Florida: Small Estate Affidavit Thresholds & Procedure

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Fla. Stat. ch. 735, Part I, §§ 735.201–735.2063 ("Summary Administration").
Florida also runs two much smaller, narrower tracks in the same chapter —
§§ 735.301/735.304 ("Disposition Without Administration," for very small
estates limited to unpaid funeral/medical expenses or a $20,000 intestate
cap) and § 735.303 (a $2,000-cap bank-account-only affidavit requiring no
court at all) — but summary administration is the procedure most estates
actually use.

Dollar threshold

$150,000, or the decedent has been dead more than two years — either
condition alone is enough; they aren't cumulative requirements. This is a
brand-new figure: Section 735.201(2) was amended by CS/HB 1337 (2026),
signed by the Governor on April 29, 2026 (Chapter 2026-57, Laws of
Florida), doubling the threshold from $75,000 to $150,000, effective
July 1, 2026. That effective date has already passed as of this page's
last verification, so $150,000 is the current, controlling figure — but
Florida's own official "Online Sunshine" compiled-statutes website, when
checked five days after the change took effect, still displayed the old
$75,000 number, because that page is captioned "The 2025 Florida
Statutes" and hadn't yet been refreshed to include a law that only became
effective partway through 2026. Don't rely on the bare number shown on a
compiled statute page without checking whether a same-year session law
has since changed it.

Court filing required?

Yes. This is a genuine court proceeding, not a private affidavit: the
petition is filed in the probate court, notice must go to known or
reasonably ascertainable creditors, and a judge personally enters the
order of summary administration before any assets move. No personal
representative is appointed at any point, which is what makes it faster
and less supervised than full administration — but it is still a filed,
adjudicated court case with an order at the end, not a document handed
straight to a bank the way some states' small-estate affidavits work.

Waiting period after death

None is required simply to file — a summary administration petition can
be filed as soon as the estate qualifies under the dollar threshold. The
"dead more than 2 years" branch is a separate, alternative path to
eligibility, not a mandatory waiting period layered on top of the dollar
test.

Works with a will, intestacy, or both?

Both. Section 735.201(1) allows summary administration for a testate
estate as long as the decedent's will doesn't itself direct full
administration; subsection (2)'s dollar/time test applies regardless of
testacy. Florida doesn't bar this procedure for either a will-based or an
intestate estate the way some other states do.

Does it cover real property?

Yes, generally — Florida's summary administration order can distribute
real property along with personal property; it isn't limited to a
homestead or a primary residence the way some states' small-estate real
property rules are.

Signature formalities

The petition itself must be "signed and verified" (sworn) by the
surviving spouse, if any, and the beneficiaries who join it; a beneficiary
who won't join instead gets formal notice of the petition. The statute
doesn't require outside witnesses for the summary administration petition
itself. (Florida's much smaller, separate $2,000 bank-account-only
affidavit under § 735.303 is stricter on this point — it must be sworn
before a notary public, using a form the statute prints out in full.)

Protection for the bank/holder

Protection attaches to the court's ORDER, not to the petition on its own.
Once a judge enters the order of summary administration, anyone who owes
the decedent money or holds the decedent's property is authorized to
comply with the order by paying or transferring the assigned property,
and — per § 735.206(4)(b) — "shall not be accountable to anyone else for
the property." Unlike a purely private affidavit system, a holder in
Florida isn't protected merely because someone hands them a signed
petition; the protection only kicks in once the court has actually
adjudicated and ordered the distribution.

What trips people up

The most consequential mistake right now is relying on an outdated
$75,000 figure: that was the threshold for nearly a decade, it just
doubled to $150,000 on July 1, 2026, and even Florida's own official
compiled statutes website hadn't caught up to the change days after it
took effect. A second trap is assuming this is a no-court process the way
some other states' "small estate affidavit" branding suggests — Florida's
version is a real, filed court case with a judge's order, just without an
appointed personal representative or the full administration timeline. A
third: the "dead more than 2 years" alternative eligibility path has
nothing to do with the estate's size, so a large estate can still qualify
for summary administration once enough time has passed, even though the
dollar threshold alone wouldn't cover it.

Common questions

Does the will have to be admitted to probate first? Yes — filing the
summary administration petition triggers proving the will (if there is
one) and admitting it to probate as part of the same proceeding, per
§ 735.206(1); it isn't a separate, prior step.

What happens to creditors who don't find out in time? A creditor who
wasn't known or reasonably ascertainable and didn't get notice can still
enforce a claim later, but the recipients of the estate's property are
only liable up to the value of what they actually received.

Can a large, decade-old estate still use this process? Yes — if the
decedent has been dead more than two years, the dollar value of the
estate doesn't matter at all under § 735.201(2)'s alternative test.

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 735.201(1)-(2) — "Summary administration may be had in the
  administration of either a resident or nonresident decedent's estate,
  when it appears: (1) In a testate estate, that the decedent's will does
  not direct administration as required by chapter 733. (2) That the
  value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state,
  less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does
  not exceed $150,000 $75,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more
  than 2 years." — https://laws.flrules.org/2026/57 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.203(1) — "A petition for summary administration may be
  filed by any beneficiary or person nominated as personal representative
  in the decedent's will offered for probate. The petition must be signed
  and verified by the surviving spouse, if any, and any beneficiaries
  except that the joinder in a petition for summary administration is not
  required of a beneficiary who will receive a full distributive share
  under the proposed distribution. However, formal notice of the petition
  must be served on a beneficiary not joining in the petition." —
  http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.206(3)-(4)(b) — "The court may enter an order of
  summary administration allowing immediate distribution of the assets to
  the persons entitled to them. ... Debtors of the decedent, those holding
  property of the decedent, and those with whom securities or other
  property of the decedent are registered are authorized and empowered to
  comply with the order by paying, delivering, or transferring to those
  specified in the order the parts of the decedent's estate assigned to
  them by the order, and the persons so paying, delivering, or
  transferring shall not be accountable to anyone else for the property." —
  http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html
  (accessed 2026-07-06)
• CS/HB 1337 (2026), Section 7 (amending Fla. Stat. § 735.201(2)) —
  "Section 7. Subsection (2) of section 735.201, Florida Statutes, is
  amended to read: 735.201 Summary administration; nature of
  proceedings.— ... (2) That the value of the entire estate subject to
  administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from
  the claims of creditors, does not exceed $150,000 $75,000 or that the
  decedent has been dead for more than 2 years. ... Section 14. This act
  shall take effect July 1, 2026. Approved by the Governor April 29,
  2026. Filed in Office Secretary of State April 29, 2026." —
  https://laws.flrules.org/2026/57 (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.2063(2) — "If proof of publication of the notice is
  filed with the court, all claims and demands of creditors against the
  estate of the decedent who are not known or are not reasonably
  ascertainable shall be forever barred unless the claims and demands are
  filed with the court within 3 months after the first publication of the
  notice." —
  http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html
  (accessed 2026-07-06)