What Is Probate Administration In Florida?

You may be decades from drawing your final breath, but if you’re a resident of Florida, you should be familiar with probate administration as it will have an impact on your estate and family. 

Since this process is often complex (especially for larger estates), your job is to ensure that your loved ones don’t run into any issues down the road.

So what is probate administration and how can you minimize its impact on your family estate? 

What Is The Probate Administration Process?

Probate is a court-supervised legal process during which the validity of your will (if you left one) is authenticated. Furthermore, the court must also name a personal representative, an individual who will distribute your property. 

During probate, all your assets will be assessed for their total value, any outstanding debts will be paid, and the rest of the assets will be distributed to the beneficiaries according to the terms of the will.

If you die without leaving the will, you are considered to have died intestate and the probate will become even more of a hassle for your family. With the lack of documents containing your final wishes, the court will handle the proceeding and make decisions on your behalf according to Florida intestacy laws. 

Is probate always necessary?

It depends on the strength of your estate plan. Without making the necessary arrangements, your estate will likely have to go through probate administration. Put differently, what you do now will make things easier or harder for your family. With a proper estate plan in place, you can avoid probate or noticeably simplify it.

What Assets Must Go Through Probate?

Regardless of your estate plan, certain assets must always go through probate. This includes:

• Inheritance where the beneficiary dies before the giver: 
  if a beneficiary in your will passes away before you and your will remains the same, the court must step in to manage this part of your estate.
  
  
• Non-titled property: assets that you own that don’t have paperwork are considered non-titled property. This category may include appliances, furniture, clothing, and other general items.
  
  
• Investment property owned by your partner: if any property is titled as tenants in common and there are no instructions in your will, the court will determine how your share of the assets in question is passed down. 
  
  
• Sole ownership property: any property titled in your name must go through probate where the ownership is determined. While payable on death (POD) and transfer on death (TOD) can be added to the title or the deed to avoid probate, in Florida, this is only available for bank accounts, vehicles, and such. 
  
  

What Assets Are Exempt From Probate?

Some assets may be exempt from probate administration if you create an estate plan with an experienced attorney. Such assets include:

• Items with a named beneficiary: if you name beneficiaries on certain assets, they don’t need to go through probate. This is common with life insurance policies where naming beneficiaries is allowed. 
  
  
• Assets inside a living trust: when you create a trust and place assets inside it, they’re owned by the trust itself. Hence, any assets contained in the trust automatically go to the beneficiaries specified in the trust documents. 
  
  
• POD and TOD transfers: you can title assets like vehicles, retirement accounts, stocks, and bank accounts as POD or TOD, thereby bypassing probate administration and transferring them directly to the beneficiaries. 
  
  
• Jointly-titled property: if you title the property jointly using a survivor’s rights designation, it will automatically be transferred to the survivor when you pass away. 
  
  

Tips On Avoiding Probate

As you can see, there are many techniques and estate planning tools at your disposal to limit the amount of assets that go through probate. This is something that your family will appreciate, as they’ll be able to focus on grieving instead of handling a complex legal process. 

Plus, avoiding probate administration saves a lot of money on administrative expenses, legal fees, and executor fees. Without an estate plan in place, probate will also take longer. This means that the fees will increase as more time passes. 

Lastly, if you want to preserve the privacy of your family, avoiding probate is essential. Probate is a public record and anyone can access this information for free, thereby learning everything about how your estate is distributed. 

So, here are some of the best ways to protect your family and avoid probate:

• Establish a living trust: as we already said, assets in the trust are titled to the trust itself and your beneficiaries will automatically inherit them. 
  
  
• Keep the estate small: if you strategically reduce the size of the estate (keep it under $75k), applicable assets will go through summary administration, which is cheaper and much more simple. 
  
  
• Gift assets while you’re alive: by strategically gifting assets to loved ones while you’re still alive, you’ll reduce your estate’s overall value.
  
  
• Title all your assets TOD and POD: although you can’t transfer real estate assets this way, you can transfer most bank accounts and vehicles to your beneficiaries without probate. 

• Jointly title property: you can transfer assets to one person without probate if you title them as joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, tenancy by entirety, or community property with the right of survivorship. 

How Hiring An Attorney Can Help You Avoid Probate

Probate can be complex and time-consuming, which will likely take a toll on your family. However, with careful planning, you can minimize the impact of this legal process on your family and see to it that their inheritance is preserved. 

A smart estate plan is necessary if you want to achieve this, and the easiest way to create one is to talk to an estate planning attorney. They’ll put all these pieces together, offer valuable advice, and ultimately, make your plans come to fruition. 

Who Should You Hire?

If you’re looking for a Florida-based estate attorney with a proven track record of success, the Law Offices of Mary E. King is the straightforward choice. With two decades in this business, we crafted strategic estate plans for citizens from all walks of life and helped them preserve the maximum amount of their assets. 

Give us a ring at 941-906-7585 or fill out our contact form and let’s get started on a foolproof estate plan together. 

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.