Do You Need Probate to Sell a House in Florida?

In most cases, yes. If a Florida home was titled solely in the name of a person who has died, someone needs formal legal authority from a Florida probate court before that home can be sold, and a title company will not close without it ¹. There is one common exception, plus a partial one. Property that passed automatically outside of probate, most often through joint ownership with right of survivorship, needs no probate case at all. Small estates can sometimes use a shorter court track, summary administration, but that is still a probate proceeding, and the separate small-estate shortcut is built for personal property rather than real estate. This is a walkthrough of the mechanics: which administration applies, what a personal representative can and cannot do with real property, how homestead status changes the picture, and roughly how long each path takes. It assumes no probate case is open yet and you are working out what happens next.

This describes what Florida law says in general. It is not legal advice, and it is not an opinion about your estate. Which rules apply to a specific home turns on the deed, the will, and the family, and that reading belongs with a Florida probate attorney.

When probate is not required to sell

If the deed listed the decedent and another person as joint tenants with right of survivorship, or as tenants by the entirety, the default for a married couple on the same deed, the surviving owner holds full title automatically at the moment of death, without a probate proceeding for that asset ¹. Property held in a properly funded trust generally passes according to the trust's terms rather than through probate as well. In either case, the practical next step is usually recording a certified copy of the death certificate to clear the deceased owner's name from the public record, which a title company or closing agent handles as a routine part of the sale rather than as its own separate proceeding.

A separate, narrower process exists for very small estates consisting only of exempt property and limited personal property with a value that does not exceed the decedent's preferred funeral expenses and last-illness medical costs ². It is built for modest personal property, not for real estate, so most homes do not qualify under it even when the rest of the estate is small.

The fastest way to find out which situation applies to a specific house is to pull the deed. It will say, in the vesting language, exactly how the prior owners held title, and that single line usually answers the question before anyone opens a probate file.

Formal administration vs. summary administration

Florida runs two main tracks for administering an estate that includes real property. Formal administration is the default: the court appoints a personal representative, who identifies, gathers, values, and safeguards the estate's assets, pays valid claims, and eventually distributes what remains ¹. Summary administration is a shorter track, available when the value of the estate subject to administration, not counting exempt property, is $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years ³. A will that specifically directs administration under the formal process takes summary administration off the table regardless of the estate's value ³.

• Formal administration: a personal representative is appointed and supervises the estate through to closing.
• Summary administration: available at $75,000 or less in non-exempt assets, or after two years, generally faster.
• Disposition without administration: for very small estates with limited personal property; does not typically reach real estate.

A coastal home's own value often decides which track applies before anything else does. A modest inland property might leave an estate comfortably under the summary administration threshold. A waterfront home on its own is frequently worth more than that on the county tax roll alone, which pushes many coastal estates toward formal administration even when the rest of the estate is otherwise simple.

Administration begins with a petition filed in the circuit court in the county where the decedent was domiciled, and, if the decedent lived outside Florida, in the county where the property itself is located ⁸. That second branch is worth noting directly: a decedent who lived elsewhere but owned a Florida coastal home is common, and Florida law still routes that estate's administration, at least as to the Florida property, through a Florida court. The personal representative is formally appointed by court order rather than simply stepping into the role by being named in a will.

The duties that follow appointment are largely administrative but not optional. Identifying, gathering, valuing, and safeguarding the estate's assets. Publishing notice to creditors and paying valid claims. Filing the estate's tax returns. And eventually distributing what remains to the beneficiaries ¹. Selling the house is one task inside that larger sequence, not a step that happens in isolation from it, which is part of why a probate sale rarely closes on the buyer's preferred timeline alone. Because the process is document- and deadline-driven, most personal representatives work with a probate attorney from the outset rather than only at the end, which is consistent with the Florida Bar's own guidance to always engage one ¹.

What a personal representative can and can't do with the house

Once appointed, a personal representative has the right, and generally the obligation, to take possession or control of the decedent's property for purposes of managing and protecting it during administration, with one specific exception: protected homestead ⁴. That carve-out matters, because homestead property is treated differently from the rest of the estate from the moment of death, not just at the point of sale, and it is the reason a coastal property that was the deceased owner's primary residence can move through a different process than a second home titled the same way.

Selling the house itself usually takes one more step. If the will grants the personal representative a power of sale, that authority can be exercised without going back to the court for each transaction. If it does not, or there is no will, the personal representative generally needs the probate court's authorization or confirmation before title can pass ⁵. This is why a probate real estate sale often has a court order, not just a signed contract, somewhere in its paper trail.

In practice, that usually means the personal representative accepts an offer, then petitions the court for authority to complete the sale on the agreed terms. Notice goes to the other interested parties, the heirs and any known creditors, so anyone with an objection has a chance to raise it before the sale is finalized. Buyers and their agents build that step into the contract timeline rather than treating it as a surprise; a probate addendum to the standard purchase contract is common for exactly this reason.

Homestead property follows different rules

The Florida Constitution restricts who a homestead can be left to. If the owner is survived by a spouse or a minor child, the homestead generally cannot be devised away from them by will ⁶. Where there is no valid devise, Florida statute sets out what happens instead: a surviving spouse takes a life estate in the homestead, with the remainder passing to the decedent's descendants, unless the spouse elects, within six months of the death, to take an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common instead ⁷.

That split matters practically as well as legally. A life estate and a remainder interest are two different, simultaneous ownership stakes in the same property, and selling the home outright generally requires everyone holding one of those stakes, the life tenant and the remaindermen alike, to join in the conveyance. Where the remaindermen are the decedent's children, that can mean minors are among the people whose interest has to be addressed before a sale closes, which is its own conversation with a probate attorney.

This is exactly the situation where the general mechanics above are not the whole story, and it is worth raising directly with a probate attorney early rather than assuming the house will move through the estate like any other asset.

How long does a Florida probate sale take?

There is no single timeline, because it depends on which administration applies, whether the will is contested, and how quickly heirs and creditors respond. Summary administration is built to move faster than formal administration, which is part of why the $75,000 threshold and the two-year rule exist ³. A formal administration that includes selling real estate typically runs longer, because it layers a creditor notice period, and, if court approval of the sale is required, a hearing, onto the ordinary steps of any Florida closing.

Once the personal representative's authority is established and any needed court approval is in hand, the sale itself follows the same sequence any Florida closing does: an accepted contract, an inspection period, title work, and a closing where the deed is signed and recorded. Nothing about that back half moves faster or slower because an estate is involved, so a probate seller can generally plan around the same closing timeline a non-probate seller would. For the general shape of a Florida closing once a contract is signed, see our closing timeline walkthrough.

The one variable that most often adds real time is contest or disagreement: an heir who objects to the appointment, a will whose validity is questioned, or a creditor claim that has to be resolved before proceeds can be distributed. None of those are the default case, but any of them can extend a timeline that would otherwise track an ordinary Florida closing fairly closely.

If you are the heir and you don't live in Florida

Being appointed personal representative, or standing to inherit, from out of state changes the logistics but not the legal mechanics above. A personal representative who lives outside Florida can still be appointed, still open and administer the estate, and still sign for its sale, generally by working with a Florida probate attorney who can appear in court and file the necessary paperwork locally. Court filings and hearings can typically proceed without the personal representative physically present in the state for every step, so long as the attorney of record is handling the local appearances.

We cover the specific tools, power of attorney, remote notarization, and closing without traveling, in our guide for owners handling a sale from another state.

“A probate sale in Florida is not one process. It is a set of forks, based on how the home was titled, what it's worth, and whether it was the owner's homestead, and each fork changes what happens next.”

None of this is a substitute for a probate attorney reviewing your specific deed, will, and family situation. It is a map of the terrain, so the questions you bring to that first conversation are the right ones. Which administration applies. Whether the home was homestead. Who the court will appoint. And what that appointment lets them sign. If you are just beginning to sort out what to do with an inherited Florida home, our overview, Selling an Inherited Florida Beach House: Where to Start, is a good starting point. Once a personal representative is appointed, or once you know a court's involvement is not required, we are glad to talk through listing the home and what a Space Coast or Treasure Coast sale looks like from here.