Closing a Bank Account When Someone Dies in Florida: The Complete Legal Guide

Updated 28 August 2026 — revised for the threshold increases made by chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, effective 1 July 2026, and for the 2026 amendment to the safe-deposit box statute.

What happens to a bank account when someone dies in Florida is decided almost entirely by one thing: how the account was titled. Not the will. Not who the next of kin is. Not who was paying the bills. The title on the account.

A joint account with survivorship goes to the survivor. A payable-on-death account goes to the named beneficiary. An account in the decedent’s sole name goes into the estate, and someone needs court authority to reach it. A convenience account — where a family member’s name was added only so they could sign checks — goes into the estate too, even though it looks identical to a joint account on the statement.

This guide covers closing a bank account after death in Florida from end to end: the four routes to the money, what each bank will ask you for, what to do when the bank will not release the funds, and the four dollar thresholds that changed on 1 July 2026.

How the account was titled decides almost everything

Start here. Find the signature card or the statement, and match the account to a row.

How the account is held	What happens at death	Probate needed	Authority
Sole name, no beneficiary named	Falls into the probate estate	Usually yes	—
Joint with right of survivorship	Passes to the surviving party. The presumption can be overcome only by proof of fraud or undue influence, or clear and convincing proof of a contrary intent	No	§ 655.79(2)
Held by husband and wife	Presumed a tenancy by the entireties unless otherwise specified in writing. Passes to the surviving spouse and, during the marriage, is beyond the reach of a creditor of one spouse alone	No	§ 655.79(1)
Convenience account — a second name added only to sign checks	Falls into the probate estate. The convenience signer owns nothing. This account looks identical to a joint account on a statement and is the single most misunderstood item on this page	Usually yes	§ 655.80
Payable on death, sometimes written POD or Totten trust	Passes to the named beneficiary. But surviving joint parties rank ahead of the POD beneficiary, who takes only on the death of the last surviving party	No	§ 655.82(3)
Held in the name of a trust	Passes under the trust instrument, handled by the successor trustee	No	—

Routes to the money that do not require a full administration

If the account is in the decedent’s sole name, a full probate is not always necessary. Four of these figures changed on 1 July 2026 under chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida. A great deal of published material — including guidance from national legal publishers — still shows the older numbers.

Route	What it takes	Limit	Authority
Bank pays out a sole-name account	No survivor or beneficiary designation, at least 6 months since the death, a certified death certificate and a sworn affidavit. The bank receives a full release and discharge; the money remains answerable to the estate’s creditors	$2,000, raised from $1,000	§ 735.303, as amended by ch. 2026-57
Small intestate estate	Died without a will more than 1 year ago, with no administration pending	$20,000, raised from $10,000	§ 735.304, as amended by ch. 2026-57
Federal income tax refund owed to the decedent	Applies to the refund only, not to accounts generally. No administration begun and no debts	$5,000, raised from $2,500	§ 735.302, as amended by ch. 2026-57
Disposition without administration	Requires a court authorization under seal, not merely an affidavit	No flat dollar cap. The limit is a formula: nonexempt personal property not exceeding preferred funeral expenses plus reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness	§ 735.301
Summary administration	A petition and a court order determining who takes the property	$150,000 of Florida assets after deducting property exempt from creditors’ claims, raised from $75,000 — or any value if the death was more than 2 years ago	§ 735.201, as amended by ch. 2026-57
Formal administration	Full probate. A personal representative is appointed and receives letters of administration	No limit — required above the summary threshold, or where real property or disputes are involved	Chapter 733

The disposition-without-administration row is worth reading twice. A great deal of published material attaches a flat dollar figure to section 735.301. The statute contains none — the ceiling moves with the funeral and last-illness medical bills in the particular case.

Note also what is not on this list. Summary administration and disposition without administration are often described online as ways to “avoid probate.” They are not. Both are court proceedings under the Florida Probate Code, with a petition, a judge and a case number. They are faster and cheaper than formal administration, not alternatives to it. Only three routes genuinely involve no court at all: a joint account, a payable-on-death designation, and the section 735.303 bank affidavit.

What happens to a bank account when someone dies in Florida?

Nothing happens automatically, and nothing happens instantly.

The account does not close itself. It does not transfer to the next of kin. It does not pass under the will unless the will actually governs it — and for a joint or POD account, the will does not govern it at all. What changes at the moment of death is that every authority anyone held during the decedent’s lifetime evaporates: a power of attorney ends, an authorized signer’s permission ends, online banking access becomes unauthorized.

What replaces that authority depends on the row you matched in the first table. A surviving joint owner already owns the account and simply proves the death. A POD beneficiary claims directly from the bank. Everyone else needs authority from a probate court.

What happens to a bank account when someone dies without a will in Florida?

Dying without a will is called dying intestate, and it changes who inherits — but it does not change the analysis above. Titling still decides first. A joint account with survivorship, a payable-on-death account and a trust account all pass exactly the same way whether or not there is a will, because none of them pass under a will in the first place.

What the absence of a will changes is the destination of the sole-name account that falls into the probate estate. Instead of the beneficiaries the decedent chose, Florida’s intestacy statutes decide.

Under section 732.102, the surviving spouse’s share turns entirely on whose children are involved:

• No descendants at all — the spouse takes the entire intestate estate.
• All descendants are children of both spouses, and the surviving spouse has no other children — the spouse takes the entire intestate estate.
• The decedent has a descendant who is not a descendant of the surviving spouse — the spouse takes one-half.
• All descendants are common, but the surviving spouse has other descendants — the spouse takes one-half.

Where there is no surviving spouse, section 732.103 sends the estate down a fixed order: to the decedent’s descendants; then to the parents equally, or to the survivor of them; then to brothers and sisters and the descendants of deceased brothers and sisters; then outward to grandparents and their descendants, divided between the paternal and maternal lines.

Two practical consequences. An intestate estate still needs somebody appointed before a bank will release a sole-name account — there is simply no will nominating that person, so the statutory order of preference decides who gets the job. And if the account is modest and the death was more than a year ago, section 735.304 exists specifically for intestate estates and may avoid a full administration altogether.

The State of Florida does not take the money. Escheat happens only where no heir can be found anywhere in that order.

No Florida statute makes a bank freeze the account

People search this constantly, and the honest answer is not the one most pages give. There is no provision in chapter 655 or chapter 735 that requires, or specifically authorises, a financial institution to freeze a deceased depositor’s account. Every statute in the area runs the other way: sections 655.78, 655.79 and 655.82 permit the institution to pay out and then discharge it from further liability for doing so.

What those three sections have in common is the opening qualifier — each begins “unless otherwise expressly provided in a contract, agreement, or signature card”. The statutory defaults yield to the bank’s own deposit agreement. The freeze comes from the account agreement, not from Florida law, which is why practice varies from bank to bank and why arguing the statute at the counter rarely helps.

Section 655.83 points the same direction. Where someone asserts an adverse claim to a deposit, the institution is not obliged to act on notice alone: the claimant generally has to obtain a court order or post an indemnity bond. The statute protects the bank from being forced to hold funds, rather than compelling it to.

So should you tell the bank someone died?

This question circulates widely online, usually with the implication that staying quiet keeps the money accessible. That advice is wrong and it is dangerous.

Continuing to use a deceased person’s account — a debit card, an online transfer, a check — is not a technicality. Authority ended at death. The bank will eventually learn of the death, from the Social Security Administration’s death file if from nowhere else, and it will reconstruct the account history. The person who kept spending is then explaining withdrawals to the personal representative, to the other beneficiaries, and potentially to a court.

The correct answer is that notifying the bank does not change who gets the money, because titling already decided that. It only starts the clock on the paperwork. Notify the bank, and notify it in writing.

Joint bank accounts and the right of survivorship

Under section 655.79(1), a deposit account in two or more names is presumed — unless the contract, agreement or signature card expressly says otherwise — to vest in the survivors on the death of any party.

Subsection (2) makes that presumption unusually hard to attack. It can be overcome only by proof of fraud or undue influence, or by clear and convincing proof of a contrary intent. And it applies, in the statute’s words, notwithstanding that the vesting may be testamentary in nature — meaning the ordinary requirements for a valid gift or a valid will simply do not apply.

Three points from the case law matter in practice:

• Magic words are not required. In In re Estate of Herring, 670 So. 2d 145 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996), the survivorship presumption attached to a certificate of deposit titled in two names even though the account documents contained no express “right of survivorship” language. The surviving co-owner, not the estate, owned it.
• Donative intent is the wrong question. In Davis v. Foulkrod, 642 So. 2d 1129 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994), it was error to decide the issue on donative intent, because the absence of an intent to make a lifetime gift does not prove a contrary intent as to what happens at death. The court also held that “[m]erely driving the decedent to and from his bankers, without more, is insufficient evidence of procuring these joint accounts.”
• The bar for contrary intent is genuinely high. In In re Estate of Combee, 601 So. 2d 1165 (Fla. 1992) — construing section 658.56, the predecessor of the current statute — the Florida Supreme Court held that evidence the decedent did not intend a present inter vivos gift does not rebut the presumption. The legislature moved the analysis onto a contract theory rather than a gift or tenancy theory.

Accounts held by husband and wife: tenancy by the entireties

Section 655.79(1) contains a second sentence that is frequently overlooked and that changes the answer for married couples: “Any deposit or account made in the name of two persons who are husband and wife shall be considered a tenancy by the entirety unless otherwise specified in writing.”

This is more than survivorship. A tenancy by the entireties account is owned by the marriage rather than by either spouse, which means that during the marriage it is generally beyond the reach of a creditor of one spouse alone. A surviving spouse asking whether the decedent’s creditors can take the joint account therefore gets a different answer than a surviving adult child asking the same question about the same bank.

Before the 2008 amendment that added that sentence, the governing authority was Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, 780 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 2001), which established that where the required unities are present and the signature card does not expressly disclaim entireties treatment, a presumption of tenancy by the entireties arises and the burden shifts to the creditor. Beal Bank remains good law for its own context, but it is no longer a complete statement of Florida law on spousal accounts. Two things have moved since 2001. The 2008 amendment to section 655.79(1) (ch. 2008-75) added the husband-and-wife sentence quoted above, putting the presumption in the statute. And in Loumpos v. Bank One, 423 So. 3d 856 (Fla. 2025), the Florida Supreme Court held that section 655.79 authorizes a joint spousal account to be held as a tenancy by the entireties even if the account was originally established by one spouse — there, the husband opened the account alone and the couple executed new signature cards designating entireties ownership months later. The Court held Beal Bank‘s common-law unities analysis inapplicable to that scenario, quashing the Second District’s contrary decision at 392 So. 3d 841 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024). For spousal accounts today, the statutory presumption governs.

See also Gibson v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 255 So. 3d 944 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018), applying section 655.79(1) to hold that a joint federal tax refund deposited into a spousal account was held as a tenancy by the entireties and was not subject to garnishment by a creditor of one spouse.

Convenience accounts: when your name on the account means nothing

This is the most common fact pattern in this entire area, and it is the one the internet gets most consistently wrong.

A parent gets older. A son or daughter is added to the checking account so they can write checks for groceries, utilities and the pharmacy. The parent dies. The bank looks at two names on the account and tells the child the money is theirs.

It may not be. Florida has a separate statute for exactly this arrangement. Section 655.80 governs the convenience account, and it could not be clearer about ownership: “All rights, interests, and claims in, to, and in respect of, such deposits and convenience account and the additions thereto shall be those of the principal only.”

The convenience signer is an agent, not an owner. They can sign during the principal’s lifetime and they inherit nothing. On the principal’s death, the statute directs the institution to pay the balance to the guardian of the principal’s property, to a person designated by court order under section 735.206, to a person designated under section 735.301, or to the personal representative of the estate — not to the convenience signer.

How to tell which kind of account you actually have

The two accounts can look identical on a statement, and the difference is decided by the account documents and the surrounding evidence. Signals that an account is a convenience account rather than a true joint account include: the second name was added late in the principal’s life, at a point of declining health; the second party never deposited their own money; the second party never used the account for their own purposes; the stated reason at the time was help with bills; and the bank’s own form is labelled as a convenience or agency account.

The signature card creates a presumption, but it is not the end of the inquiry. That point was decided in Larkins v. Mendez, 363 So. 3d 140 (Fla. 3d DCA 2023), where the account was titled a multiple-party account with right of survivorship on a signature card that both the decedent and his son had signed. The Third District held that the presumption created by the box checked on the signature card is rebuttable, and may be overcome by clear and convincing proof of a contrary intent — so the probate court was not confined to the four corners of the signature card. On the extrinsic evidence, the account was in substance a convenience account, and the balance became an estate asset on the account holder’s death.

That is the whole ballgame for a family in this position. The paperwork the bank shows you is a starting point, not a verdict.

If you are the family member whose name was added, this cuts both ways. Taking the money because the teller said you could does not make it yours, and a personal representative can come after it. If you are another beneficiary who believes a sibling emptied a parent’s account on this basis, section 655.80 is where that conversation starts.

Payable-on-death accounts (POD), and their disadvantages

A POD account — short for payable on death, and often written as a POD on a bank account — is an ordinary account with a beneficiary named on it. On the owner’s death the balance passes straight to that person on production of a death certificate and identification. It never becomes a probate asset, which is exactly why banks and customers like it.

Section 655.82(3) sets out the order of operations, and it contains a trap. On the death of one of two or more parties, the sums on deposit belong to the surviving party or parties. The POD beneficiary takes only on the death of the sole party or the last survivor. In other words, a surviving joint owner outranks a named POD beneficiary. Subsection (4) adds that a pay-on-death designation in a multiple-party account without right of survivorship is ineffective. And if no named beneficiary survives, the money belongs to the estate of the last surviving party — which puts it right back into probate.

This is precisely the distinction the First District drew in Brown v. Brown, 149 So. 3d 108 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014): the section 655.79 rebuttable survivorship presumption applies to joint deposit accounts only, and it was error to apply it to POD accounts, which are governed instead by section 655.82.

What about a transfer on death account? TOD is the same idea under a different label, used most often for brokerage and investment accounts rather than bank deposits. The effect at death is identical to a POD: the named beneficiary claims directly from the institution on production of a death certificate and identification, and the asset never becomes a probate asset. Whether the paperwork says POD, TOD or Totten trust, the question is the same one — is there a named beneficiary, and is that beneficiary still alive?

The disadvantages of a payable on death account

These are real and are rarely explained at the counter. A POD designation overrides the will, so a carefully drafted estate plan can be quietly defeated by a form signed in a branch. It pays the named person outright with no trust, no timing and no protection, which matters if that person is a minor, on needs-based benefits, in a divorce, or simply not good with money. It ignores the rest of the estate, so if the POD account holds most of the wealth, the other beneficiaries can be left funding the debts. And it does not adjust: a beneficiary who dies before the owner, or a named spouse who is no longer a spouse, is a problem nobody notices until it is too late.

The POD bank account rules that surprise people most: the beneficiary has no rights at all while the owner is alive and cannot see the account, the owner can change or remove them at any time without telling anyone, and the money still counts toward the taxable estate even though it skips probate.

Can a POD designation be challenged?

Yes. A beneficiary designation is not immune from attack simply because it sits outside the will. In Keul v. Hodges Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 180 So. 3d 1074 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015), the First District confirmed that POD designations may be challenged on grounds including undue influence, fraud, duress and overreaching.

Winning such a claim is a different matter. In Estate of Kester v. Rocco, 117 So. 3d 1196 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013), the court reversed a finding of undue influence because there was insufficient evidence of active procurement — the beneficiary was not shown to have been present when the designations were changed, gave no instructions to bank staff, and the decedent retained her faculties. A close parent-child relationship and an unsigned, undated memorandum stating a contrary intention were not enough.

A power of attorney dies with the person who signed it

This is the single most common misunderstanding families bring to a bank, and it is usually discovered at the counter. Section 709.2109(1)(a), Florida Statutes, lists the events that terminate a power of attorney, and the first is simply: the principal dies.

There is no qualifier on it. That matters, because the neighbouring provisions all carry one — the paragraphs dealing with incapacity, revocation and dissolution of marriage each begin with an “unless” or an “if”. Death does not. It ends the authority in every case, and a Florida power of attorney cannot be drafted to survive death.

Durable does not mean it survives death

A durable power of attorney under section 709.2104 is one that survives the principal’s incapacity. That is the entire effect of durability. People reasonably read the word as meaning lasting or permanent, and conclude that a durable power of attorney keeps working after a death. It does not. Incapacity and death are different events, and only one of them is answered by durability.

Why the bank asks whether the principal is still living

Section 709.2119(2) allows a financial institution presented with a power of attorney to require an affidavit from the agent stating, among other things, that the principal is alive. That is the bank protecting itself, and it is also the reason using a power of attorney after a death is a serious step rather than a technicality: the agent is being asked to state something in writing.

The protections in this area are separate and they do not cover the same person. Section 709.2109(4) protects the agent who acts after termination, but only where the agent acted both without knowledge of the death and in good faith. Section 709.2119 protects the institution that accepts a power of attorney in good faith without knowledge that it has terminated. Neither protects an agent who knows the principal has died and keeps moving money. This is also why a bank sometimes does honour a power of attorney after a death without consequence to itself — the exposure sits with the agent, not the teller.

What happens to an agent who keeps using it

Section 709.2117 is the remedy provision. An agent who violates the Florida Power of Attorney Act is liable to restore the value of the principal’s property to what it would have been had the violation not occurred, together with reimbursement of attorney fees and costs. That liability runs to the principal’s successors in interest, which means the estate itself can bring the claim — often at the instance of the other beneficiaries.

The practical sequence after a death is therefore simple to state and hard to shortcut. The power of attorney is finished. Authority over accounts held in the decedent’s sole name comes from the probate court, through letters of administration or an order of summary administration, and not from anything signed during life.

Is an authorized signer on a bank account after death allowed to keep using it?

No. An authorized signer is not an owner. Signing authority is permission granted by the account holder, and like a power of attorney it ends the moment that person dies. An authorized signer on a bank account after death inherits nothing from the account, cannot close it, and cannot keep paying bills from it once they know of the death.

This is the single most common mix-up in this area, because four roles feel similar and are not:

Role	Ownership at death	Can they take the money?
Joint owner with survivorship	Owns the account	Yes, by survivorship
POD beneficiary	Takes on the last party’s death	Yes, on presenting a death certificate and ID
Convenience signer (§ 655.80)	None — “those of the principal only”	No
Authorized signer	None	No — authority ends at death
Agent under a power of attorney	None	No — the power terminates at death

Is it illegal to withdraw money from a deceased person’s account in Florida?

It can be — and this is the question people usually ask after they have already done it.

The starting point is not complicated. Every form of authority over another person’s account ends at death: a power of attorney terminates under section 709.2109(1)(a), an authorized signer’s permission ends, and knowing the online banking password was never authority to begin with. A withdrawal made after the death, by someone who is not a surviving joint owner or a named beneficiary, is a withdrawal of money that belongs to somebody else.

The civil exposure is close to certain

A personal representative can sue to recover it. If the person acted as an agent under a power of attorney, section 709.2117 requires them to restore the value of the property, plus attorney’s fees and costs. Ordinary claims for conversion and unjust enrichment are available, and a court can impose a constructive trust over what was taken. Florida’s civil theft statute permits treble damages and attorney’s fees in appropriate cases, subject to a written pre-suit demand.

In practice the money usually has to come back. Banks reconstruct account activity as a matter of routine, and post-death withdrawals appear on a statement with dates against them.

The criminal exposure is real but discretionary

Taking property belonging to another with the intent to deprive them of it is theft under section 812.014, graded by the value taken. Presenting a power of attorney to a bank while knowing the principal has died raises a separate problem, because section 709.2119 contemplates the institution asking the agent to state in writing that the principal is alive.

Whether a prosecutor charges a case like this depends heavily on the amount, the intent, and whether the money is returned. A family member who took a modest sum for a genuine expense and disclosed it is in a very different position from someone who emptied an account and denied it.

Can I use my parent’s debit card to pay for the funeral?

No — and this is the most common version of the problem, because the intention is almost always good. The card belonged to the decedent, the authority behind it ended at death, and paying a legitimate expense does not supply the missing authority.

Florida has a route built for exactly this situation. Section 735.301 sets the ceiling for disposition without administration by reference to preferred funeral expenses plus the medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness. The statute is, in effect, designed around getting the funeral paid. Pay the funeral home from your own funds if you can, keep the invoice, and seek reimbursement through that route — reimbursement is expressly what it contemplates. That is slower than using the card, and it is the difference between having a claim and having a liability.

If you have already used the account

Stop, and do not spend anything further. Preserve the statements and note what each withdrawal actually paid for — a funeral invoice or a utility bill in the decedent’s name is a very different fact from a cash withdrawal. Disclose it to the personal representative rather than waiting to be asked, because voluntary disclosure and repayment resolve most of these situations without litigation. And get advice before signing anything the bank puts in front of you.

What documents the bank will ask for

Order 10 certified copies of the death certificate at the outset. Certified copies, not photocopies — most institutions will not accept a photocopy. Between the banks, insurers, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, pension administrators, title companies, the motor vehicle department and the probate court, ten is not excessive, and ordering them together is cheaper and faster than ordering them one at a time.

Order the long form where cause of death may be needed for an insurer, and the short form for routine account closures.

Your route	What the bank will require	Where you get it
Surviving joint owner	Certified death certificate, photo ID	Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics
POD beneficiary	Certified death certificate, photo ID, sometimes the bank’s own claim form	Vital Statistics; the bank’s estate services unit
Successor trustee	Certified death certificate, the trust instrument or a certification of trust, photo ID	The decedent’s records
§ 735.303 bank affidavit	Certified death certificate, sworn affidavit, proof of relationship, 6 months elapsed	The bank’s own affidavit form
Disposition without administration	The court’s authorization under seal	Circuit court, probate division, in the county of domicile
Summary administration	Certified copy of the order of summary administration	Circuit court, probate division
Formal administration	Certified copy of letters of administration, estate EIN, photo ID, often the bank’s own indemnity form	Circuit court; IRS Form SS-4 for the EIN

How to get letters of administration in Florida

Almost every route on this page ends in the same place: for a sole-name account above the small-estate thresholds, the bank wants letters of administration. Here is how they are actually obtained.

Where it is filed. A petition for administration goes to the probate division of the circuit court for the county where the decedent was domiciled at death — not where the bank is, and not where the family lives.

What gets filed. The original will, if there is one: whoever holds it must deposit it with the clerk within 10 days of learning of the death, under section 732.901. Then the petition for administration, a certified death certificate, the proposed personal representative’s oath and designation of a resident agent, and notice to the other interested persons.

Who gets appointed. If there is a will, the person it nominates, provided they qualify. If there is not, section 733.301 sets the order of preference — the surviving spouse first, then the person selected by a majority in interest of the heirs, then the heir nearest in degree.

The attorney requirement. Under the Florida Probate Rules a personal representative must generally be represented by a Florida attorney, the narrow exception being where the personal representative is the sole interested person. This surprises people who expected to handle it themselves, and it is the most common reason a family calls after being turned away at a bank counter.

What issues. The court signs an order appointing the personal representative and the clerk issues the letters — a short document under seal. That is the piece of paper the bank wants. Order several certified copies, and note that many institutions will not accept letters certified more than 60 or 90 days earlier, so time the request to when you will actually use them.

How long it takes. In an uncontested formal administration, letters commonly issue within a few weeks of filing, though it varies by county and by whether the beneficiaries waive notice. Summary administration does not produce letters at all — it produces an order assigning the assets, which serves the same purpose at the bank.

What to do when the bank will not release the funds

This is the problem families actually call about, and it is usually solvable without litigation.

First, escalate off the branch counter. Most large banks handle decedent accounts through a dedicated estate services or deceased-account unit, not the local branch. Branch staff frequently do not know what a Florida order of summary administration is. Ask, in writing, for the matter to be referred to the estate unit and get a reference number.

Second, check whether the document you provided is the one the statute requires. A common failure is presenting a petition rather than an order, an uncertified copy rather than a certified one, or letters of administration that are more than a few months old — many institutions require letters certified within 60 or 90 days.

Third, understand what the bank is legally entitled to insist on. A bank may require its own indemnity or affidavit form. It may require a certified copy rather than a scan. Where an adverse claim has been asserted, section 655.83 lets it decline to act until a court order or an indemnity bond is provided. None of that is unreasonable, and pushing back on it wastes time.

Fourth, if the refusal persists in the face of valid letters, the remedy is judicial. A personal representative has authority under chapter 733 to take possession of estate assets, and a Florida probate court can be asked to compel a third party holding estate property to turn it over. Where funds are needed urgently and letters have not yet issued — a funeral to pay for, a mortgage about to default — the appointment of a curator under section 733.501 is the tool to ask about, because a curator can be appointed to preserve estate assets before a personal representative is qualified.

What almost never works: arguing statutes with a teller, threatening the branch manager, or filing a consumer complaint before exhausting the estate services channel.

Safe deposit boxes after death

A locked box creates its own emergency, usually because the family believes the will is inside it.

Section 655.936 — amended by chapter 2026-57 — allows a court-appointed personal representative to open the decedent’s safe-deposit box on presentation of a certified copy of their letters of authority, to remove any part or all of the contents, to pay the accumulated charges and to terminate the lease.

Two details matter. First, the initial opening of the box must comply with section 733.6065, which governs the inventory procedure following a lessee’s death — you do not simply empty the box privately. Second, a personal representative appointed in another state may obtain the contents after three months, if no Florida personal representative has been appointed, on filing an affidavit that the decedent was domiciled elsewhere and presenting a certified copy of their letters.

Money that keeps moving after death

Deposits do not stop when a person dies, and this catches families badly.

Social Security. A beneficiary is not entitled to the payment for the month in which they die, even if they lived most of that month. Payments deposited for the month of death and afterwards are subject to reclamation — the Treasury can direct the bank to return them, and the bank generally must. If the money has already been withdrawn and spent, the person who took it can be asked to repay it. Notify the Social Security Administration promptly; funeral homes will often do this, but confirm it was done rather than assume.

Veterans Affairs and pensions. The same pattern applies. VA compensation and most pension payments stop at death, and post-death deposits are recoverable as overpayments.

Automatic debits. Subscriptions, utilities, insurance premiums and loan payments will keep pulling from the account until someone stops them. A personal representative who lets an estate account drain into streaming subscriptions for eight months will be explaining it in the final accounting.

Outstanding checks. Checks written before death but presented after it are not automatically honoured, and whether they should be paid depends on the order of payment discussed below — not on who is holding the check.

The practical rule: reconcile the account as of the date of death, list everything that came in or went out afterwards, and treat the post-death items as a separate problem to be resolved rather than as part of the balance you are entitled to distribute.

How to find accounts you do not know about

Families routinely discover that they do not know where a parent banked. There are four reliable places to look.

• The paper trail. The last two years of mail, the most recent federal tax return (interest income reveals institutions), and the decedent’s own records.
• Letters of administration. Once appointed, a personal representative has authority to inquire of institutions directly. Before appointment, a bank will generally tell you nothing — including whether an account exists — because of the confidentiality provisions in chapter 655.
• Florida unclaimed property. Dormant accounts escheat to the Florida Department of Financial Services. The state’s Bureau of Unclaimed Property maintains a free searchable database at FLTreasureHunt.gov, and it holds billions of dollars. Claims on behalf of a deceased owner generally require proof of the claimant’s authority, which usually means probate paperwork.
• The safe deposit box, per the section above.

After the bank releases the money

Getting the funds out of the decedent’s account is the middle of the process, not the end.

Do not deposit estate money into your own account. Commingling estate funds with personal funds is a fiduciary breach, and it is the fastest way for a personal representative to lose a fee dispute or face a surcharge claim.

Get an estate EIN. The estate is a separate taxpayer. You cannot keep using the decedent’s Social Security number for post-death income. Apply for an employer identification number on IRS Form SS-4; it is free and can be done online in minutes.

Open an estate account in the name of the estate, using the EIN and the letters of administration, and run everything through it.

Then pay in the statutory order. Section 733.707 sets a mandatory class order for paying the estate’s obligations — administration costs first, then funeral expenses, then debts and taxes with federal preference, and so on down. A personal representative who pays a sympathetic creditor out of order, or distributes to beneficiaries before the creditor period closes, can be held personally liable for the shortfall. This is the single most expensive mistake a well-meaning family member makes.

Creditors, debts and the account

Two questions come up constantly, and they have different answers.

“Am I responsible for my parent’s debts?” Generally no. Debts are paid from the estate, not by the family, unless you co-signed, were a joint account holder on the debt, or took estate property you were not entitled to.

“Can creditors reach the POD or joint account?” This is more nuanced than most pages admit. Assets passing by survivorship or beneficiary designation are outside the probate estate, but Florida does not treat them as untouchable in every circumstance. Where the probate estate is insufficient to pay valid claims, a personal representative has statutory avenues to reach certain non-probate assets, and a surviving spouse’s elective share reaches further still. A creditor with a large claim and an empty probate estate is not necessarily out of options, and the family member holding a POD account should not assume the question is closed.

What happens to credit card debt? It becomes a claim against the estate like any other unsecured debt, and it is paid — if at all — in the section 733.707 order, well behind administration costs, funeral expenses and taxes. If the estate is insolvent, unsecured card issuers can receive nothing, and the balance is not transferred to the family. A surviving spouse is not personally liable for a card held in the decedent’s sole name merely by being the spouse. A joint account holder on the card is a different matter, because they are contractually liable in their own right; an authorized user generally is not, though card agreements vary and it is worth reading the one in front of you. A mortgage follows the same logic: the loan does not disappear at death, but it is secured by the house and does not become anyone’s personal obligation simply because they inherit.

If the surviving spouse was cut out

A POD designation naming someone other than the spouse does not defeat a Florida surviving spouse.

Florida gives a surviving spouse an elective share of thirty percent of the elective estate, and the elective estate is defined broadly. It is not limited to probate assets — it reaches into pay-on-death accounts, jointly held accounts and other transfers that pass outside the will. A spouse who is told “the account had a beneficiary, there is nothing you can do” has been told something that may well be wrong.

A surviving spouse and certain dependents may also be entitled to a family allowance for maintenance during administration, and to exempt property that passes free of most creditor claims. These are separate rights on separate deadlines from the ordinary probate timetable, and the deadline to elect the elective share is short. If you are a surviving spouse who has been shut out of an account, this is a conversation to have quickly rather than eventually.

When a joint owner or agent drains the account

The fact pattern is familiar: one sibling held the card, or the power of attorney, or was added to the account, and by the time anyone looks the balance is gone.

There are several overlapping remedies, and the right one depends on the role that person held. If they acted as an agent under a power of attorney, section 709.2117 requires restoration of the property’s value plus fees and costs. If they took money that was not theirs, ordinary civil claims for conversion, unjust enrichment and the imposition of a constructive trust are available. Florida’s civil theft statute permits treble damages and attorney’s fees in appropriate cases, subject to a statutory pre-suit demand requirement. And if the account was in substance a convenience account under section 655.80, the money belonged to the principal all along and the estate has a direct claim to it.

Two practical notes. Move quickly, because money that has been spent is far harder to recover than money still sitting in an account. And get the bank records early — statements, the signature card, the account opening documents and the branch’s own notes are usually decisive, and a personal representative can obtain them.

Out-of-state decedent with a Florida bank account

A person who lived in New York or Ohio but kept an account at a Florida bank presents a distinct problem. The estate is being administered in the home state, and the Florida bank will not accept out-of-state letters at face value.

The answer is generally ancillary administration under section 734.102, a Florida proceeding ancillary to the domiciliary estate that produces Florida letters the bank will honour. Where the Florida asset is small, one of the abbreviated routes in the second table above may be available instead, and it is worth checking before opening a full ancillary proceeding.

FDIC coverage after the owner dies

A detail worth knowing when a decedent held large balances at one institution. FDIC rules provide a grace period of six months following a depositor’s death, during which the deposit insurance calculation continues as though the depositor were still living. The purpose is to give the estate time to restructure accounts without an abrupt loss of coverage.

Where an estate holds more than the insured amount at a single bank, that six-month window is the time to move funds — not after it closes.

Tax on an inherited bank account

The good news first. Florida has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. Receiving a bank account from a Florida estate does not create a Florida tax bill, and the federal estate tax reaches only estates above the federal exclusion — far above the size of most estates this guide is about.

Nor is inherited money income. The balance itself is not taxable income to the person who receives it; you do not report a $40,000 inheritance on your Form 1040.

Three things do carry tax consequences, and they are the ones that catch people out:

• Interest earned after the date of death is income of the estate, not of the decedent. That is one of the reasons the personal representative obtains an estate EIN, and it may require a fiduciary income tax return on Form 1041.
• Interest earned before the date of death but paid afterwards belongs on the decedent’s final individual return.
• A payable-on-death account still counts toward the taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes even though it skips probate. Avoiding probate and avoiding estate tax are two different things, and the POD form does nothing about the second.

Retirement accounts are a different regime entirely. An inherited IRA or 401(k) carries its own distribution rules and income tax consequences that simply do not apply to a checking or savings account.

Costs and timeframes

Route	Realistic elapsed time	What drives the variation
Joint or POD transfer	1 to 4 weeks	How quickly the death certificate arrives and the bank’s estate unit processes the claim
§ 735.303 bank affidavit	Cannot be used until 6 months after death, then 1 to 3 weeks	The statutory six-month wait dominates
Disposition without administration	3 to 8 weeks	Clerk backlog in the county; whether the funeral and medical bills are documented
Summary administration	3 to 5 months	Whether all beneficiaries join or waive; whether creditors must be served
Formal administration	6 to 18 months	The creditor claim period, tax filings, real property, and any dispute
Contested matter	Longer	Discovery, mediation, trial

Costs are generally paid from estate funds, in the priority order set by section 733.707: administration costs and attorney’s fees first, then funeral expenses, then debts and taxes, and only then distributions to beneficiaries.

Where these matters are filed

Probate is a circuit court matter in Florida, filed in the probate division of the circuit court for the county where the decedent was domiciled at death — not where the bank is, and not where the family lives.

For most of our clients that means the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, the Seventeenth in Broward, the Fifteenth in Palm Beach, or the Ninth in Orange and Osceola. Each clerk maintains its own probate forms and its own e-filing quirks, and the disposition-without-administration packet in particular differs county to county. Where the decedent lived out of state, the ancillary proceeding is filed in a Florida county where the decedent’s property is located.

Lorenzo Law is based in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale and handles probate matters throughout Florida.

Worked examples

$1,800 in a sole-name checking account, died four months ago. Too small for anything formal, but the section 735.303 route cannot be used until six months have passed. Wait, then present the certified death certificate and the bank’s affidavit form. No court, no lawyer required. Note that the money remains answerable to the estate’s creditors.

$16,000 in a sole-name savings account, no will, died fourteen months ago, no administration opened. This fits section 735.304 — intestate, more than a year, under $20,000. Before 1 July 2026 the ceiling was $10,000 and this estate would have needed summary administration.

$9,000 in the bank, an unpaid funeral bill of $11,000, no real property. Disposition without administration under section 735.301. There is no dollar cap; the question is whether the nonexempt personal property exceeds the preferred funeral expenses plus last-illness medical bills. Here it does not, so a court authorization under seal can direct payment.

$120,000 across two accounts, a will, no real property, died three months ago. Summary administration. This is the case that changed on 1 July 2026 — under the old $75,000 ceiling this estate required formal administration with an appointed personal representative. It now qualifies for a petition and an order, months faster and materially cheaper.

$400,000 and a house. Formal administration. A personal representative is appointed, letters issue, an estate account is opened, notice to creditors is published, and the estate is administered under chapter 733.

Common myths, corrected

“Power of attorney continues after death, so I can withdraw funds for the funeral.” No. The power terminates at death under section 709.2109(1)(a). Withdrawals afterwards create personal exposure for the agent under section 709.2117, whatever the intention. If funeral costs need to be paid from the account, section 735.301 exists for exactly that purpose.

“Having a will means we do not have to go through probate.” No. A will does not avoid probate; it tells the court who should be in charge and who takes what. Only survivorship, beneficiary designations and trusts move assets outside probate.

“The bank will release funds to the next of kin or the surviving spouse.” Not unless that person’s name is on the account or a beneficiary designation names them. Being the spouse, or the only child, or the person who paid the bills for ten years, confers no authority over a sole-name account. What confers authority is a court order.

“Florida law requires the bank to freeze the account.” No — see the section above. Restriction comes from the deposit agreement, not from a statute. This is why practice varies between institutions.

“We can split the money as soon as we get access.” No. The order of payment in section 733.707 is mandatory, and a personal representative who distributes before the creditor period closes can be personally liable.

“If there is no will, the State of Florida takes the money.” No. Florida’s intestacy statutes distribute to the surviving spouse and descendants first, then out through the family tree. Escheat to the state happens only when no heir at all can be found.

“I only need one death certificate.” No. Order ten certified copies. Most institutions keep the copy they are given.

“Direct deposits stop automatically when someone dies.” No. They continue until the payer is notified, and post-death federal benefit payments are subject to reclamation.

Quick checklist

• Days 1–7. Order ten certified death certificates. Locate statements and identify every institution. Do not spend from the decedent’s account.
• Days 1–7. Notify the Social Security Administration, the VA and any pension administrator, so post-death deposits stop.
• Days 3–10. Notify each bank in writing. Ask for the estate services unit and a reference number. Ask what the institution requires in writing.
• Days 3–10. Identify the titling of every account against the first table on this page. Pull the signature cards if there is any doubt about a two-name account.
• Days 7–21. Cancel automatic debits. Reconcile the balance as of the date of death.
• Days 7–30. Choose the route: joint or POD claim, section 735.303 affidavit, disposition without administration, summary administration, or formal administration.
• If probate is needed. File in the probate division of the circuit court for the county of domicile. Obtain the EIN, open the estate account, publish notice to creditors, and pay in the section 733.707 order.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to close a bank account after death?

A joint or POD account is usually released in one to four weeks. Disposition without administration typically runs three to eight weeks depending on the clerk’s backlog. Summary administration takes three to five months. Formal administration takes six to eighteen months, longer if there is a dispute.

Can you withdraw money from a deceased person’s account?

Only if you are a surviving joint owner, a named beneficiary, or a personal representative holding letters of administration. Withdrawing without one of those is unauthorized, and the fact that you have the card or the online password does not change that.

Do banks freeze accounts after death in Florida?

Banks commonly restrict a sole-name account once they learn of a death, but no Florida statute requires it. The restriction comes from the deposit agreement the account holder signed, which is why practice varies from institution to institution. What decides who gets the money is how the account was titled, not whether the bank restricts it.

Can you close a bank account without probate in Florida?

Three routes involve no court at all: a joint account with right of survivorship, a payable-on-death designation, and the section 735.303 bank affidavit for balances up to $2,000 after six months. Disposition without administration and summary administration are frequently described online as ways to avoid probate, but both are court proceedings under the Florida Probate Code — faster and cheaper than formal administration, not alternatives to it.

How do I close a bank account after death in Florida?

Match the account to its titling, gather the documents in the checklist table above, and present them to the bank’s estate services unit rather than a branch teller. For a sole-name account above the small-estate thresholds, you will need letters of administration or an order of summary administration first.

My name is not on the account. Can I still close it?

Not without court authority. You would need to be appointed personal representative, or to obtain an order under section 735.301 or 735.201, depending on the size and composition of the estate.

Do I need probate to get money from a bank account in Florida?

Not if the account was joint with survivorship, carried a POD designation, was held in a trust, or falls under the section 735.303 affidavit. Otherwise, yes — some form of court proceeding is required, though it may be one of the abbreviated ones.

What if the bank will not release the funds?

Escalate to the institution’s estate services unit in writing rather than arguing at the branch. Confirm you have provided a certified — and recently certified — copy of the correct document. If a valid order or valid letters are being refused, the remedy is to ask the probate court to compel turnover. Where funds are needed before letters can issue, ask about appointment of a curator under section 733.501.

My father added my name to his account so I could pay his bills. Is the money mine now?

Possibly not. If the arrangement was a convenience account under section 655.80, you were an agent rather than an owner, and the balance belongs to the estate. The account can look identical to a joint account on a statement, and the answer turns on the account documents and the circumstances in which your name was added. This is worth checking before you spend anything.

Can a payable-on-death designation be challenged?

Yes — on grounds including undue influence, fraud, duress and overreaching. Proving it is a different matter and generally requires evidence of active procurement, not merely a close relationship with the decedent.

What happens to Social Security payments deposited after death?

They are not payable for the month of death or afterwards and are subject to reclamation. If the money has been withdrawn and spent, the person who took it can be required to repay it. Notify the Social Security Administration promptly.

The decedent lived in another state but banked in Florida. What now?

Generally an ancillary administration under section 734.102, which produces Florida letters the bank will accept. If the Florida account is small, one of the abbreviated routes may work instead.

Who can open a safe deposit box after death?

A personal representative, on presenting a certified copy of their letters, under section 655.936. The initial opening must follow the inventory procedure in section 733.6065. An out-of-state personal representative may obtain the contents after three months if no Florida representative has been appointed.

How do I remove a deceased person’s name from a joint bank account?

Strictly speaking there is nothing to remove — if the account carried a right of survivorship, you have owned it outright since the moment of death, and what you are doing is asking the bank to update its records. Take a certified death certificate and photo identification to the institution. Most will either retitle the existing account in your sole name or close it and open a new one, reissuing cards and checks. Do it promptly: leaving a deceased person’s name on an active account causes problems with direct deposits, card reissues and, eventually, the institution’s own compliance reviews.

How long does a bank account stay open after someone dies?

Indefinitely, in the sense that no Florida statute forces a bank to close it on a deadline. The institution holds the balance until somebody presents the authority to claim it, and generally restricts activity in the meantime. There is no point at which the money reverts to the bank. If nothing happens for long enough the account is treated as dormant and the balance is eventually reported to the Florida Department of Financial Services as unclaimed property — where it can still be claimed by the estate or the rightful heirs, though doing so usually requires the same probate paperwork you were avoiding.

About the author

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq. — Florida Bar No. 107002. Jose is a Florida probate and estate attorney whose practice is focused on probate administration, probate litigation, estate planning, guardianship and homestead law. He handles matters throughout Florida, with offices in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale, and regular practice in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Osceola and Pinellas counties.

Questions about a deceased family member’s bank account? Call (305) 224-6811 or email jml@lorenzolaw.com. Consultations are free.

Disclaimer: This guide provides general information about Florida law and does not constitute legal advice, nor does reading it create an attorney-client relationship. Statutory thresholds and procedures change — the figures above reflect Florida law as amended by chapter 2026-57, effective 1 July 2026. Every estate is different. Consult a qualified Florida probate attorney about your specific situation.