Probate is a court-supervised process for identifying and gathering the assets of a deceased person (decedent), paying the decedent’s debts, and distributing the decedent’s assets to his or her beneficiaries. The Florida Probate Code is found in Chapters 731 through 735 of the Florida Statutes, and the rules governing Florida probate proceedings are found in the Florida Probate Rules, Part I and Part II (Rules 5.010-5.530).

There are two types of probate administration under Florida law: formal administration and summary administration. There is also a non-court supervised administration proceeding called “Disposition of Personal Property Without Administration.” Probate assets are those assets that the decedent owned in his or her sole name at death, or that were owned by the decedent and one or more co-owners and lacked a provision
for automatic succession of ownership at death.

Probate assets might include the following:
• A bank account or investment account in the sole name of a decedent.
• A life insurance policy, annuity contract, or individual retirement account payable to the decedent’s estate.
• Real estate titled in the sole name of the decedent, or in the name of the decedent and another person as tenants in common, is a probate asset.

Probate is necessary to pass ownership of the decedent’s assets to the decedent’s beneficiaries. Probate is necessary to complete the decedent’s financial affairs after his or her death. Probate proceedings are filed with the clerk of the circuit court, usually in the county in which the decedent lived or owned property at the time of his or her death.

The Personal Representative is appointed by the judge to be in charge of the administration of the decedent’s probate estate. The Personal Representative has the legal duty to administer the probate estate according to Florida law and may be liable to the beneficiaries for mismanagement of the decedent’s probate estate. In Florida, the personal representative is the client of the probate attorney, rather than the estate or the
beneficiaries. The attorney will render services for the benefit of the personal representative who in turn represent the estate.

Diana Mangsen focuses her practice as an elder law attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at
https://www.mangsenlaw.com/
or call (727) 888-6282.