Probate is the legal process through which people’s assets are passed to their beneficiaries and their final affairs are resolved after their passing. Although your deceased loved one’s estate must go through this process in Florida, there are alternatives to the formal administration process, which may allow for a more expedient resolution.
If your loved one’s estate meets certain requirements, it may be resolved through a summary administration or a disposition without administration. The summary administration is available to those estates whose probate assets do not exceed $75,000, excluding the value of protected homestead properties. In order to be eligible for a summary administration, your family member’s debts must also be paid, or his or her creditors must not object. This option may also be available if your loved one has been deceased for more than two years, and there cannot have been any previous administration of his or her estate.
Provided the value of your family member’s estate does not exceed $10,000, his or her affairs may be handled through disposition without administration. According to Florida state law, disposition without administration is available for estates that consist only property exempt from creditors’ claims and non-exempt personal property. Further, your loved one’s estate may only be resolved through this probate method if the value of his or her personal property does not exceed any reasonable and necessary expenses from the last 60 days of his or her illness and the amount of preferred funerary expenses.
The information contained in this post is intended for general purposes only and should not be viewed as legal advice.