Small Estate Affidavit Thresholds & Procedure in Florida

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Fla. Stat. ch. 735, Part I, §§ 735.201–735.2063 ("Summary Administration"). Florida also runs two much smaller, narrower tracks in the same chapter — §§ 735.301/735.304 ("Disposition Without Administration," for very small estates limited to unpaid funeral/medical expenses or a $20,000 intestate cap) and § 735.303 (a $2,000-cap bank-account-only affidavit requiring no court at all) — but summary administration is the procedure most estates actually use.

Dollar threshold

$150,000, or the decedent has been dead more than two years — either condition alone is enough; they aren't cumulative requirements. This is a brand-new figure: Section 735.201(2) was amended by CS/HB 1337 (2026), signed by the Governor on April 29, 2026 (Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida), doubling the threshold from $75,000 to $150,000, effective July 1, 2026. That effective date has already passed as of this page's last verification, so $150,000 is the current, controlling figure — but Florida's official compiled-statutes website still displayed the old $75,000 number when rechecked on August 10, 2026 because the page remains captioned "The 2025 Florida Statutes." The enacted 2026 session law controls the current figure. A same-year session law therefore must be checked before relying on the compiled page's bare number.

Court filing required?

Yes. This is a genuine court proceeding, not a private affidavit: the petition is filed in the probate court, notice must go to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, and a judge personally enters the order of summary administration before any assets move. No personal representative is appointed at any point, which is what makes it faster and less supervised than full administration — but it is still a filed, adjudicated court case with an order at the end, not a document handed straight to a bank the way some states' small-estate affidavits work.

Waiting period after death

None is required simply to file — a summary administration petition can be filed as soon as the estate qualifies under the dollar threshold. The "dead more than 2 years" branch is a separate, alternative path to eligibility, not a mandatory waiting period layered on top of the dollar test.

Works with a will, intestacy, or both?

Both. Section 735.201(1) allows summary administration for a testate estate as long as the decedent's will doesn't itself direct full administration; subsection (2)'s dollar/time test applies regardless of testacy. Florida doesn't bar this procedure for either a will-based or an intestate estate the way some other states do.

Does it cover real property?

Yes, generally — Florida's summary administration order can distribute real property along with personal property; it isn't limited to a homestead or a primary residence the way some states' small-estate real property rules are.

Signature formalities

The petition itself must be "signed and verified" (sworn) by the surviving spouse, if any, and the beneficiaries who join it; a beneficiary who won't join instead gets formal notice of the petition. The statute doesn't require outside witnesses for the summary administration petition itself. (Florida's much smaller, separate $2,000 bank-account-only affidavit under § 735.303 is stricter on this point — it must be sworn before a notary public, using a form the statute prints out in full.)

Protection for the bank/holder

Protection attaches to the court's ORDER, not to the petition on its own. Once a judge enters the order of summary administration, anyone who owes the decedent money or holds the decedent's property is authorized to comply with the order by paying or transferring the assigned property, and — per § 735.206(4)(b) — "shall not be accountable to anyone else for the property." Unlike a purely private affidavit system, a holder in Florida isn't protected merely because someone hands them a signed petition; the protection only kicks in once the court has actually adjudicated and ordered the distribution.

What trips people up

The most consequential mistake right now is relying on an outdated $75,000 figure: that was the threshold for nearly a decade, it just doubled to $150,000 on July 1, 2026, and even Florida's own official compiled statutes website hadn't caught up to the change days after it took effect. A second trap is assuming this is a no-court process the way some other states' "small estate affidavit" branding suggests — Florida's version is a real, filed court case with a judge's order, just without an appointed personal representative or the full administration timeline. A third: the "dead more than 2 years" alternative eligibility path has nothing to do with the estate's size, so a large estate can still qualify for summary administration once enough time has passed, even though the dollar threshold alone wouldn't cover it.

Common questions

Does the will have to be admitted to probate first? Yes — filing the summary administration petition triggers proving the will (if there is one) and admitting it to probate as part of the same proceeding, per § 735.206(1); it isn't a separate, prior step.

What happens to creditors who do not receive individual notice? If proof of a compliant published notice is filed, an unknown or not reasonably ascertainable creditor is barred unless the claim is filed within three months after first publication. Other recipient-liability rules apply when that bar does not control.

Can a large, decade-old estate still use this process? Yes — if the decedent has been dead more than two years, the dollar value of the estate doesn't matter at all under § 735.201(2)'s alternative test.

Statutes and sources

• Fla. Stat. § 735.201(1)-(2) — "Summary administration may be had in the administration of either a resident or nonresident decedent's estate, when it appears: (1) In a testate estate, that the decedent's will does not direct administration as required by chapter 733. (2) That the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $150,000 $75,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years." — https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1337/BillText/er/PDF (accessed 2026-08-10)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.203(1) — "A petition for summary administration may be filed by any beneficiary or person nominated as personal representative in the decedent's will offered for probate. The petition must be signed and verified by the surviving spouse, if any, and any beneficiaries except that the joinder in a petition for summary administration is not required of a beneficiary who will receive a full distributive share under the proposed distribution. However, formal notice of the petition must be served on a beneficiary not joining in the petition." — http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html (accessed 2026-08-10)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.206(3)-(4)(b) — "The court may enter an order of summary administration allowing immediate distribution of the assets to the persons entitled to them. ... Debtors of the decedent, those holding property of the decedent, and those with whom securities or other property of the decedent are registered are authorized and empowered to comply with the order by paying, delivering, or transferring to those specified in the order the parts of the decedent's estate assigned to them by the order, and the persons so paying, delivering, or transferring shall not be accountable to anyone else for the property." — http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html (accessed 2026-08-10)
• CS/HB 1337 (2026), Section 7 (amending Fla. Stat. § 735.201(2)) — "Section 7. Subsection (2) of section 735.201, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 735.201 Summary administration; nature of proceedings.— ... (2) That the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $150,000 $75,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years. ... Section 14. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026. Approved by the Governor April 29, 2026. Filed in Office Secretary of State April 29, 2026." — https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1337/BillText/er/PDF (accessed 2026-08-10)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.2063(2) — "If proof of publication of the notice is filed with the court, all claims and demands of creditors against the estate of the decedent who are not known or are not reasonably ascertainable shall be forever barred unless the claims and demands are filed with the court within 3 months after the first publication of the notice." — http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html (accessed 2026-08-10)
• Fla. Stat. § 735.301 — disposition without administration for specified exempt personal property and nonexempt personal property bounded by funeral expenses and last-illness medical and hospital expenses. — http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/0735.html (accessed 2026-08-10)
• 2026 Fla. Laws ch. 57, § 9 — current $2,000 qualified-account affidavit amendment to Fla. Stat. § 735.303, with the six-month wait and sworn form. — https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1337/BillText/er/PDF (accessed 2026-08-10)
• 2026 Fla. Laws ch. 57, § 10 — current $20,000 intestate-property amendment to Fla. Stat. § 735.304. — https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2026/1337/BillText/er/PDF (accessed 2026-08-10)