Florida probate has a reputation for being slow and expensive. Some of that is deserved, and some of it is people being put into the wrong track when a faster one was available.
This page covers how the Florida probate process works when the estate includes a house — which of the two tracks you may qualify for, who is allowed to act as personal representative, who has to sign before the house can be sold, and what the house is doing to itself while the case runs. The law here is statewide, so it applies the same in Jacksonville, Orange Park, St. Augustine and everywhere else in Florida. Only the courthouse changes, and there is a table further down showing which one is yours.
Florida has two main tracks. Summary administration is the fast one — available when the estate subject to administration, less exempt property, does not exceed $150,000, or when the person has been dead more than two years. It appoints no personal representative and the court can order property distributed directly, often in weeks. Formal administration is the full process, it appoints a personal representative, and it generally requires a Florida attorney. Two Florida rules then decide whether the house can move at all: who is allowed to serve (non-residents are restricted) and who has to sign (homestead can split the house into a life estate and remainder interests). The case is filed in the county where the person lived, in that county's circuit court probate division.
Florida probate law is the same across all 67 counties. What changes is the clerk you file with, which is set by where the person lived — not by where the house is.
| County | Circuit | Clerk you file with |
|---|---|---|
| Duval | Fourth Judicial Circuit | Duval County Clerk of Court |
| Clay | Fourth Judicial Circuit | Clay County Clerk of Court |
| Nassau | Fourth Judicial Circuit | Nassau County Clerk of Court |
| St. Johns | Seventh Judicial Circuit | St. Johns County Clerk of Court |
| Baker | Eighth Judicial Circuit | Baker County Clerk of Court |
Local filing practice differs between clerks even though the statutes do not, which is one reason a Florida attorney who works in your county is worth more than one who does not.
Available under Fla. Stat. § 735.201 when the value of the estate subject to administration in Florida, less the value of property exempt from creditors' claims, does not exceed $150,000 — or when the decedent has been dead more than two years, regardless of value.
Two things worth knowing before you assume you do not qualify:
The threshold is $150,000. A great many articles, and a fair number of people who ought to know, still quote an older $75,000 figure.
Protected homestead is exempt property and is not counted. An estate whose principal asset is the homestead can qualify even when the house is worth considerably more than the threshold.
No personal representative is appointed. The court can enter an order distributing assets directly to the people entitled to them, and it is materially faster than the alternative. There is no attorney requirement, though the petition still has to be drafted properly.
The full process. A personal representative is appointed, letters are issued, creditors are noticed, and the estate is administered under the court's supervision. An attorney is required, except where the personal representative is the sole interested person.
It does not move real estate. It covers exempt property plus non-exempt personal property not exceeding preferred funeral expenses and reasonable medical costs from the last 60 days of the final illness. If there is a house, this is not your route.
We are not publishing a Florida duration figure until Florida counsel gives us one — the numbers circulating online are frequently other states' numbers or best-case anecdotes. What is safe to say: summary administration is substantially faster than formal administration, and both are driven far more by how promptly the family acts than by the court's calendar.
Fla. Stat. § 733.304 restricts non-residents. A person not domiciled in Florida generally cannot qualify as personal representative unless they are a legally adopted child or adoptive parent of the decedent, related by lineal consanguinity, or a spouse, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece — or related by lineal consanguinity to one of those.
The practical effect:
This catches families after the death, when the will is already written and nothing can be changed. If the named representative is disqualified, someone who does qualify — or a Florida resident — has to be appointed instead.
This is where inherited Florida houses actually get stuck.
Under Art. X, § 4 of the Florida Constitution, homestead cannot be devised if the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child; it may be devised to a spouse only where there is no minor child. Where the will cannot control, Fla. Stat. § 732.401 does: with a surviving spouse and lineal descendants, the spouse takes a life estate with a vested remainder to the descendants living at the death, or may elect an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common, with the balance to the descendants per stirpes. The election has a deadline.
A life tenant cannot convey the fee alone. To sell the house outright, every remainderman signs. If a remainderman is a minor, that generally brings in a guardian and a court. If one is estranged or cannot be found, the sale waits.
Homestead also carries creditor protection and passes outside the probate estate for those purposes, which is part of why it is excluded from the summary administration threshold.
Order a title search early — not when you have a buyer.
A prior death nobody administered. The most common defect on a long-held family home. A parent or grandparent died, no estate was opened, and the family has treated the house as theirs since. The current estate cannot cleanly convey what the record never transferred.
Homestead interests never resolved. A life estate from a death fifteen years ago, with remaindermen who have since died themselves, each generating their own set of heirs. Older neighborhoods — Springfield in Jacksonville is a standing example — carry houses with several generations of this.
Old mortgages never released, on loans paid off decades ago by lenders that have since been sold repeatedly.
Unpaid taxes and tax certificates. Florida sells certificates on delinquent parcels, and a holder may apply for a tax deed after two years.
Contractor and code liens, and unrecorded work done without permits — which also surfaces as an insurance problem later.
In a formal administration, the personal representative sells estate real property under the authority granted by the court and the will — a will conferring a power of sale generally makes this considerably simpler.
In a summary administration, the court's order distributes the property, and the people who receive it sell it as owners.
Two practical notes:
A buyer who has never closed inside an estate will slow you down, and retail buyers get impatient with court timelines and walk.
You can have a written offer well before the court is ready. Nothing stops you from lining that up and closing when the estate allows.
Probate decides when you may sell and who signs. It does not decide what the house is worth or which way of selling suits it. Once the court has cleared the path, the question becomes an ordinary one, and it usually has an ordinary answer.
If the house is sound and insurable, list it. A financed buyer bidding against other financed buyers pays more than any cash buyer, and an estate is not a reason to accept less. The local detail is here: selling an inherited house in Jacksonville.
If you are out of state, the mechanics matter more than the price. Remote signing, a mail-away closing, and somebody who can actually get into the house are the difference between a sale and a year of phone calls: inherited a house and you live out of state.
If the roof has aged out of insurability, that is the real problem — not the probate. An uninsurable Florida house is very close to an unfinanceable one, which removes most retail buyers regardless of what the court has ordered.
Once ownership changes, the Save Our Homes assessment cap resets to current market value, and the previous owner's homestead exemption does not carry over to an heir who does not live there. On a house held in one family for decades, that reset can be substantial and it is frequently the thing nobody budgeted for. Portability moves a benefit between your own homesteads; it is not a way to inherit someone else's cap.
Top Dollar Home Offer is an Oklahoma-based home-buying company that has bought houses in Tulsa for more than 25 years, a large share of them tied up in unfinished estates. We are now buying in Northeast Florida and we are new here.
Not always. Summary administration is available when the estate subject to administration, less exempt property, does not exceed $150,000, or when the person has been dead more than two years — and protected homestead is exempt, so it is not counted. Where summary administration fits, the court can order the property distributed directly and the recipients sell as owners. Disposition without administration never moves real estate.
Only within Florida's defined relationships. A non-resident generally cannot serve unless they are an adopted child or adoptive parent, related by lineal consanguinity, or a spouse, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece — or related by lineal consanguinity to one of those. An out-of-state child of the decedent generally qualifies; an out-of-state in-law or friend generally does not, even if named in the will.
For formal administration, generally yes — an attorney is required except where the personal representative is the sole interested person. Summary administration has no attorney requirement, though the petition still needs to be drafted correctly. For an out-of-state heir, budget for Florida counsel from the start.
It is Florida's short probate track. It is available when the estate subject to administration, less exempt property, does not exceed $150,000, or when the person has been dead more than two years — and protected homestead is exempt property, so it is not counted toward the threshold. No personal representative is appointed; the court can order the property distributed directly to the people entitled to it. Many sources still quote an outdated $75,000 threshold.
Summary administration is substantially faster than formal administration, but we are not publishing a duration range until Florida counsel confirms one for these counties. Most figures circulating online are other states' numbers or best-case anecdotes. What is reliable to say is that both tracks are driven far more by how quickly the family acts — getting the petition filed, settling who has to sign, ordering a title search — than by the court's calendar.
Usually, yes. The Save Our Homes assessment cap resets to current market value when ownership changes, and the previous owner's homestead exemption does not pass to an heir who will not live in the house. On a home held in one family for a long time, that increase can be significant, and it is the cost heirs most often fail to plan for.
Yes. In formal administration the personal representative sells under the authority granted by the court and the will. In summary administration the court's order distributes the property and the recipients sell it. Getting a written offer in hand early and closing when the court allows is normal.
First establish which probate track applies and whether the court has cleared the path, then settle the homestead question so you know every person who has to sign. After that it is an ordinary sale: a sound, insurable house should be listed, because a financed buyer pays more than a cash buyer. A cash sale fits when the roof has aged out of insurability, when the house has deteriorated during a long administration, when heirs are scattered and nobody can manage a listing, or when the estate needs to close on a schedule.
Find out immediately whether summary administration is available, settle the homestead question so you know who has to sign, order a title search before you have a buyer, and deal with the insurance in the first week. Those four things account for nearly all the avoidable delay.
This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a Florida probate attorney about your specific situation.
Get a no-obligation cash offer or an honest read on what the house is worth — call (904) 658-7295 or request an offer online.