My mother passed and owned property in Florida

My mother or my father has passed and they owned property in Florida, what do I do?

This is a very common occurrence in occurrence in Florida.  It is difficult enough to handle the grieving process and address the issues with the estate in their state of residence and once you find out that the attorney in their home/state of residence can’t address the real property in Florida, it can feel overwhelming.

Fortunately, we are very familiar with these situations.  We have worked with attorneys and clients in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, California, and Colorado.

Our goal is to make the probate process as smooth, efficient and economically viable as possible.  We work closely with both our client (Personal Representative/Executor) and the attorney handling the estate in the home state.  We understand how difficult the death of a parent can be on the family and how important it is to effectuate the intent of the decedent.

These type of estates are called ancillary estates, which is really an estate in support of the primary probate case filed in the state in which the decedent resided.  The ancillary estate in Florida will follow the proper protocol necessary to get the letters of administration, notice to creditors, satisfaction of legitimate claims in Florida, and the distribution of the assets of the estate.

One question that comes up frequently is whether there needs to be a probated ancillary estate filed when there is a will.  The underlying issue is an estate is probated with or without a will.  Often, individuals believe that because they have a will, they do not have to probate the estate and that the will is in lieu of probate.  That is not true.  A will indicates the written intent of the decedent of how they would like to have their affairs handled through the probate court.  This is termed a testate estate.  If the decedent does not have a will, their estate is probated intestate.  An intestate estate follows the statute as to who should administer the estate and who are the beneficiaries.

If you have recently lost a family member and they own property in Florida, please give me a call and I will see what I can do to help.  I appreciate you taking the time to watch my video and view my website.