Probate & Trust Administration

Probate

What is “Probate” and when is it necessary? Probate is a court-supervised process for identifying and collecting the deceased person’s (identified as the “Decedent”) assets, providing notice to potential creditors and distributing assets according to the Decedent’s will or Florida law. Generally, if the Decedent owned assets that exceed $75,000 in value, a probate will be necessary. Not all assets are subject to the jurisdiction of the probate court. For example, life insurance is not subject to the probate process unless the estate was named the beneficiary. Individual Retirement Accounts, 401k plans, annuities generally are transferred to the beneficiary identified in the beneficiary designation form executed by the Decedent. Once a beneficiary discovers that assets need to be transferred through the probate process, the next question is usually how much does it cost and how long will it take.

Cost: Attorney and personal representative fees are determined under Florida law. Under Florida law personal representative and legal fees that do not exceed three percent (3%) of the gross estate are deemed reasonable.

Time: A full probate takes at least four months, and may take significantly longer if there are complications. A summary administration can usually be completed within six weeks.

Summary Administration: If the Decedent's assets are worth less than $75,000 or if the Decedent died more than two years ago, the Decedent’s assets can be transferred through a summary proceeding. This process is less expensive and less time consuming than a regular probate proceeding.

Trust Administration

If the Decedent’s property was owned by a trust, you may or may not need legal assistance. If the trust owned one house of nominal value, then you may not need the assistance of an attorney. However, if the trust owned several million dollars of assets, and after the Decedent’s death several sub-trusts are formed and administered, then you will need the assistance of an attorney. An attorney can assist with funding sub-trusts, providing advice to the successor trustee, collecting assets, dealing with creditors, filing state and federal estate and income tax returns and assisting the trustee with distribution options.