Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Florida

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Florida calls the ordinary opening filing a petition for administration. Section 733.202 makes the filing broadly available to any interested person, and Rule 5.200 combines the request to administer the estate with the facts needed to admit the will and appoint a personal representative.

Court and venue

Section 26.012(2)(b) gives the circuit court exclusive original jurisdiction over decedent-estate proceedings and the granting of letters testamentary. Section 733.101 then selects the county: first the Florida county of domicile, next any county containing the nondomiciliary decedent's Florida property, and finally the county where a debtor resides if there is neither Florida domicile nor property. Improper county venue is curable by transfer, and acts taken before transfer are not invalidated merely by the venue error.

Who may petition

The threshold is not limited to the nominated executor. Section 733.202 says, “Any interested person may petition for administration.” That answers who may file; §§ 733.301-.305 separately decide who has preference and is qualified to receive letters.

Petition contents

Rule 5.200 requires verification and a substantial factual inventory. It includes the petitioner's interest, address, and attorney; the decedent's identity, last four Social Security digits, death, and domicile; known spouse and beneficiaries; venue; the proposed representative's preference and detailed qualifications; known foreign proceedings; approximate asset nature and value; every unrevoked will and codicil presented or withheld; and the status of the original will.

For example, it is not enough to say that the will nominates the applicant. The petition must also disclose whether anyone has equal or higher preference and, if so, that person's name and whether formal notice will be served.

Original will, copies, and lodging

For an ordinary Florida testate estate, Rule 5.200(j) requires the petition to say that the original is already in the court's possession or accompanies the petition. The rule also recognizes authenticated copies of a will deposited or probated elsewhere and an authenticated notarial-will copy whose original is held by a foreign notary; those are special statutory routes, not a general permission to file a photocopy of a missing domestic paper will.

Electronic wills have their own original rule. Section 732.526 treats the electronic record filed through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal as the original, and it also treats a notary-certified true paper copy of an electronic will as an original that may be offered for probate.

Filing or production deadline

The ten-day clock belongs to the custodian, not every potential petitioner. Section 732.901 requires the custodian to deposit the will within ten days after receiving information that the testator is dead. Submitting the original with the petition counts as deposit. The cited petition provisions do not turn that custodian duty into a universal ten-day deadline to open probate.

Proof and self-proving route

Section 733.201 permits a properly self-proved will to be admitted without further proof. A will that is not self-proved may be admitted on an attesting witness's oath before a circuit judge, court-appointed commissioner, or clerk. If attesting witnesses cannot be found, became incapacitated, or cannot provide testimony within a reasonable time, the fallback is the oath of the nominated personal representative or a person with no interest under the will who believes the writing is the decedent's true last will.

A purportedly self-proved electronic will loses the automatic route if its execution or self-proving acknowledgments involved online notarization with a substantial failure to follow § 117.265. It must then use one of the other proof routes in § 733.201.

Notice, hearing, and objections

Rule 5.201 does not impose one universal pre-admission notice-and-hearing model. When the petitioner appears entitled to appointment preference, ordinarily “no notice need be given” of the petition or issuance of letters. Before letters may issue to a nonpreferred applicant, however, formal notice must go to all known qualified persons with equal or greater preference unless they waive in writing; a copy of the offered will accompanies formal notice of the petition.

Section 733.2123 also permits a petitioner to serve interested persons before letters. A served person must raise will-validity, testacy, venue, or jurisdiction challenges in that preletters proceeding. After appointment, § 733.212 requires prompt notice of administration to specified known persons, including the spouse and beneficiaries. A served interested person ordinarily has three months to object to will validity, venue, or jurisdiction.

Executor qualification, bond, and letters

The will's nominated representative or successor has first testate preference under § 733.301, followed by the majority-selected person and then a devisee. An individual must be at least eighteen, mentally and physically able to perform the duties, and not have a listed felony or elder/disabled-adult abuse conviction. A nonresident must fit one of § 733.304's specified family relationships. Qualified banks and trust companies may also serve under § 733.305.

Bond is required unless the will or court waives it; authorized banks and trust companies are exempt. Rule 5.235 makes issuance sequential: after the petition is filed and the will admitted, the court appoints the entitled and qualified person, sets any bond, and receives any required oath and resident-agent designation and acceptance. Letters issue only after those steps are satisfied.

What trips people up

• Will deposit and petition filing are different acts. The custodian's ten-day deposit deadline does not force every interested person to petition within ten days.
• An ordinary photocopy is not automatically enough. Rule 5.200(j) names particular authenticated-copy routes, while § 732.526 separately defines what counts as the original of an electronic will.
• Formal notice can move the contest point forward. A person served before letters under § 733.2123 must bring the listed challenges in that proceeding; post-appointment notice ordinarily starts the separate three-month objection clock.
• Nomination is preference, not automatic appointment. The nominee must still be qualified, and the court must address bond and required filings before letters issue.

Common questions

Must the death certificate accompany the initial petition?

Not under the statewide timing rule. Rule 5.205 requires a copy of the official death record in an estate administration no later than three months after the first publication of notice to creditors; that rule does not make it an initial petition attachment.

Does a self-proved will still need a witness at the probate hearing?

Ordinarily no further proof is required. The exception described in § 733.201 applies to a purportedly self-proved electronic will affected by a substantial online-notarization failure.

Can an out-of-state nominee serve as personal representative?

Only if the nominee fits § 733.304's relationship categories, such as the decedent's spouse, specified relatives, or the spouse of an otherwise qualified relative. A nonresident nominee outside those categories cannot qualify merely because the will names that person.

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 26.012(2)(b) — circuit-court jurisdiction. Circuit courts have “exclusive original jurisdiction” over decedent-estate proceedings and granting letters testamentary. Official section 26.012 (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. § 733.101 — county venue and transfer. “The venue for probate of wills and granting letters shall be” the domicile county, then a property county, then the debtor's county. Official chapter 733 (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. §§ 733.201-.202 — who may petition and how the will is proved. “Any interested person may petition for administration,” and self-proved wills ordinarily need no further proof. Official chapter 733 (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. § 117.265 — online-notarization identity, recording, and noncompliance rules cross-referenced by § 733.201. Official section 117.265 (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Prob. R. 5.200 — verified petition contents, will statement, priority, and nominee qualification. “The petition for administration shall be verified by the petitioner and shall contain” the listed facts. Current Florida Probate Rules (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. §§ 732.901 and 732.526 — will deposit, ten-day custodian clock, and originals of electronic wills. “An original will submitted to the clerk with a petition or other pleading is deemed to have been deposited.” Official section 732.901 and official section 732.526 (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. §§ 733.212 and 733.2123; Fla. Prob. R. 5.201 — preletters formal notice, post-appointment notice, and objections. A preferred petitioner ordinarily gives no pre-issuance notice; a served objection to will validity, venue, or jurisdiction is ordinarily due within three months. Official chapter 733 and current Florida Probate Rules (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Stat. §§ 733.301-.305 and 733.402; Fla. Prob. R. 5.235 — testate preference, qualifications, nonresidents, bond, appointment, and letters. “Upon compliance with all of the foregoing, letters shall be issued to the personal representative.” Official chapter 733 and current Florida Probate Rules (accessed 2026-08-08).
• Fla. Prob. R. 5.205 — death-record filing. In an estate administration, the copy is due “not later than 3 months following the date of the first publication of the notice to creditors.” Current Florida Probate Rules (accessed 2026-08-08).