Probate and Estate Planning in Central Florida

Which court handles a Central Florida estate — and why the answer is never just “Orlando”

Central Florida is one media market and one commute, but it is five separate judicial circuits. Probate venue follows the county where the person was domiciled (Fla. Stat. § 733.101), and the circuit assignments are set by Fla. Stat. § 26.021. Getting this wrong at the outset costs weeks.

County	Judicial circuit	Filed in
Orange (Orlando, Winter Park, Lake Nona, Apopka, Ocoee, Windermere)	Ninth	Orlando
Osceola (Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Celebration, Poinciana)	Ninth	Kissimmee
Seminole (Sanford, Altamonte Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary)	Eighteenth	Sanford
Brevard (Melbourne, Titusville, Palm Bay)	Eighteenth	Brevard
Lake (Clermont, Leesburg, Tavares)	Fifth	Tavares
Volusia (Daytona Beach, DeLand, New Smyrna)	Seventh	DeLand
Polk (Lakeland, Winter Haven, Davenport)	Tenth	Bartow

Orange and Osceola share the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which is why an Orlando estate and a Kissimmee estate run on the same local rules — but they are still filed with two different clerks, in two different courthouses, before two different sets of judges. Seminole and Brevard share the Eighteenth. Lake, Volusia and Polk each sit in a circuit of their own.

Where is probate filed if my parent lived in Orlando?

In Orange County, at the Orange County Courthouse, 425 North Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801. The Clerk of Courts Probate Division is in Suite 335 of that building, reachable at (407) 836-2057. Attorneys file everything electronically through the statewide Florida Courts E-Filing Portal at myflcourtaccess.com; there is no counter to stand at.

That is the venue for every Orange County community — downtown Orlando, Winter Park, Baldwin Park, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Apopka, Ocoee, Windermere and the rest. We have written separately about lady bird deeds for Lake Nona homes, because the recording office and the district assessments there are genuinely different from the rest of the state.

Where is probate filed if my parent lived in Kissimmee, St. Cloud or Celebration?

In Osceola County — same Ninth Circuit, different courthouse, different clerk, different property appraiser and a different recording office. This catches families constantly, because the Lake Nona and Sunbridge corridors straddle the Orange–Osceola line and a mailing address is not a parcel. Before anything is filed or recorded, the parcel is what we check.

Where do you record a deed in Central Florida?

In the county where the land sits, never where the owner lived. Orange County is unusual: deeds there are recorded not with a clerk of court but with the Orange County Comptroller’s Official Records Department, 109 East Church Street, Suite 300, Orlando, which also accepts e-recording through approved vendors. Recording runs $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page. In Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Volusia, Polk and Brevard the recording office is the county Clerk of the Circuit Court.

Documentary stamp tax is collected wherever you record, at 70 cents per $100 of consideration under Fla. Stat. § 201.02(1)(a). Note the trap in that section: consideration includes the amount of any mortgage or other encumbrance, whether or not the debt is assumed — so a deed transferring a mortgaged Central Florida home for “no money” still owes stamp tax on the loan balance.

Which probate route will my family need?

Florida has three, and the choice turns on numbers rather than on how complicated the family feels. Disposition without administration (§ 735.301) covers only exempt personal property plus enough to reimburse the funeral and the last 60 days of medical bills, and is unavailable the moment real estate is involved. Summary administration (§ 735.201) applies where the estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors, does not exceed $150,000 — or where the death was more than two years ago, in which case there is no dollar ceiling at all. Everything else is formal administration under chapter 733, where the court appoints a personal representative and issues letters of administration.

That $150,000 figure is new as of 1 July 2026 — it was $75,000 until Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, doubled it. If another site tells you $75,000, it has not caught up. And because qualified homestead is exempt from creditors’ claims, it does not count toward the ceiling, which pulls a great many Central Florida estates into the short procedure once the house is set aside.

Do I need a lawyer to open a probate in Central Florida?

Almost always, and by rule rather than custom. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires every personal representative to be represented by a Florida attorney unless that representative remains the sole interested person in the estate. One other beneficiary, one other heir, one creditor with an interest — and counsel is mandatory. The reason behind the rule is that a personal representative is a fiduciary who answers personally for mistakes in notice, timing and distribution.

What deadlines start running the day someone dies?

Six matter more than the rest, and several run from the death itself rather than from the day probate opens.

• 10 days — whoever holds the original will must deposit it with the clerk of the court having venue, counted from learning of the death (§ 732.901).
• 3 months — to object to the validity of the will, the venue or the court’s jurisdiction after being served the notice of administration (§ 733.212).
• 3 months from first publication, or 30 days from service, whichever is later — for a creditor to file a claim (§ 733.702).
• 6 months — for a surviving spouse to elect an undivided one-half of the homestead instead of a life estate, made in the spouse’s lifetime and perfected by recording in the county where the home sits (§ 732.401(2)).
• 2 years from the date of death — an absolute bar on claims against the decedent, whether or not probate was ever opened (§ 733.710).
• March 1 — the annual deadline to apply for homestead exemption with the county property appraiser (§ 196.011).

Can someone who lives out of state serve as personal representative?

Only if they fall inside a closed list, and in Central Florida this comes up constantly — retirees whose children stayed in New York or New Jersey, families with roots in Puerto Rico, second homes near the parks owned by people domiciled elsewhere. Fla. Stat. § 733.304 permits a non-domiciliary to serve only if they are an adopted child or adoptive parent of the decedent; related by lineal consanguinity; a spouse, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece, or someone related by lineal consanguinity to one of those; or the spouse of a person who qualifies.

What that leaves out matters more. A cousin who lives out of state does not qualify. A son-in-law or daughter-in-law does not, unless their spouse does. A trusted friend or accountant named in the will does not. Families discover this after the funeral, holding a will that names someone who cannot legally serve.

What about HOA and CDD assessments on a Central Florida home?

This region is built out of master-planned communities, and a great many of them sit inside a community development district created under chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes to finance roads, drainage and amenities. Under Fla. Stat. § 190.021, district assessments are entered by the property appraiser on the county tax roll and are collected and enforced by the tax collector in the same manner and at the same time as county taxes — which includes the tax certificate and tax deed process.

For an estate that means the house arrives with an ad valorem tax bill, a non-ad valorem district assessment and an HOA obligation, all of which keep running while probate does. Heirs who have never seen a CDD line item are frequently the ones who let it lapse.

Central Florida communities we serve

Orange County: Orlando probate lawyer · Orlando probate litigation and will contests · Lake Nona lady bird deeds.

Osceola County: Kissimmee probate attorney — covering St. Cloud, Celebration, Poinciana, Harmony and BuenaVentura Lakes.

En español: abogado de herencias en Orlando · Kissimmee · Winter Park · Sanford.

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is admitted in Florida (Florida Bar No. 107002) and practises statewide in probate, estate administration, probate litigation and guardianship, in English and Spanish. To talk through which court, which route and which deadlines apply to your family, call (305) 224-6811 or use the contact form.

This page is informational and is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Reviewed 31 July 2026 against Florida law in effect on that date, including Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida.