions to see your numbers next to the published thresholds.
The conditions of each Florida administration path
- Every asset passes outside the estate — by a beneficiary designation, by joint ownership with a right of survivorship, or through a funded trust — so nothing is titled in the decedent's sole name for a court to administer.
Authority: Fla. Stat. § 655.82 · Fla. Stat. § 689.15 · Fla. Stat. § 222.13
- The decedent left no real property.
- The estate consists only of personal property exempt from creditors' claims, exempt personal property, and non-exempt personal property whose value does not exceed preferred funeral expenses and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness.
Authority: Fla. Stat. § 735.301 · Fla. Prob. R. 5.420
- The value of the entire estate subject to administration in Florida, less the value of property exempt from creditors' claims, does not exceed the statutory ceiling — $75,000 for petitions filed before July 1, 2026, and $150,000 for petitions filed on or after that date — OR the decedent has been dead for more than two years.
- The petition is signed and verified by the surviving spouse, if any, and by every beneficiary, or served on any who do not join.
Authority: Fla. Stat. § 735.201 · Fla. Stat. § 735.203 · ch. 2026-57, Laws of Florida
- The estate does not meet the conditions of summary administration or disposition without administration; a personal representative is appointed and letters of administration issue.
- In a formal administration the personal representative, unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person, shall be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida (Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a)); from October 1, 2026 the rule reads "must" (SC2025-1478; the substance is unchanged).
Authority: Fla. Stat. ch. 733 · Fla. Prob. R. 5.030
How these rules apply to your situation is a question for a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing. EstateDraftFL states the rules; it does not answer that question.
Start the Florida probate questionnaire →The questionnaire assembles the Rule 2.520-formatted filing set from your own answers.
What the checker shows
The rules, in Florida’s own terms: property in a sole name with no beneficiary is what a probate proceeding administers; summary administration has a published value ceiling and a two-year rule; formal administration is the standard proceeding with a personal representative; and disposition without administration has its own conditions for an estate with no real property. The checker places the numbers you enter next to those published figures. It does not choose a path — which conditions an estate meets turns on titling, exemptions, and the will, and how they apply to a particular estate is a question for a licensed Florida attorney of your choosing.
The filing set, from your answers
The Florida probate questionnaire assembles the Rule 2.520-formatted filing set from your own answers, with the deadlines the statutes set. To plan ahead, see how Florida property passes outside probate.
General information about Florida’s probate rules and arithmetic on published thresholds — not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice or services of an attorney. EstateDraftFL is software, not a law firm.
Frequently asked questions
When does Florida law require probate?
Probate administers property titled in the decedent's sole name with no beneficiary designation, surviving joint owner, or trust to pass it. Property that passes by a beneficiary designation (a POD or TOD account, life insurance), by survivorship, or through a funded trust passes outside the estate. Whether a particular estate needs a proceeding turns on how each asset is titled — a question for the person settling the estate and, where it turns on judgment, a licensed Florida attorney of their choosing.
What are the Florida probate paths?
Formal administration (a personal representative is appointed under chapter 733); summary administration (§735.201 — the estate, less exempt property, is within the statutory ceiling of $150,000 for petitions filed on or after July 1, 2026, $75,000 before, or the decedent has been dead more than two years); disposition of personal property without administration (§735.301 — no real property, and non-exempt personal property within funeral and last-illness expenses); and, for a non-resident decedent's Florida property, ancillary administration (§734.102).
Is this checker legal advice?
No. It states the conditions of each path in the statute's own terms and places the numbers you enter next to the published thresholds — arithmetic on a published schedule. It does not choose a path for an estate. EstateDraftFL is document-preparation software, not a law firm; the probate questionnaire assembles the filing set from your own answers.
General information about Florida law, not legal advice.