Florida Probate Rules and Deadlines: The Complete 2026 Calendar

The Florida probate rules are the Florida Probate Rules — a body of court rules adopted by the Florida Supreme Court that sit alongside the Florida Probate Code in Chapters 731 through 735 of the Florida Statutes and govern how every estate in this state is administered. Together they impose roughly two dozen hard deadlines. Most of them cannot be extended, several are waivers that take effect automatically when nobody files anything, and two of the most consequential are found in a rule rather than a statute, which is why they are so often missed.

We at Lorenzo Law built this page as the complete calendar of Florida probate deadlines. Every one is listed below with the exact period, the event that starts the clock, and the statute or rule that imposes it. Where the answer is genuinely unsettled — and on two significant points it is — we say so rather than guessing. If what you actually want to know is how long the whole process takes rather than what your individual deadlines are, that is a different question, and it is answered on our companion guide to how long probate takes in Florida. This page answers how long you have.

Statutory citations on this page are to the 2026 Florida Statutes. Rule text is quoted as it reads through 30 September 2026; the wording changes on 1 October 2026 and the changes are set out in full near the end of this page.

The Master Deadline Calendar

This is every significant deadline in a Florida formal administration, in the order the clock usually starts. Read it as a map, then read the section that applies to you — several of these deadlines are “later of” or “earlier of” rules whose real operation is not obvious from the period alone.

Deadline	Period	Clock starts	Authority
Deposit the original will with the clerk	10 days	Custodian receives information that the testator is dead	§ 732.901(1)
File the inventory	60 days	Issuance of letters	Fla. Prob. R. 5.340(a)
File proof of publication of the notice to creditors	45 days	First publication	Fla. Prob. R. 5.241(c)
Serve the Agency for Health Care Administration where the decedent was 55 or older, with a copy of the death certificate	3 months	First publication	§ 733.2121(3)(d)
Creditor files a claim	Later of 3 months or 30 days	First publication, or service on a creditor required to be served	§ 733.702(1)
Object to the validity of the will, the venue or the jurisdiction of the court	3 months	Service of the notice of administration	§ 733.212(3)
Absolute bar on those objections	Earlier of final discharge or 1 year	Service of the notice of administration	§ 733.212(3)
File the verified statement regarding creditors	4 months	First publication	Fla. Prob. R. 5.241(d)
Petition for determination of exempt property	Later of 4 months or 40 days	Service of the notice of administration, or termination of a related proceeding	§ 732.402(6)
Personal representative objects to a claim	Later of 4 months or 30 days	First publication, or the timely filing or amendment of the claim	§ 733.705(2)
Claimant brings an independent action after an objection	30 days	Service of the objection	§ 733.705(5)
Creditor petitions for an extension after being served a notice to do so	30 days	Service of that notice	§ 733.702(3)
Earliest the personal representative can be compelled to pay a claim	5 months	First publication	§ 733.705(1)
Interest begins accruing on claims not founded on a written obligation	5 months	First publication	§ 733.705(9)
Surviving spouse elects the one-half homestead interest	6 months — irrevocable once made	Date of death	§ 732.401(2)(b)
Surviving spouse files the elective share election	Earlier of 6 months or 2 years	Service of the notice of administration, or date of death	§ 732.2135(1)
Withdraw an elective share election	8 months, and before the order of contribution	Date of death	§ 732.2135(3)
Interested person petitions after a personal representative’s disqualification notice	30 days	Service of the notice	§ 733.3101(2)
Appoint a successor resident agent	10 days	Notice that the agent can no longer act	Fla. Prob. R. 5.110
Removed personal representative files an accounting	30 days	Removal	Fla. Prob. R. 5.440
File the final accounting and petition for discharge	12 months	Issuance of letters, or the date a federal estate tax return is due	Fla. Prob. R. 5.400(c)
Object to the final accounting or petition for discharge	30 days	Service of the later of the petition or the accounting	Fla. Prob. R. 5.401(a)
Serve a notice of hearing on that objection	90 days, or the objection is abandoned	Filing of the objection	Fla. Prob. R. 5.401(d)
Contingent claim held open before discharge	Up to 5 years	First publication	§ 733.705(8)(c)
Absolute bar on all claims against the decedent	2 years	Date of death	§ 733.710(1)

Six of those rows appear on no other Florida probate deadline page we are aware of: the 45-day proof of publication, the 4-month verified statement regarding creditors, the 30-day extension shot clock the personal representative can start under § 733.702(3), the 5-year contingent claim ceiling, the 5-month interest trigger, and the requirement that the AHCA service include a death certificate. Each one is a real filing obligation with a real consequence.

What Are the Florida Probate Rules?

The Florida Probate Rules are procedural rules adopted by the Florida Supreme Court. They are cited as “Fla. Prob. R.” and numbered in the 5.000 series. They are not the same thing as the Florida Probate Code, which is statutory law enacted by the Legislature and found in Chapters 731 through 735.

You will also see them called the Florida Rules of Probate Procedure. That is the same body of rules; “Florida Probate Rules” is the form the Supreme Court uses and the form you should cite.

The distinction between the Rules and the Code matters more than it sounds. When people search for probate laws in Florida they are usually looking for the Code — the statutes that say what their rights are. The Rules are the other half: they say how and when to assert those rights. And several deadlines that even practitioners think of as statutory are in fact rule-based — the 60-day inventory, the 12-month final accounting, the 30-day objection window and the 90-day abandonment trap are all rules, not statutes. That has a practical consequence: a rule deadline can sometimes be enlarged for excusable neglect under Fla. Prob. R. 5.042(b), while a statutory deadline generally cannot.

Executor or personal representative — does the difference matter?

Only to the extent that using the wrong word can make it harder to find the right answer. Florida does not use the term “executor” in the Probate Code. The person appointed to administer an estate here is the personal representative, and that is the phrase you will see in every statute, every rule and every court order.

Most other states, and most of what you will read online, say executor — or executrix, or administrator where there is no will. Florida folded all of those into one term. Nothing about the deadlines changes depending on which word you use. If you were named as executor in a will and are trying to work out what you owe the court and when, everything on this page under “personal representative” is addressed to you.

The rules are organized in parts. Part I covers general rules of probate procedure. Part II covers probate administration specifically. Part III covers guardianship. A single administration will typically engage a dozen or more of them.

Where do the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure fit in?

They apply only where the Probate Rules say they do. Fla. Prob. R. 5.010 provides that the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure apply only as provided in the Probate Rules. The main gateway is Rule 5.025, which designates certain matters as adversary proceedings — and in an adversary proceeding, the civil rules largely govern.

Rule 5.025(a) currently lists fourteen specific adversary proceedings, including proceedings to remove or surcharge a personal representative, to probate a lost or destroyed will, to determine beneficiaries, to contest the validity of a will, for revocation of probate, to construe or reform a will, to cancel a devise, to determine pretermitted status, to determine the amount of the elective share, and — added effective 16 July 2026 — to enforce the authority of a personal representative under § 733.612.

The Rules That Come Up Most Often

Rule	What it governs
5.025	Adversary proceedings — which matters are litigated under the civil rules
5.030	Attorneys — when a personal representative must be represented by Florida counsel, and the two exceptions
5.040	Notice — the difference between formal notice and informal notice
5.042	Time — computation, and enlargement for excusable neglect where the deadline comes from a rule
5.110	Address designation and designation of resident agent, required before letters issue
5.240	Notice of administration — contents and service
5.241	Notice to creditors — publication, service, proof of publication, and the verified statement
5.260	Caveat — who may file, and when
5.310	Disqualification of a personal representative after appointment
5.340	Inventory — 60 days from letters, verified, at date-of-death fair market value
5.400	Distribution and discharge — the 12-month final accounting deadline
5.401	Objections to the petition for discharge or final accounting — the 30-day and 90-day windows
5.405	Determination of protected homestead status
5.440	Proceedings for removal of a personal representative
5.490	Form and manner of presenting a claim
5.530	Summary administration

The First Two Weeks After a Death

Only one deadline in this entire calendar runs in the first days after a death, and it is not the one most people expect. Nothing requires you to open probate quickly. What the law does require is that whoever holds the original will get it to the clerk.

In practice the first two weeks are about three things, in this order:

• Order certified copies of the death certificate — more than you think you need. Banks, insurers, the county and the court will each want one, and § 733.2121(3)(d) will later require one to be served on the Agency for Health Care Administration. Six to ten is a reasonable starting number.
• Find the original will and deposit it. Not a copy — the signed original. Whoever has custody of it has ten days from learning of the death to file it with the clerk, and that duty is personal to them.
• Secure the property. Lock the house, redirect the mail, make sure the homeowner’s insurance stays in force, and stop nothing that is protecting an asset. Do not distribute anything, close accounts, or sell a vehicle. Until someone is appointed, no one has authority to move estate assets, and acting without it creates problems that outlast the estate.

Almost everything else — the petition, the notice to creditors, the inventory — happens after a personal representative is appointed, and each has its own clock. If you are in the first week and want the practical sequence rather than the legal calendar, that is a different guide and a different question; this page picks up at the point the court is involved.

Is There a Deadline to Open Probate in Florida?

No. There is no statutory deadline to commence probate administration in Florida. Rule 5.200 prescribes what a petition for administration must contain but sets no filing deadline, and nothing in Chapter 733 imposes one.

This is one of the most persistently misreported points in Florida probate, and the source of the confusion is § 732.901.

What is the 10-day rule for probate in Florida?

Section 732.901(1) provides that “the custodian of a will must deposit the will with the clerk of the court having venue of the estate of the decedent within 10 days after receiving information that the testator is dead.”

Read what that actually says. It is a duty imposed on whoever physically holds the will — a lawyer, a bank, a relative, anyone. It is triggered by receiving information that the testator has died, not by the death itself. And it requires one thing only: depositing the original will with the clerk. The custodian must also supply the date of death or the last four digits of the decedent’s Social Security number.

It is not a deadline to file for probate. It is not a deadline that runs against the family or against the nominated personal representative as such. And a page telling you that “you have 10 days to file for probate in Florida” — several currently do — is stating the law incorrectly.

A custodian who fails to deposit can be compelled to produce the will on petition and notice, and § 732.901(2) allows costs, damages and a reasonable attorney’s fee to be assessed against a delinquent custodian who had no just or reasonable cause. There is no criminal penalty in the section. The clerk must retain the original will in original form for at least 20 years, whether or not it is ever admitted.

Is there a statute of limitations on probate in Florida?

Not on opening the estate. There is no time limit to file probate in Florida in the sense people usually mean — no date after which the courthouse doors close. Estates get opened five and ten years after a death, most often because a property sale finally requires clean title and the buyer’s title insurer will not proceed without it.

What is limited is the ability to bring claims against the decedent. Section 733.710 bars them two years after the date of death, and that bar runs whether or not anyone ever opened an estate. So the honest answer to “how long after death do you have to file probate” is: as long as you need — but the creditor, homestead and elective share clocks are running on their own triggers in the meantime, and some of them can expire before anyone files anything.

Two practical consequences of delay are worth knowing. Section 735.201(2) makes summary administration available where the decedent has been dead more than two years, regardless of the estate’s value — so a long delay can actually open a faster path. But the surviving spouse’s six-month homestead election runs from the date of death, not from the filing, and it is gone long before a delayed estate is opened.

When does probate start and when does probate end in Florida?

Probate starts when a petition for administration is filed and the court issues Letters of Administration — the order that gives the personal representative authority to act. Almost every deadline that falls on the representative counts from the issuance of letters, not from the death.

It ends with an order of discharge under § 733.901, entered after the final accounting is approved and the estate has been distributed according to the plan of distribution. Between those two events, the creditor period, the inventory, the objection windows and the accounting all run on the separate clocks set out above.

When is the will read in Florida?

It is not. There is no reading of the will in Florida — no gathering in a lawyer’s office, no formal announcement. That scene is a fixture of film and of some other countries’ practice, and it does not exist in Florida probate.

What actually happens is procedural. The custodian deposits the original will with the clerk within ten days. Once deposited, it becomes a public court record that any interested person can obtain from the clerk. When a personal representative is appointed, § 733.212 requires service of a notice of administration on the surviving spouse, the beneficiaries, and certain others — and that notice, not a reading, is what formally tells beneficiaries where they stand and starts their objection clocks running.

So the question of how long after someone dies the will is read has no answer in Florida, because the event does not occur. If you are waiting on it, you are waiting for something that will not happen. Ask the clerk of the court in the county where the decedent lived whether a will has been deposited, and watch your mail for the notice of administration — that is the document that will actually tell you where you stand.

How Long Do You Have to Contest a Will in Florida?

Three months from service of the notice of administration, with an absolute outer bar at the earlier of final discharge or one year.

Section 733.212(3) provides that any interested person served with a copy of the notice of administration “must object to the validity of the will, the venue, or the jurisdiction of the court by filing a petition or other pleading requesting relief in accordance with the Florida Probate Rules on or before the date that is 3 months after the date of service of a copy of the notice of administration on the objecting person, or those objections are forever barred.”

Two features of that sentence deserve attention.

The three-month period is almost impossible to extend

The statute continues: the three-month period “may only be extended for estoppel based upon a misstatement by the personal representative regarding the time period within which an objection must be filed. The time period may not be extended for any other reason, including affirmative representation, failure to disclose information, or misconduct by the personal representative or any other person.”

That is an unusually narrow escape hatch. Misconduct by the personal representative does not extend it. Failure to disclose does not extend it. Only a misstatement about the filing period itself.

The one-year backstop

“Unless sooner barred by this subsection, all objections to the validity of a will, venue, or the jurisdiction of the court must be filed no later than the earlier of the entry of an order of final discharge of the personal representative or 1 year after service of the notice of administration.”

Both the estoppel-only extension and this one-year outer bar were added by chapter 2015-27, § 2, Laws of Florida, effective 1 July 2015. The Florida Supreme Court documented that amendment in its 2015 rules opinion conforming Rule 5.240, In re Amendments to Florida Probate Rules, 181 So. 3d 480 (Fla. 2015).

Section 733.212(4) closes a loophole worth knowing: appointing a personal representative or a successor “shall not extend or renew the period for filing objections under this section, unless a new will or codicil is admitted.” If a new will or codicil is later admitted, a new notice must be served and a fresh period runs.

Does the three-month bar reach an objection to the personal representative’s qualifications?

Not under the current statute — and this is a point where a great deal of published Florida probate content is out of date, including content written by lawyers.

Until 2015, § 733.212(3) listed four objections: the validity of the will, the qualifications of the personal representative, the venue, and the jurisdiction of the court. The Florida Supreme Court construed that version in Hill v. Davis, 70 So. 3d 572 (Fla. 2011), holding that the three-month deadline barred an objection to the personal representative’s qualifications even where the personal representative was never eligible to serve, except where fraud, misrepresentation or misconduct as to the qualifications was not apparent on the face of the petition or discoverable within the period.

Chapter 2015-27, § 2 deleted the qualifications clause. The current subsection reaches only the validity of the will, the venue, and the jurisdiction of the court. The objection Hill construed is no longer among the objections that § 733.212(3) governs.

We state that as the better reading of the amended statute, not as settled appellate law. No Florida appellate decision since 2015 has addressed whether Hill survives the amendment, and Hill carries no negative citator treatment. But the language the holding rested on is gone, and Hill itself expressly reserved the alternative route. Its footnote 1 reads: “This case does not involve a proceeding filed under probate code sections 733.504, Florida Statutes (2007), and 733.506, Florida Statutes (2007), which provide for an adversary proceeding to remove a personal representative for reasons set forth in section 733.504. Thus, our decision in this case is limited to objections filed pursuant to section 733.212(3).”

How Do You Challenge a Personal Representative’s Qualifications Now?

Through removal — and removal carries no three-month or one-year bar.

This is the section most Florida probate deadline pages do not have, because most of them still describe the pre-2015 framework.

The grounds — § 733.504

Section 733.504 is mandatory in part and discretionary in part. A personal representative “shall be removed and the letters revoked if he or she was not qualified to act at the time of appointment” — that is not discretionary. The statute then lists discretionary causes for removal, including a cause added in 2015 covering a representative who was qualified at appointment but is no longer entitled to appointment. No filing deadline appears anywhere in the section.

The procedure — § 733.506 and Rule 5.440

Section 733.506 provides that removal proceedings may be commenced by the court or on the petition of an interested person. Rule 5.025(a)(1) makes removal or surcharge an adversary proceeding, and Rule 5.440(a) requires a petition stating the facts constituting the grounds. Neither imposes a deadline.

Procedure is not optional here. In Blechman v. Dely, 138 So. 3d 1110 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), the Fourth District held that removing a personal representative without a Rule 5.440 petition, notice, and an evidentiary hearing violated due process. That court also quoted the general standard from In re Murphy’s Estate, 336 So. 2d 697, 699 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), that removal of a representative chosen by the decedent is a drastic action warranted only where the administration of the estate is endangered.

Whether to remove, and whether to refuse appointment in the first place, are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Boyles v. Jimenez, 330 So. 3d 953 (Fla. 4th DCA 2021).

The duty that runs the other way — § 733.3101

Since 2015 the burden has shifted substantially onto the personal representative. Section 733.3101 provides that a personal representative “shall resign immediately if the personal representative knows that he or she was not qualified to act at the time of appointment.”

Where a representative was qualified at appointment but later becomes disqualified, subsection (2) requires prompt filing and service of a notice stating the reasons and advising that any interested person may petition for removal. That notice opens a 30-day window — an interested person served with it may petition for removal within 30 days. It is the only fixed deadline in this cluster, and it runs only when the representative serves the notice.

Subsection (3) is the enforcement mechanism, and it has teeth. A personal representative who fails to comply “shall be personally liable for costs, including attorney fees, incurred in any removal proceeding if the personal representative is removed.” That liability extends to a representative who “does not know, but should have known” of the facts requiring resignation or notice — a constructive knowledge standard — and it is cumulative to any other liability provided by law. For this section, “qualified” means qualified under §§ 733.302 through 733.305.

Is there any time limit at all?

No fixed one. In In re Estate of Anderson, 583 So. 2d 801 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), the First District observed that there is no time specified for the disqualification of a personal representative. Because removal is equitable in nature and carries no statutory limitations period, an unreasonably delayed and prejudicial petition can be met with laches — but there is no clock comparable to § 733.212(3).

How Long Do Creditors Have to File a Claim in Florida?

Section 733.702(1) sets a two-part deadline, and the correct answer is the later of the two: three months after the first publication of the notice to creditors, or 30 days after the date of service on a creditor who was required to be served.

Two things about that sentence are routinely got wrong.

First, the clock runs from first publication — not from the date of death, not from the issuance of letters. Second, it is a later of rule, not an earlier of rule. A creditor who is served late gets 30 days from that service even if the three-month mark has already passed.

Note also that the statute says “3 months,” not “90 days.” Those are not the same period, and § 733.702 has been read literally.

The rule almost nobody publishes: an unserved known creditor is never barred by the three months

This is the single most consequential point on this page, and it comes from the Florida Supreme Court.

In Jones v. Golden, 176 So. 3d 242 (Fla. 2015), the Court held unanimously that where a known or reasonably ascertainable creditor is never served with a copy of the notice to creditors, the three-month limitations period in § 733.702(1) never begins to run at all. In the Court’s words, at 247–48:

Under the plain language of section 733.702(1), where a known or reasonably ascertainable creditor is never served with a copy of the notice to creditors, the applicable limitations period never begins to run and cannot bar that creditor’s claim.

And at 248:

A known or reasonably ascertainable creditor is absolved from the limitations of section 733.702(1) by virtue of the fact that the personal representative failed to serve the creditor with the required notice. The only instance in which a known or reasonably ascertainable creditor is required to file any claims before the expiration of the three-month window after publication of the notice is where the last day of the three-month window occurs more than thirty days after service of the required notice.

Read that second sentence carefully, because it is the precise statement of when the three-month window actually binds anyone. For a served creditor, the three months is the operative bar only when service happened early enough that the three-month date still falls more than 30 days out. Serve a creditor late in the period, or after it closes, and the 30-days-from-service prong controls. Never serve them at all, and § 733.702(1) does not govern their claim.

Such a claim is timely if filed within the two-year period of § 733.710, and — the Court was explicit about this — the creditor does not need to move for an extension under § 733.702(3), because that subsection applies only to claims that are untimely under § 733.702.

Jones approved Golden v. Jones, 126 So. 3d 390 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) and disapproved Morgenthau v. Andzel, 26 So. 3d 628 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) and Lubee v. Adams, 77 So. 3d 882 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). The Second District applied it in Grant v. Kunke, 397 So. 3d 758 (Fla. 2d DCA 2024), holding that reasonably ascertainable creditors who were not served must be given an extension of time to file up to the two-year limit.

Why this exists — the constitutional floor

The rule is not a technicality. It rests on due process. In Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held that a claim against an estate is property protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, and that a time bar triggered by legal proceedings — as opposed to a self-executing bar — involves enough state action to require actual notice to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors. A personal representative is therefore constitutionally obligated to provide actual notice to those creditors.

Who is a “reasonably ascertainable” creditor?

Section 733.2121(3)(a) requires the personal representative to “promptly make a diligent search to determine the names and addresses of creditors of the decedent who are reasonably ascertainable, even if the claims are unmatured, contingent, or unliquidated,” and to promptly serve a copy of the notice on those creditors. The same paragraph adds that “Impracticable and extended searches are not required.”

The Fourth District’s working definition is that a reasonably ascertainable creditor is one who can be determined by the personal representative through a diligent search. Strulowitz v. Cadle Co., II, Inc., 839 So. 2d 876 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). That formulation traces to Tulsa‘s requirement of “reasonably diligent efforts.”

What that means in practice has been worked out case by case:

Situation	Reasonably ascertainable?	Authority
The personal representative knows of pending litigation against the decedent	Yes — actual knowledge of the claim; actual notice required	In re Estate of Ortolano, 766 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
A recurring payment pattern would have surfaced from a few more pages of the decedent’s check register	Yes — on those facts the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding the search inadequate	Strulowitz, 839 So. 2d 876 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
A prospective tort claimant who never communicated any dispute	No — no one put the representative on notice and no more diligent search would have revealed it	Soriano v. Estate of Manes, 177 So. 3d 677 (Fla. 3d DCA 2015)
Someone who might conceivably have a claim, with nothing to suggest it	No — a representative has no duty to speculate and conjecture that someone might possibly have a claim	Jones v. Sun Bank/Miami, N.A., 609 So. 2d 98 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)
Nothing in the decedent’s records or known history suggests an ongoing dispute	No — the law requires only a reasonable investigation, and there is no categorical duty to search court records	Ceglio v. Womer, 435 So. 3d 632 (Fla. 4th DCA 2026)

Ceglio is the most current appellate statement of the standard. There, review of the decedent’s financial records, mail, bills and office documents, a conversation with someone familiar with the decedent’s affairs, and a public-records search for recorded judgments was held to be a sufficient diligent search — and the claimant, not being reasonably ascertainable, was held to the three-month publication deadline. Adequacy is a fact-intensive question reviewed for abuse of discretion, on which reasonable people can differ.

When can the claims deadline be extended?

Rarely, and only on a closed list of three grounds. Section 733.702(3) provides that a late claim is barred “unless the court extends the time in which the claim may be filed. An extension may be granted only upon grounds of fraud, estoppel, or insufficient notice of the claims period.”

That is not an open “good cause” standard, despite how it is usually paraphrased.

The same subsection contains a shot clock that personal representatives underuse: “If the personal representative or any other interested person serves on the creditor a notice to file a petition for an extension, the creditor shall be limited to a period of 30 days from the date of service of the notice in which to file a petition for extension.” Serving that notice converts an open-ended problem into a 30-day one.

Section 733.702(4) preserves three things regardless: proceedings to enforce a mortgage, security interest or other lien; proceedings to establish liability covered by casualty insurance, to the limits of that protection only; and cross-claims or counterclaims against the estate in an action the estate started, capped at the estate’s own recovery.

Publishing the Notice to Creditors

Section 733.2121(1) requires the personal representative to promptly publish a notice to creditors unless claims are already barred by § 733.710. Subsection (2) sets the mechanics: “Publication shall be once a week for 2 consecutive weeks, in a newspaper published in the county where the estate is administered or, if there is no newspaper published in the county, in a newspaper of general circulation in that county.”

It is two publications, a week apart — not one.

When must the Agency for Health Care Administration be served?

Within three months after first publication, where the decedent was 55 or older at death — and the service must include a death certificate.

Section 733.2121(3)(d) provides: “If a decedent at the time of death was 55 years of age or older, the personal representative shall promptly serve a copy of the notice to creditors and provide a copy of the death certificate on the Agency for Health Care Administration within 3 months after the first publication of the notice to creditors, unless the agency has already filed a statement of claim in the estate proceedings.”

The trigger is age, not Medicaid receipt. The personal representative must serve AHCA whether or not the decedent ever received Medicaid benefits. Rule 5.241(e) carries the death certificate requirement as well. This is a step that gets missed constantly, and it is one of the few AHCA traps in the code — Rule 5.425 contains another, requiring formal notice to AHCA in a disposition without administration where the decedent was over 55.

Two rule deadlines that follow publication

These two do not appear in the statutes at all, and they do not appear on any competing deadline page we have seen.

Proof of publication — 45 days. Rule 5.241(c): “Publication must be made as required by law. The personal representative must file proof of publication with the court within 45 days after the date of first publication of the notice to creditors.”

The verified statement regarding creditors — 4 months. Rule 5.241(d): “Within 4 months after the date of the first publication of notice to creditors, the personal representative must file a verified statement that diligent search has been made to ascertain the name and address of each person having a claim against the estate.” The statement must identify each then-known claimant and whether that person was served or otherwise received actual notice. It need not include persons who filed a timely claim or who were included in the representative’s proof of claim.

That second filing is, in effect, a sworn record of the diligent search — the very search that Jones v. Golden makes determinative. It is worth doing carefully.

What Is the Two-Year Absolute Bar on Claims?

Section 733.710(1) provides: “Notwithstanding any other provision of the code, 2 years after the death of a person, neither the decedent’s estate, the personal representative, if any, nor the beneficiaries shall be liable for any claim or cause of action against the decedent, whether or not letters of administration have been issued, except as provided in this section.”

Three features make this different in kind from § 733.702:

• It runs from the date of death, not from publication.
• It applies whether or not letters have been issued — so a family that never opens an estate still gets its protection.
• It is expressly “notwithstanding any other provision of the code,” and § 733.702(5) confirms that nothing in § 733.702 extends it. A court-ordered extension for fraud, estoppel or insufficient notice cannot push a claim past the two-year mark.

The Florida Supreme Court has drawn the distinction squarely. In May v. Illinois National Insurance Co., 771 So. 2d 1143, 1150 (Fla. 2000), the Court held that “section 733.702 is a statute of limitations that cannot be waived in the probate proceedings by failure to assert the statute in an objection, while section 733.710 is a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim that is not subject to waiver or extension in the probate proceedings.” The reasoning was that § 733.702 can be extended on enumerated grounds, and a true jurisdictional statute of nonclaim could not be.

That holding was reaffirmed in Tsuji v. Fleet, 366 So. 3d 1020 (Fla. 2023), which held that § 733.710(1) is an absolute, self-executing two-year bar with only the two exceptions the section itself enumerates, and rejected an insurer-only carve-out. Tsuji receded from statements in May about casualty insurers as dicta without force as precedent; May‘s characterization of § 733.710 as a jurisdictional nonclaim statute is undisturbed and was reinforced.

The two exceptions

Section 733.710(2) does not bar a creditor who filed a claim under § 733.702 within two years of death and whose claim has not been paid or otherwise disposed of. Section 733.710(3) does not affect the lien of a duly recorded mortgage or security interest, the lien of a person in possession of personal property, or the right to foreclose and enforce that lien.

How Long Does the Personal Representative Have to Object to a Claim?

The later of four months after first publication, or 30 days after the timely filing or amendment of the claim.

Section 733.705(2): “On or before the expiration of 4 months from the first publication of notice to creditors or within 30 days from the timely filing or amendment of a claim, whichever occurs later, a personal representative or other interested person may file a written objection to a claim.”

Again it is a later of rule. A claim filed at month three and a half still gives the representative 30 days from that filing.

The trap: filing the objection is not enough

The same subsection continues: “If an objection is filed, the person filing it shall serve a copy of the objection as provided by the Florida Probate Rules. The failure to serve a copy of the objection constitutes an abandonment of the objection.”

An objection filed and not served is abandoned by operation of the statute. The court may extend the time for filing or serving an objection for good cause, but the default rule is unforgiving.

The 30-day independent action deadline

Once an objection is served, § 733.705(5) gives the claimant 30 days from service of the objection — not from filing — to bring an independent action on the claim, or a declaratory action to establish the validity and amount of an unmatured claim, or the validity of a contingent claim.

There are two ways to get more time, and the second is frequently overlooked. The court may extend for good cause under § 733.705(5)(a); otherwise the claim is barred without a court order. Alternatively, the statute permits an extension “agreed to by the personal representative in writing before it expires.” A written agreement, obtained before the 30 days run, is often the faster route.

Subsections (5)(b) through (5)(e) address variations: where an action was already pending at death, a motion to substitute the proper party within 30 days satisfies the requirement; where a binding arbitration agreement applies, a motion to compel arbitration within 30 days does; and a judgment establishing the claim gives it no priority it did not already have.

The five-month floor, and two other numbers

Section 733.705(1) contains a shield for the personal representative: “No personal representative shall be compelled to pay the debts of the decedent until after the expiration of 5 months from the first publication of notice to creditors.” A person who sues within those five months on a claim the representative has not objected to recovers no costs or attorney’s fees, and the judgment does not change the claim’s payment class.

That same subsection requires the representative to pay all claims within one year of first publication, extended as necessary for claims in litigation and for unmatured and contingent claims, and the court may extend for good cause.

Two further numbers belong on the calendar. Under § 733.705(9), interest begins accruing on claims not founded on a written obligation five months after first publication. And under § 733.705(8)(c), a contingent claim can hold discharge open for as long as five years from first publication, if none of the earlier triggers in that subsection has occurred.

What Does Rule 5.490 Require a Claim to Contain?

Rule 5.490 governs the form and manner of presenting a claim. A statement of claim must be filed with the clerk and must state the basis for the claim, the amount claimed, the name and address of the creditor, and — where the claim is not yet due, contingent or unliquidated — the details that make that clear. A claim founded on a written instrument requires a copy.

Because the deadline is jurisdictional in effect, defects in form are usually curable by amendment while defects in timing are not.

When Can a Caveat Be Filed?

Section 731.110 allows an interested person — including a creditor — to file a caveat. Once a caveat by a person other than a creditor is on file, the court may not admit a will to probate or appoint a personal representative until formal notice has been served on the caveator and an opportunity to participate has been given.

A caveat may be filed before or after death. If it is filed before death, § 731.110(4) provides that it “expires 2 years after filing.” That expiration applies only to a pre-death caveat; a caveat filed after death does not expire under that provision. Rule 5.260 supplies the procedure.

The Deadlines a Surviving Spouse Cannot Miss

Three of the harshest deadlines in the Florida Probate Code belong to the surviving spouse. Two of them are waivers — the right disappears if nothing is filed, without anyone having to object.

Right	Deadline	Runs from	Extendable?
Elect the one-half tenant-in-common interest in homestead	6 months, and during the spouse’s lifetime	Date of death	Only through the narrow § 732.401(2)(c) route
Elective share	Earlier of 6 months or 2 years	Service of the notice of administration, or date of death	Yes — good cause, capped at 2 years from death
Exempt property	Later of 4 months or 40 days	Service of the notice of administration, or termination of a related proceeding	No provision for extension
Family allowance	No fixed deadline — available during administration	—	Not applicable

Note the difference in triggers. The homestead election runs from death. The elective share runs from service of the notice of administration. Conflating the two is a common and expensive error.

The family allowance is the outlier in that table, and the one most often left on the table. Section 732.403 allows the court to award a reasonable allowance in money out of the estate — up to $18,000 — for the maintenance of the surviving spouse and lineal heirs the decedent was supporting. Rule 5.407 supplies the procedure. Unlike the three rights above it, there is no waiver deadline attached; the practical limit is that it must be sought while the estate is still open. It is paid in addition to, not out of, whatever the spouse otherwise receives.

The homestead election — six months, and effectively irreversible

Under § 732.401(1), where a decedent is survived by a spouse and one or more descendants, the homestead passes with a life estate to the spouse and a vested remainder to the descendants. Section 732.401(2) allows the spouse to elect instead to take an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common, with the other half vesting in the decedent’s descendants in being at the time of death, per stirpes.

Section 732.401(2)(b) sets the deadline: “The election must be made within 6 months after the decedent’s death and during the surviving spouse’s lifetime. The time for making the election may not be extended except as provided in paragraph (c).”

That closing qualifier matters, and most published summaries drop it. Paragraph (c) provides a single, narrow exception: where an attorney in fact or a guardian of the property of the surviving spouse petitions for court approval to make the election, and files that petition within the same six months and during the spouse’s lifetime, the election time is extended for at least 30 days after the order allowing the election is rendered. The spouse acting personally gets no extension.

Two further mechanics are easy to get wrong. The election is made by filing a notice of election containing the legal description for recording in the official record books of the county where the homestead is located — not merely by filing something in the probate case. And under § 732.401(2)(d), “Once made, the election is irrevocable.” There is no counterpart to the elective share’s withdrawal window.

The subsection does not apply to property held as tenancy by the entireties or in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship. If you are weighing this election, our guide to surviving spouse rights in Florida covers the trade-off in more detail.

The elective share — earlier of six months or two years

Section 732.2135(1) requires the election to be filed “on or before the earlier of the date that is 6 months after the date of service of a copy of the notice of administration on the surviving spouse … or the date that is 2 years after the date of the decedent’s death.”

It is the earlier of the two. The two-year date is a ceiling, not an alternative — a spouse who was never served does not get to wait indefinitely.

Unlike the homestead election, this one can be extended. Section 732.2135(2) allows the spouse, an attorney in fact or a guardian of the property to petition for an extension for good cause, within the period in subsection (1) or 40 days after the termination of a proceeding affecting the amount the spouse would receive, whichever is later — but never more than two years after death. And subsection (4) provides that a petition for an extension, or for approval to make the election, tolls the time for making it.

Section 732.2135(3) supplies the withdrawal right: the spouse, an attorney in fact, a guardian of the property or the spouse’s personal representative “may withdraw an election at any time within 8 months after the decedent’s death and before the court’s order of contribution.” Both conditions must hold — within eight months of death and before the order of contribution. Our page on the Florida elective share works through the computation.

Exempt property — a waiver, not a deadline

Section 732.402(6) is worded as a waiver, which is what makes it dangerous: “Persons entitled to exempt property shall be deemed to have waived their rights under this section unless a petition for determination of exempt property is filed by or on behalf of the persons entitled to the exempt property on or before the later of the date that is 4 months after the date of service of the notice of administration or the date that is 40 days after the date of termination of any proceeding involving the construction, admission to probate, or validity of the will or involving any other matter affecting any part of the estate subject to this section.”

Nobody has to object. The right simply lapses.

What is exempt under § 732.402(2) is worth knowing precisely: household furniture, furnishings and appliances in the decedent’s usual residence up to a net value of $20,000 as of the date of death; two motor vehicles as defined in § 316.003, each not exceeding 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, held in the decedent’s name and regularly used by the decedent or members of the immediate family; all qualified tuition programs under § 529, including Florida Prepaid; and benefits paid under § 112.1915. Rule 5.240(b)(4) restates the deadline in the notice of administration itself.

Deadlines That Fall on the Personal Representative

If you have been appointed, these are yours.

The inventory — 60 days from letters

Rule 5.340(a): “Unless an inventory has been previously filed, the personal representative must file an inventory of the estate within 60 days after issuance of letters.” The inventory must contain notice of the beneficiaries’ rights under subdivision (e), list the estate in reasonable detail, and give each item’s estimated fair market value at the date of the decedent’s death. Real property appearing to be protected homestead must be listed and so designated, but is excepted from valuation.

Note the trigger: 60 days from issuance of letters, not from death and not from filing the petition. The time may be extended on petition for cause shown, without notice, though copies of the petition and order must be served on the persons entitled to the inventory. All inventories must be verified.

Subdivision (e) gives residuary beneficiaries and intestate heirs the right, on written request, to an explanation of how any value was determined or a copy of any appraisal. Subdivision (f) requires the personal representative to give nonresiduary beneficiaries written notice of that right.

Counsel — Rule 5.030

Rule 5.030(a) provides that “Every guardian and every personal representative, unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person, shall be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida.” A personal representative who is himself a Florida-admitted attorney may represent himself.

So there are two exceptions, not none: the sole-interested-person case, and the attorney serving as her own representative. The blanket statement that Florida probate always requires a lawyer is not accurate — though in practice the exceptions are narrow, and the sole-interested-person exception disappears the moment a creditor or another beneficiary appears.

Resident agent — 10 days

Rule 5.110 requires a designation of address and, for a nonresident, a resident agent, before letters issue. If the designated agent can no longer act, a successor must be appointed within 10 days of notice of that fact.

If a personal representative is removed

Rule 5.440 requires a removed personal representative to file an accounting within 30 days of removal.

How long does an executor have to settle an estate in Florida?

Twelve months from the issuance of letters, as a working rule — that is when Rule 5.400(c) requires the final accounting and petition for discharge to be filed and served.

It is not a hard ceiling. The rule allows the court to extend the time for cause shown after notice to interested persons, and the petition to extend must state the status of the estate and the reason. Extensions are routinely granted where a property has not sold, a claim is being litigated, or a federal estate tax return is in process — and where a return is filed, the twelve months runs from the date that return is due rather than from letters.

What the twelve months does is create an obligation to explain. An estate still open at month thirteen with no extension on file is a fair subject for a beneficiary’s inquiry, and eventually for a petition to compel or to remove. Two other periods bound the same question from the other direction: § 733.705(1) requires the personal representative to pay all claims within one year of first publication, and no personal representative can be compelled to pay anything within the first five months.

What if the assets are in a trust instead?

Different document, different clock. A trustee’s duties run under Chapter 736, not the Probate Code, and nothing on this page’s calendar applies to a trust that holds all of the decedent’s assets. The trustee’s obligations to notify and account to qualified beneficiaries, and how long a trustee has to distribute assets in Florida, are governed by the trust instrument and the Florida Trust Code. Where there is both a will and a funded trust — the common arrangement — both sets of deadlines can run at once, and the estate’s creditor period still matters to the trust under § 733.607(2).

What Happens at Discharge

Three deadlines cluster at the end of an administration. All three are usually attributed to Florida probate rule 5.400, and two of them are not in it — they live in Rule 5.401. The miscitation is nearly universal, including on other law firm pages, and it matters if you are the one counting days.

The 12-month final accounting — Rule 5.400(c)

“The final accounting and petition for discharge shall be filed and served on interested persons within 12 months after issuance of letters for an estate not filing a federal estate tax return, otherwise within 12 months from the date the return is due, unless the time is extended by the court for cause shown after notice to interested persons. The petition to extend time shall state the status of the estate and the reason for the extension.”

Twelve months from issuance of letters — not from death. The alternative trigger, where a federal estate tax return is filed, is 12 months from the date that return is due as extended.

Rule 5.400(b) sets out what the petition must contain: that the estate has been fully administered, that all claims have been paid, settled or otherwise disposed of, that taxes and expenses have been paid or provided for, the compensation paid or to be paid to the personal representative, attorneys, accountants, appraisers and other agents and how it was determined, and a plan of distribution.

The 30-day objection window — Rule 5.401(a)

“An interested person may object to the petition for discharge or final accounting within 30 days after the service of the later of the petition or final accounting on that interested person.”

Objections must state with particularity the items objected to and the grounds. Under Rule 5.401(c), copies must be served on the personal representative and interested persons not later than 30 days after the last date on which the petition or accounting was served on the objector.

The 90-day abandonment trap — Rule 5.401(d)

This is the provision that ends more objections than any ruling on the merits:

Any interested person may set a hearing on the objections. Notice of the hearing shall be given to all interested persons. If a notice of hearing on the objections is not served within 90 days of filing of the objections, the objections shall be deemed abandoned and the personal representative may make distribution as set forth in the plan of distribution.

Three points of precision, each of which trips people up:

• The 90 days runs from the filing of the objection, not from its service.
• What must happen within the 90 days is service of a notice of hearing — not the hearing itself, and not merely filing a notice.
• The consequence is automatic. The objections are deemed abandoned and the personal representative may distribute.

Rule 5.400(b)(6) requires the petition for discharge to recite both the 30-day and 90-day periods, which is why the provision is so often cited to Rule 5.400. The operative rule is 5.401.

How do you know when probate is closed?

When the court enters the order of discharge. That order releases the personal representative and the surety on any bond, and it is the formal end of the administration. Until it is entered, the estate is open no matter how quiet the file has gone.

You can confirm it yourself. Probate files are public records, and every Florida clerk of court maintains a searchable docket — most of them online. Looking up the case by the decedent’s name will tell you whether letters have been issued, whether an inventory and final accounting have been filed, and whether a discharge order has been entered. Inventories and accountings themselves are confidential under § 733.604(1) and are not open to general public inspection, but the docket entries showing that they were filed are visible, and an interested person can obtain the documents.

People sometimes ask whether probate has been “granted,” which is English and Commonwealth phrasing — a grant of probate. Florida’s equivalent milestone is the issuance of Letters of Administration at the start, not a single grant at the end.

When do beneficiaries actually receive anything?

Usually near the end, and rarely before the five-month mark.

The structure of the Code makes this almost unavoidable. A personal representative cannot be compelled to pay claims within five months of first publication, and distributing to beneficiaries before the creditor period has run exposes the representative personally if a claim later surfaces. Most representatives therefore hold distribution until claims are resolved and the plan of distribution is approved — which in a straightforward estate means somewhere between month six and month twelve.

Interim distributions are possible where the estate is clearly solvent and the remaining assets comfortably cover the outstanding claims, administrative expenses and fees. They are a judgment call carrying real personal exposure for the representative, and a prudent one will often ask for a court order or a refunding agreement before making one. A surviving spouse or dependent lineal heir who needs money sooner should look at the family allowance under § 732.403 rather than pressing for an early distribution.

Does Summary Administration Change the Deadlines?

Substantially. Summary administration appoints no personal representative, so most of the calendar above simply does not run.

Effective 1 July 2026, the value ceiling doubled. Chapter 2026-57, § 7, Laws of Florida — CS/HB 1337 — amended § 735.201(2), which now reads that summary administration may be had when it appears “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 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years.”

The Florida Supreme Court conformed Rule 5.530(a)(7) to the new figure in In re Amendments to Florida Probate Rules — 2026 Legislation, No. SC2026-0690 (Fla. 16 July 2026).

Two structural points about that subsection are worth stating plainly, because both are commonly misdescribed:

• The two conditions are cumulative. Subsection (1) independently bars summary administration in a testate estate where the will directs administration as required by Chapter 733. A will directing formal administration disqualifies the estate even if the decedent has been dead more than two years. The two-year clause lives in subsection (2) and does not override subsection (1).
• The measurement excludes more than people expect. The ceiling is measured on the estate subject to administration in this state, less property exempt from the claims of creditors. Constitutionally protected homestead drops out on both grounds, and assets that pass outside probate — trust property, and anything passing by beneficiary designation or survivorship — are not counted at all.

One caution on the homestead exclusion. Where there is no surviving spouse and no minor children and the homestead passes by valid devise, it must be considered an asset of the estate for the purpose of effecting that devise, even though the devisee still takes it free of estate claims. Monks v. Smith, 609 So. 2d 740 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). Confirm the protected status before excluding the value.

If the death was before 1 July 2026, which ceiling applies?

This is genuinely unsettled in Florida, and we would rather say so than give you a confident answer that may not hold up.

Chapter 2026-57 contains no applicability, transition or savings clause. So the question falls to default rules of statutory application, which run through a characterization: substantive statutes are presumed to apply prospectively, while procedural or remedial ones may reach pending matters. Basel v. McFarland & Sons, Inc., 815 So. 2d 687 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002); Weaver v. Volusia County, 352 So. 3d 392 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022).

Those cases treat a change in the size of a monetary entitlement as substantive. That, combined with the settled principle that substantive probate rights vest at death — In re Estate of Burris, 361 So. 2d 152 (Fla. 1978); Huskea’s Estate v. Doody, 391 So. 2d 779 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980) — points toward the law in effect at the date of death governing, so that a decedent who died before 1 July 2026 would be measured against the old $75,000 ceiling.

The contrary argument is real. Summary administration is a mode of administering an estate rather than a rule of succession, and administration mechanics have been described as procedural. But the panel that said so in In re Jelley’s Estate, 360 So. 2d 1313 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), was openly divided on the point and declined to resolve it.

And the Fifth District has expressly reserved this exact question. In Wallace v. Watkins, 253 So. 3d 1204, 1206 n.1 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018), the court noted that the parties had assumed current statutes governed “as opposed to the statutes that existed at the time of the decedent’s death or at the time of the original petition for summary administration,” and declined to address the issue because it was unpreserved.

The practical takeaway: if the death was before 1 July 2026 and the estate falls between $75,000 and $150,000, the new ceiling is worth pursuing but carries litigation risk. Be prepared to justify eligibility under the old ceiling or the two-year path as well. If you are in that band, this is a conversation worth having before anything is filed.

What if the decedent lived in another state and owned Florida property?

Then you are looking at ancillary administration under § 734.102, and its deadlines run in parallel with the home state’s. The Florida ancillary estate has its own notice to creditors, its own claim period and its own accounting — the calendar above applies to it in full, and the clock generally does not start until the Florida ancillary personal representative is appointed, which itself waits on exemplified copies from the domiciliary court.

There is a shorter route that deserves more attention than it gets. Section 734.1025 allows a simplified transcript procedure for a nonresident’s testate estate where the gross value of the Florida property does not exceed $50,000 at the date of death. That figure was not raised by chapter 2026-57 — it was last amended in 2003. So as of 1 July 2026 there is an odd divergence: a Florida resident’s estate qualifies for summary administration up to $150,000, while a nonresident’s Florida property qualifies for the short-form ancillary route only up to $50,000. For snowbird estates and out-of-state decedents with a Florida condominium, that gap is worth checking before assuming which path applies.

What Changes on October 1, 2026

Two Florida Supreme Court opinions amend the Florida Probate Rules effective 1 October 2026 at 12:01 a.m. Neither changes a single deadline. Both change wording, and anyone quoting the rules should know which.

Opinion	Scope	Nature
In re Amendments to Florida Probate Rules, No. SC2025-1478	Roughly 40 rules, including 5.030, 5.340, 5.400, 5.401, 5.405 and 5.530	Stylistic only — cross-references conformed to the retitled Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.516 (“Service”) and 2.525 (“Filing”), plus grammatical modernization
In re Amendments to Florida Probate Rules, No. SC2025-1462	Rules 5.025, 5.122, 5.200, 5.320, 5.470	Mixed — substantive changes to curator authority under 5.122 and statutory references added to 5.200 and 5.320

The substantive changes are worth noting. Rule 5.122 will clarify that letters of curatorship must specify the powers granted and that a court may grant a curator authority over all or part of the decedent’s property. Rules 5.200 and 5.320 add references to §§ 825.102 and 825.103, the elder abuse and exploitation statutes.

For the rules quoted on this page, the practical effect is small but real. Rule 5.340(a) does not change — it already reads “must.” Rule 5.401(a) does not change. Rule 5.030(a) and Rule 5.400(c) change “shall” to “must.” Rule 5.401(c) drops the opening words “Copies of.” And in Rule 5.401(d), “shall be deemed abandoned” becomes “are deemed abandoned.” The 90-day period, and every other period on this page, is untouched.

Separately, Rule 5.241 — which supplies the 45-day proof of publication and the 4-month verified statement — is not amended by either opinion. Its current text has been in effect since 27 February 2025.

How to Work Out Which Deadlines Apply to You

Most people arrive at this page with one of four roles, and the calendar looks different from each.

If you are…	Your clock usually starts at…	The deadlines that matter most
A beneficiary or heir who received a notice of administration	Service of that notice	3 months to object to the will, venue or jurisdiction; 4 months for exempt property; 30 days to object to the final accounting once it is served
A surviving spouse	Death, for homestead; service of the notice, for the elective share	6 months on the homestead election; the earlier of 6 months or 2 years on the elective share; 8 months to withdraw
A creditor	First publication, or service on you	The later of 3 months or 30 days — and if you were never served and were reasonably ascertainable, potentially 2 years from death
The personal representative	Issuance of letters, and first publication	60-day inventory; 45-day proof of publication; 3-month AHCA service; 4-month verified statement and claim objections; 12-month final accounting

Two habits will keep you out of trouble. First, write down the actual trigger date — the date of death, the date of first publication, the date letters issued, the date you were served — because almost every mistake we see comes from counting forward from the wrong event. Second, treat every “later of” and “earlier of” deadline as its own calculation rather than assuming the headline number applies.

If a deadline has already passed, do not assume the matter is closed. Several of the windows above have narrow exceptions, and one of them — the unserved reasonably ascertainable creditor — is not a deadline at all until the personal representative acts.

Talk to a Florida Probate Attorney About a Deadline

Deadlines in Florida probate are unforgiving by design. The Legislature wrote § 733.212(3) so that even misconduct by the personal representative will not extend it, and § 732.402(6) so that a right disappears without anyone raising a hand. If you are close to one of these dates, or think you may have passed one, the sooner you get a look at the file the more options you are likely to have.

We at Lorenzo Law handle probate administration and probate litigation across Florida, with offices in Miami-Dade and Broward County and active matters in Palm Beach, Pinellas, Orange County and along the Treasure Coast in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River. Deadlines are the same statewide; what varies is how quickly a particular clerk and division move, which is worth knowing before you assume you have time. We are happy to look at where your estate sits on this calendar and tell you plainly what is still open.

Call (305) 224-6811 or send us a message. Related reading: how long probate takes in Florida, the Florida probate creditor claim process, contesting a will in Florida, caveats in Florida probate, what probate costs in Florida, and when probate is not necessary.