6 Things You Need To Know About Florida Probate

6 Things You Need to Know About Florida Probate. Dealing with grief is definitely not easy and so when you have to deal with a probate process after a loved one’s passing, it can be doubly stressing and painful. The probate process involves generally identifying a deceased loved one’s assets and using them to pay off outstanding debt that may have been left behind. The rest, if there’s still something left will be distributed to beneficiaries. All these will be under the courts supervision. This process can take a different form and order from one state to another but if you’re concern is a , here’s what you need to know.

1. Assets That Go Through Probate

In identifying the assets that goes through probate, as the personal representative, you have to check if they have real estate, investment accounts, life insurance policy, retirement account and or bank account. As long as these assets are either payable to the person’s estate or solely owned by the deceased owner, they must go through the probate process. On the contrary, jointly owned properties such as a shared bank account or house will not go through the probate process.

1. Steps of Probate Process

The reason why people think the probate process is complex is because they can look different from one case to another. Factors like the type of assets and debts left behind are sometimes too unique and will be dealt with individually and specifically. In the process, the law divides probate process into two. The first one is formal administration and the second one is summary administration.

It is more common for cases to go through the formal probate administration. To put it simply, this is when a party comes to court and claim appointment as personal representative or executor of the estate. Once his or her appointment is acknowledged and recognized by the court, he or she will be responsible for notifying the deceased person’s beneficiaries or heirs. After that a will is filed at court to prove its validity and then the assets are identified and counted prior to distribution of assets for debt payment, tax obligations and finally beneficiary receivables.

The summary probate administration is a much shorter procedure provided some conditions are met. When the probate estate is valued at $75,000 or less or when the death happened more than two years ago, you can petition for the court to begin the summary administration. When this petition is approved, you can skip the personal representative procedure and the property will immediately be released to the rightful inheritors.

1. Is Probate Possible Without Involving the Court?

There are very few cases that this can be possible. You must file a petition for Disposition of Personal Property Without Administration to pull this through. This is a non-court-supervised probate proceeding. Typically, this is only applied for when the deceased person has small valued property left behind. After paying creditors, you can be reimbursed for paying the person’s final expenses with whatever assets are left behind.

1. What Is A Personal Representative?

According to Florida Probate law, this is the term applied to the administrator or executor of the deceased owner of the estate. A personal representative can be a person, which is often the case, or it can also be a bank or a trust company that will be appointed by the courts. The personal representative is tasked to identify the assets of the deceased owner as well as value them and protect their interest by keeping them safe. Apart from that some of the responsibilities also include paying the valid claims against the estate, paying tax returns and expenses and finally distribution of whatever is left of the assets to the beneficiaries.

1. What Is the Typical Timeline Of Probate?

As stated earlier, with each case being unique the length of time spent on concluding a probate process can be short but mostly long. You can expect to wait a minimum of three months for a probate to conclude. Tasks that can be grueling and time consuming include selling real estate, settling a lawsuit and even resolving a disputed claim. These scenarios actually complicate the probate process and lengthen the probate process. In the case of formal administration, a simple estate may take five to six months but complex cases could take many months and even years to resolve. Summary administration on the other hand can often be finished in two months and if you’re lucky can even be done in a few weeks.

1. Why You Need Probate Legal Assistance

The process is no simple matter so it is ideal to have a probate attorney take care of this as smoothly as possible. This means making sure legal documents are valid, verifying claims on the estate, and taking care of paperwork.

Our Attorneys at Jurado & Farshchian, P.L. can offer you peace of mind by guiding you through the process step by step. You can contact us today at (305) 921-0440 or send us an email to [email protected] to get an initial consult.