What is Probate?

    Probate is a court-supervised process for identifying and gathering the assets of a deceased person, paying their debts, and distributing their assets to beneficiaries only after some of these assets are used to pay the costs associated with probate court.

    The two main types of probate administration are formal administration and summary administration which occurs if assets are less than $75,000.  If assets are less than $6,000 a non-court supervised administration proceeding called disposition of personal property without administration occurs.  In Florida, the person in charge of the estate is called the personal representative.  The personal representative is in charge of giving notice of the probate proceedings to “known or reasonably ascertainable” creditors in order to ensure all of the deceased’s debts are paid.

    Beneficiaries are the people who inherit assets from the deceased.

    If you are looking to avoid probate through estate planning or are currently going through probate or ancillary probate and need legal advice, contact one of our experienced attorneys at (941) 906-1231.