Last reviewed: July 2026
Is probate even required?
Check the deed and the plan first: property held in a funded living trust, owned with survivorship rights, or covered by a recorded enhanced life estate (Lady Bird) deed passes OUTSIDE probate — sometimes the 'probate problem' is a certificate and an affidavit. Property titled in the decedent's individual name with none of those passes through probate before it can be sold with insurable title. The title examination answers this definitively from the record; guessing answers it expensively.
Which probate, and how long
- Summary administration — smaller estates (or deaths over two years past): faster, lighter, commonly weeks to a couple of months to sale authority
- Formal administration — everything else: a personal representative with letters, creditor periods, months of runway (sales often possible DURING administration once authority exists)
- Ancillary administration — out-of-state decedents owning Florida property: a Florida proceeding is generally still required alongside the home state's
Homestead: the constitutional wildcard
If the property was the decedent's homestead, Florida's constitution overrides ordinary logic: surviving spouses and minor children hold rights no will can defeat, devise restrictions can redirect who takes, and the 'estate sale' may legally be the heirs' sale. Homestead determinations shape the deed, the signers, and the proceeds — misread them and closings unwind. It is legal analysis, it is the first question on our estate files, and it is squarely the law firm's practice under a separate engagement.
What the closing ultimately needs
Letters of administration (or the summary order), the homestead determination, the PR's deed (or heirs' deeds), lien and creditor resolution from proceeds, and — where scattered heirs sign — remote logistics. Files with those elements sequenced close like ordinary sales; files without them close eventually. Sequencing is the product.