Florida · Chapter 735Florida summary administration: selling a house after the owner dies

Florida offers a shorter probate route called summary administration (Florida Statutes chapter 735). It's available for a resident or nonresident decedent when the will, if any, doesn't direct formal administration, and either the value of the entire Florida estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors, is $150,000 or less, or the decedent has been dead for more than two years (§735.201). The petition can be filed by any beneficiary or the personal representative named in the will, and must be signed and verified by the surviving spouse and the beneficiaries – except a beneficiary who receives a full share, who must instead get formal notice (§735.203). The will is proved and admitted to probate; before the order, the petitioner must diligently search for known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, serve them with the petition and provide for their payment as far as assets allow (§735.206). The court's order of summary administration can allow immediate distribution: those who receive parts of the estate can have them transferred into their names, and anyone holding the decedent's property may comply without further liability. After the order, a good-faith buyer for value from the people named in the order takes the property free of all claims of the decedent's creditors and of the rights of the surviving spouse and other beneficiaries. The recipients themselves stay personally liable for a share of lawful claims up to what they received; a known creditor who wasn't notified can still enforce the claim and, if it wins, recover attorney's fees from those who joined in the petition; omitted heirs can pursue those who obtained the order, and after two years from the death no claim can be enforced unless proceedings were already started. A separate 'disposition without administration' covers only limited personal property, not a house (§735.301).