Miami-Dade County Probate Lawyer

If someone died while living in Miami-Dade County, or owned property here, their estate is administered through the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. This page explains where that happens, what the process usually looks like, and how to find help in your particular city.

Where Miami-Dade probate cases are filed and heard

Probate, guardianship and mental health matters for Miami-Dade County are handled at the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 N.W. 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida 33128. Six circuit judges and two general magistrates are assigned to the division.

You can usually tell what kind of case you are looking at from the case number. Miami-Dade probate case numbers end in CP-02, guardianship cases in GD-02, and mental health cases in MH-02. Filings are submitted electronically through the statewide Florida Courts E-Filing Portal rather than over the counter.

Our Coral Gables office at 2850 Douglas Road is a short drive from the courthouse, and we appear in the Miami-Dade probate division regularly.

Which type of Florida probate will the estate need?

Not every estate goes through the same process, and the difference matters a great deal for how long it takes and what it costs.

Summary administration is the shorter route. It is available where the value of the probate estate subject to administration is $75,000 or less, or where the decedent has been dead for more than two years. There is no personal representative appointed in the usual sense, and the court can enter an order distributing assets without the full administration process. We explain the requirements in detail in our guide to summary administration in Florida.

Formal administration is the standard process for larger estates and for any estate where a personal representative needs authority to act, for example to sell real property, deal with a business, or handle creditor claims. Our overview of the Florida probate process walks through each stage.

Some assets never pass through probate at all. Property held with rights of survivorship, accounts with a valid beneficiary designation, and assets titled in a trust are generally handled outside the process. If you are not sure what is in the estate, our page on Florida non-probate assets is a useful starting point.

How long Miami-Dade probate usually takes

Miami-Dade runs one of the busiest probate dockets in Florida, and timelines here can run longer than in smaller counties. A straightforward formal administration commonly takes several months to a year; the statutory creditor period alone runs three months from first publication of the notice to creditors. Estates involving contested issues, out-of-state property or a business interest take longer.

Two things reliably slow a Miami-Dade case down: an incomplete inventory of assets, and disagreements between beneficiaries that surface after the personal representative has already been appointed. Both are easier to manage early. Our guides on how long probate takes in Florida and Florida probate creditors cover the timing questions we are asked most.

Common Miami-Dade situations

A few patterns come up repeatedly in this county. Homestead property is one: Florida homestead has its own constitutional protections and descent rules, and it is frequently the largest asset in the estate. Out-of-state and international families are another, particularly where the decedent held property in Miami-Dade but lived elsewhere, which usually calls for ancillary probate. Disputes over a will, or over how a personal representative is handling the estate, fall under probate litigation.

Miami-Dade cities we serve

Each page below covers probate in that specific community. If your city is not listed, we still handle the matter through the same Miami-Dade division.

Áreas de servicio en español

Atendemos a familias de habla hispana en todo el condado de Miami-Dade. Cada página explica el proceso de sucesión y validación de testamento en esa ciudad.

For the wider region, see our South Florida probate attorney page. For the rest of the state, see Florida probate service areas. Our main practice page is Miami probate attorney.