Florida Homestead Property in Probate

Florida homestead property in probate is not a probate asset. Title vests in the decedent’s heirs at the moment of death by operation of law, and general creditors cannot reach it. The estate almost always still needs a court order before title will clear, which is why so many inherited-home sales collapse at the closing table.

The word “homestead” carries three separate meanings in Florida law, and conflating them is the most common and most expensive mistake in this area. This page separates them, then walks the rules that decide who inherits the home, what a surviving spouse can choose, how creditors are held off, and how to get the property out of a deceased owner’s name.

A note on the word “homestead.” This page is about Florida homestead property law statewide. If you are looking for a probate lawyer in the City of Homestead, Miami-Dade County, see our page on probate representation in Homestead, FL.

1. What “Protected Homestead” Means in Florida

In short. Protected homestead is Florida real property that qualifies under Article X, Section 4 of the state constitution. Three separate doctrines share the word: a property tax exemption, a shield against creditors, and a restriction on who may inherit the home. They operate independently, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake in this area.

In Florida, “homestead” is three separate legal doctrines sharing one word: a property tax break, a shield against creditors, and a restriction on who you may leave the house to. Treating them as one thing is the most common error made in this area.

The three homesteads	Source	What it actually does
Tax exemption	Art. VII, § 6, Fla. Const.	Lowers taxable assessed value. For 2026, $25,000 against all levies plus $26,411 against levies other than school district levies, a total of $51,411.
Creditor protection	Art. X, § 4(a)–(b), Fla. Const.	Puts the residence beyond most creditors during life, and passes that protection to the surviving spouse or heirs at death.
Devise and descent restriction	Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const.; Fla. Stat. § 732.4015	Controls who can legally inherit it.

Homestead tax exemption vs homestead probate protection: does one depend on the other?

No. This question comes up in nearly every consultation, and the answer is that the two are independent. The tax exemption is an application filed with the county property appraiser. The constitutional protection at death arises from ownership, residence, and intent, not from paperwork. A parent who never once filed for the tax exemption can still own fully protected homestead at death, and a parent who did file can still own property that is not protected homestead, because of how title was held.

What makes property homestead exempt from forced sale in Florida?

Property is homestead exempt from forced sale in Florida when it is the residence of the owner or the owner’s family and meets Art. X, § 4(a):

• Owned by a natural person. A corporation, LLC, or partnership cannot hold homestead.
• Within the size limits. Up to 160 acres of contiguous land outside a municipality; up to one-half acre inside a municipality, where the exemption is further limited to the residence of the owner or the owner’s family. Acreage beyond the ceiling is not covered.
• No dollar cap under state law. A modest bungalow and a waterfront estate get identical treatment.
• Equitable title is enough. Beneficial ownership counts, which is why Fla. Prob. R. 5.405 reaches property titled in the trustee of a § 733.707(3) trust where the deceased settlor was treated as owner under § 732.4015.

The protection is not absolute. The constitutional text excepts taxes and assessments, obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement, or repair of the property, and obligations for labor performed on the realty.

The Probate Code definition, and the title trap

Fla. Stat. § 731.201(33) defines “protected homestead,” and it carves out a category most families do not expect. Property owned as tenancy by the entireties or as joint tenancy with rights of survivorship is not protected homestead under the Probate Code, even though it may still be exempt from creditors.

So if you and your spouse owned the house as husband and wife, as tenants by the entirety, the probate homestead rules usually never come into play. Title passes to you by survivorship the instant your spouse dies. There is nothing to devise. The same logic applies to a joint tenancy with right of survivorship between any two owners.

Did the house lose homestead status because Mom was in a nursing home, or because it was rented out?

Not automatically. Abandonment turns on intent to return, and a temporary absence, including residence in a nursing home or other healthcare facility, does not by itself destroy homestead status. The same analysis applies to an owner who moved in with an adult child or rented the house out. Renting cuts against homestead intent, but it is one fact among many, and this issue is frequently litigated.

Condos, mobile homes, duplexes, second homes, and out-of-state owners

A condominium unit that is the owner’s residence qualifies, as does a mobile or manufactured home where the decedent also owned the land under it. A duplex the owner occupied in part can qualify as to the owner’s residence, subject to the municipal use limitation above. A vacation or second home does not, and an owner has only one homestead at a time.

A decedent who was not a Florida resident generally has no Florida homestead. That is why Fla. Prob. R. 5.405 requires the petition to state the county of domicile at death and, if the property was not the decedent’s domicile, whether it was within a municipality and the domicile of a family member.

2. Is Homestead Property a Probate Asset in Florida?

In short. No. Florida homestead property is not a probate asset. Title vests in the decedent’s heirs at the moment of death, and Fla. Stat. § 733.608(1) puts it outside the personal representative’s control. A court order is still normally required before any title underwriter will insure a sale.

Protected homestead is not a probate asset in Florida. Title vests in the heirs or devisees at the moment of death by operation of law, without any act by the personal representative and without any order of the probate court.

Two statutes say it directly. Fla. Stat. § 733.607(1) provides that the personal representative takes possession of the decedent’s property except the protected homestead. Fla. Stat. § 733.608(1) provides that all property except the protected homestead is an asset in the personal representative’s hands for devises, family allowance, elective share, taxes, claims, and expenses.

The case law is equally blunt. Clifton v. Clifton, 553 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), holds that homestead passes outside probate, that the personal representative has neither jurisdiction nor title, and that no order of distribution and no personal representative’s deed are required to pass title. Lanford v. Phemister, 338 So. 3d 1049 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), confirms the same for homestead devised to an heir. In re Estate of Mahaney, 903 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005), states the narrow exception: homestead enters the probate estate under the personal representative’s control only when devised to someone other than an heir. That rule assumes a decedent survived by neither a spouse nor a minor child, which is the only situation in which homestead is freely devisable in the first place, and “heir” is the defined term in § 731.201.

Is homestead property exempt from probate in Florida in a practical sense?

Mostly, but not entirely. Homestead passes outside of probate, and Florida courts still expect a proceeding. Both statements are true at once. Title vests automatically; marketable title is a different problem.

A title company, a buyer, or a refinancing lender will want a court order naming who owns what. That is the function of a determination of protected homestead under Fla. Prob. R. 5.405, most recently amended effective 1 October 2025. The proceeding is declaratory: it transfers nothing and confirms what already happened at death. Anyone handling probate real estate in Florida should assume a determination will be needed before the house can be sold or mortgaged.

Do the heirs take the house free of the decedent’s debts?

Usually yes. Art. X, § 4(b) provides that the exemptions “shall inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner,” so the protection passes with the property. The exceptions are those in Art. X, § 4(a): taxes and assessments, purchase-money and improvement or repair obligations such as a mortgage or a contractor’s lien, and labor performed on the realty. A credit card balance, a medical bill, or an unsecured judgment does not reach protected homestead in the heirs’ hands.

Does homestead go on the inventory, and how does it affect attorney’s fees?

Yes, but without a value. Fla. Prob. R. 5.340(a) directs that protected homestead be shown on the inventory without a valuation. Read with § 733.608(1), that produces a consequence worth understanding before you agree to a fee: protected homestead is not a probate asset and carries no inventory value, so it falls outside the “compensable value of the estate” driving the presumptive fee schedule in § 733.6171(3). Homestead work is instead compensable as an extraordinary service under § 733.6171(4)(i).

The flip matters just as much. If the residence is not protected homestead, it is an ordinary probate asset, it goes on the inventory at value, and its full value counts in the fee base. On a valuable house that classification question moves the presumptive fee substantially, so resolve it early rather than at the fee hearing.

Homestead and summary administration

Under § 735.201(2), summary administration is available where the value of the estate subject to administration, less the value of property exempt from creditors’ claims, does not exceed $75,000, or where the decedent has been dead more than two years, in which case there is no dollar limit.

Because homestead value comes out of that calculation, summary administration is common here: an estate consisting of a house and a small bank account often qualifies even when the house alone is worth far more than the threshold.

Who controls the house, the personal representative or the heirs?

The heirs. Section 733.608(2) provides one limited exception: where property that reasonably appears to be protected homestead is not occupied by a person who appears to have an interest in it, the personal representative is authorized, but not required, to take possession for the limited purpose of preserving, insuring, and protecting it pending a determination. There is no duty to rent it, and it does not authorize evicting an heir who is living there.

3. Devise Restrictions: Who You Can Leave Your Florida Home To

In short. Florida homestead devise restrictions bar leaving the home to anyone at all if a minor child survives. With a surviving spouse and no minor child, it may pass to that spouse alone and only in full fee simple. A devise that violates Art. X, § 4(c) is void and cannot be cured after death.

Florida tells you who you may leave your house to. Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const. provides that “the homestead shall not be subject to devise if the owner is survived by spouse or minor child, except the homestead may be devised to the owner’s spouse if there be no minor child.” Fla. Stat. § 732.4015(1) restates the rule.

Can I leave my homestead to anyone in Florida?

Only if you are survived by neither a spouse nor a minor child. The florida homestead devise restrictions collapse into three scenarios:

Who survives you	What you may do with the homestead by will
A minor child (with or without a spouse)	Nothing. The homestead cannot be devised to anyone, including the spouse or the minor child.
A spouse and no minor child	It may be devised to the spouse, and only to the spouse, and only in fee simple absolute.
Neither a spouse nor a minor child	Free to devise to anyone, including adult children, grandchildren, stepchildren, a friend, or a charity.

In re McCartney’s Estate, 299 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 1974), confirms the middle row: with a spouse and only adult children, homestead may be devised to the spouse absolutely in fee. McKean v. Warburton, 919 So. 2d 341 (Fla. 2005), illustrates the bottom row, and adds the rule that matters for drafting: homestead not specifically devised passes under the residuary clause, which is “a sufficiently precise indicator of testamentary intent,” and it loses its protected character only where the will directs a sale and makes the proceeds part of the general estate. The homestead passed to residuary beneficiaries under the will.

Minor children: the field’s most repeated error

The rule is usually stated as a flat prohibition: in Florida, homestead cannot be devised if a minor child survives. That is accurate and absolute. If a minor child survives, the will’s homestead provision fails. You cannot leave it to the surviving spouse. You cannot leave it in trust for the minor child.

The error made most often here is reading “minor child” as “children.” Adult children do not trigger the restriction. A child who turned eighteen a month before the parent died is not a minor child; a child three days short of eighteen at death is. That is why Fla. Prob. R. 5.405 requires the petition to identify minor children by name and year of birth.

The less-than-100% trap

Where a spouse survives and there is no minor child, the devise must be the entire fee. Anything less is void. This is the improper devise of homestead that Florida probate courts see most often.

Here is a will that fails: “I devise my residence to my wife for the term of her life, and upon her death to my two adult sons in equal shares.” A sensible second-marriage plan, and invalid. In re Finch’s Estate, 401 So. 2d 1308 (Fla. 1981), held that a life estate to the surviving spouse with a remainder to adult children is a devise of less than a fee and is invalid. Iandoli v. Iandoli, 504 So. 2d 426 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), applied the same rule. Half to the spouse and half to a child fails too.

An invalid devise is void and cannot be fixed after death

The result is a hard one: the devise is void, not voidable, and there is no cure once the owner has died. Under Ballard v. Pritchard, 332 So. 3d 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021), an invalid devise causes the homestead to descend under § 732.401(1) as though there had been no will.

Applied to the failed will above, the spouse takes a life estate and the two sons a vested remainder per stirpes. That resembles what the will said but is not the same, because the spouse now holds the § 732.401(2) right to elect an undivided one-half interest as tenant in common instead.

Does a trust avoid homestead restrictions Florida imposes?

No. A Florida will cannot override the restriction, and neither can a trust. Section 732.4015(2)(b) defines “devise” to include a disposition by trust of what would otherwise be the grantor’s homestead, so moving the house into a revocable trust and directing its distribution there is still a devise. If your instinct is that leaving homestead to a trust can be invalid, that instinct is right.

Section 732.4017 draws the line: a completed lifetime transfer, including into a trust, is not a devise if the transferor retains no power to revoke or revest the interest. A revocable trust does not qualify. In Aronson v. Aronson, 81 So. 3d 515 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012), homestead held in a revocable trust passed by operation of law as a life estate and vested remainder, and the successor trustees had no power to sell. Section 736.1109(1) confirms that where a trust devise violates Art. X, § 4(c), title passes under § 732.401 at the moment of death.

Can I leave my house to my child in Florida, or to someone outside the family?

If you have no spouse and no minor child, yes. The question “can I leave my house to my child in florida” has a straightforward answer then, as does “can I leave my florida home to a friend.” Once neither a spouse nor a minor child survives, you may leave the homestead to someone outside the family freely, whether the taker is a grandchild, a stepchild, a neighbor, or a charity.

The harder version: can I leave my homestead to someone other than my spouse? Two lawful paths. The surviving spouse may disclaim under § 732.4015(3) and ch. 739 after your death, which you cannot control. Or the spouse may have signed a valid waiver of homestead rights, which removes the restriction entirely and is covered in the waiver section below.

4. Who Inherits: Descent of Florida Homestead

In short. Who inherits homestead property in Florida turns on two facts: whether a spouse survived, and whether descendants survived. A spouse with descendants takes a life estate with a vested remainder to those descendants. A spouse with no descendants takes fee simple. Descendants alone take fee simple per stirpes.

Who inherits homestead property in Florida depends on exactly two facts: whether the decedent left a surviving spouse, and whether the decedent left descendants. Nothing else moves the needle. The descent of homestead in Florida under Fla. Stat. § 732.401(1) is automatic. It happens at the moment of death, and no judge, personal representative or family agreement is needed to make it happen.

Who inherits homestead property in Florida? The scenario matrix

Family structure at death	What the surviving spouse takes	What the descendants take
Spouse and one or more minor children	Life estate, or an elected undivided one-half as tenant in common (§ 732.401)	Vested remainder, per stirpes, to all descendants living at death. The property cannot be devised to anyone under Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const.
Spouse and adult descendants only, no valid devise	Life estate, or the elected undivided one-half	Vested remainder, per stirpes. A will may validly leave the whole property to the spouse in fee where there is no minor child: In re McCartney’s Estate, 299 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 1974).
Spouse, no descendants	The entire property in fee simple	Nobody. There is no remainder to create.
No spouse, descendants surviving	Nobody	The entire property, per stirpes
No spouse, no descendants	Nobody	Nobody. The property passes to the decedent’s other heirs at law under § 732.103: parents first, then siblings and their descendants, and outward from there.

The spouse-with-no-descendants row surprises people, and the reasoning matters. The life estate in § 732.401(1) is conditioned on the decedent being survived by a spouse and one or more descendants. With no descendants that condition is never satisfied, there is no class to hold a remainder, and the ordinary intestate rules give the spouse the entire interest outright.

Who inherits homestead if there is no will?

Florida homestead intestate succession and the descent rules for an improperly devised homestead produce the same result, which makes the common question of who inherits a homestead if there is no will in Florida easier to answer than most estate questions. There is no residuary clause to interpret and no discretion to exercise. The heirs at law are the people identified in the matrix above, and they take by operation of law.

The remainder vests at death and is not subject to divestment. In Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v. Giblin, 9 So. 3d 1276 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009), the Fourth District affirmed that a home the decedent owned but did not live in was still protected homestead, because his wife and daughter occupied it, and that it descended to her as a life estate with a vested remainder in the descendants in being at his death. That determination defeated a foreclosure the lender had brought on a mortgage the personal representative signed during probate, though the court decided only homestead status and left the lender to pursue any other remedy. Florida homestead law inheritance is not something the estate performs. It is a title change that has already happened by the time anyone calls a lawyer. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the scheme against a restraint-on-alienation challenge in King v. Ellison, 648 So. 2d 666 (Fla. 1994). The Court held there is no conflict between the statute and Art. X, § 4(c): the constitution restrains the right to devise but says nothing about how homestead descends when it is improperly devised, and § 732.401(1) fills that gap. Justice Kogan, concurring, put it as “merely the legislative statement of how homestead property will descend if not devised as permitted by article X, section 4(c),” and added that the section governs plain intestacy too.

Per stirpes, and what happens if a child died first

Per stirpes means each branch of the family takes one share. Three living children take one-third each. If one predeceased the parent leaving two children of her own, those grandchildren split her one-third and take one-sixth apiece. The remainder is one undivided interest shared among the remaindermen, not a set of parcels, so “divided equally” describes ownership percentages, not the house itself.

Do stepchildren have homestead rights in Florida?

A stepchild has no homestead rights in Florida unless the decedent legally adopted the stepchild. The lineal descendants who take homestead property are blood or adopted descendants. An adopted child is a lineal descendant in every respect and takes exactly as a biological child does. A child born outside marriage is a descendant of the mother, and of the father where paternity was established or acknowledged. A stepchild who was never adopted takes nothing under § 732.401, however long the relationship lasted.

Out-of-state heirs, non-citizen heirs, and unmarried partners

Inheriting homestead property in Florida does not require the heir to live in Florida, live in the United States, or hold citizenship. A remainder vests in an heir in Ohio or in Colombia on the same terms it vests in an heir across the street. Immigration status is irrelevant to descent. It is relevant to the property tax homestead exemption, which turns on the new owner’s own permanent residency and does not pass down with title.

An unmarried partner inherits nothing. Florida intestacy recognizes spouses and blood relatives. A partner of thirty years who was not married to the decedent, and is not named in a valid devise, has no interest in the homestead.

Does the house pass free of the decedent’s debts?

Generally yes. Art. X, § 4(b), Fla. Const. provides that the exemptions “shall inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner,” so protection from forced sale follows the property into the heirs’ hands. That is also why Clifton v. Clifton, 553 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), holds that homestead passes outside of probate, with no order of distribution and no personal representative’s deed needed to move title. The exceptions, including mortgages, taxes and construction liens, are covered in the creditor section below.

5. The Surviving Spouse’s Choice: Life Estate or Half the House

In short. A surviving spouse takes a life estate in the homestead by default, or may elect an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common instead. The election must be recorded within six months of death and during the spouse’s lifetime. It is irrevocable, and the deadline cannot be extended for good cause.

A surviving spouse who is not devised the homestead outright gets a life estate by default and has six months to trade it for half the house. Florida homestead surviving spouse rights are strong but time-limited, and this is the most commonly blown deadline in Florida probate. Two questions come up more than any others: whether the surviving spouse can stay in the house, and whether she can sell it. Both turn on the same choice.

The default: the life estate a surviving spouse receives automatically

Under § 732.401(1), a spouse who survives alongside descendants takes a life estate, with a vested remainder to the descendants in being at the decedent’s death, per stirpes. You will sometimes see this called the spouse’s elective life estate, which is a misnomer worth correcting, because the life estate is what the spouse receives without electing anything. Nothing has to be filed for it to exist.

It sounds generous. It is a right to live in the home for life that no one can take away. For a spouse without cash, it is also a trap.

Who pays the taxes on a homestead life estate in Florida?

The life tenant does. Under § 732.401(3), expenses are apportioned under Chapter 738 until an election is made, and that apportionment puts ordinary carrying costs on the person in possession:

• Life tenant pays: property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, HOA and condominium assessments, ordinary maintenance and repairs, utilities, and the interest portion of any mortgage.
• Remaindermen pay: the principal portion of the mortgage and the cost of permanent capital improvements.

A life tenant also cannot sell. She may convey the life estate but not fee title, and she cannot force a partition sale, because a life tenant and a remainderman do not share a common possessory interest. Selling requires every remainderman to sign, and if one is a minor, incapacitated or hostile, the sale does not happen. So no, a surviving spouse holding only a life estate cannot sell the house alone.

The election: half the house instead

Section 732.401(2) lets the spouse elect, in lieu of the life estate, an undivided one-half interest, with the other half vesting in the descendants per stirpes. Practitioners describe the choice as a decision between the life estate and the one-half interest.

	Life estate (default, § 732.401(1))	Undivided one-half interest as tenants in common (elected, § 732.401(2))
What the spouse owns	Right to possess for life; no fee title	Fee ownership of an undivided 50%
Ongoing costs	Spouse pays taxes, insurance, HOA, repairs, mortgage interest	Split proportionately between cotenants
Selling, or forcing a sale	Every remainderman must join; a life tenant cannot partition	Cotenants agree, or either side partitions under Chapter 64, Fla. Stat.
Passing it on at death	Nothing; the interest ends at death	The 50% passes under the spouse’s own will or intestacy

Six months, and no extensions

Section 732.401 gives the spouse six months from the date of death to elect, and the election must also be made during the surviving spouse’s lifetime. A spouse who dies in month five without electing takes the life estate, and it dies with them. People tend to remember it simply as the six-month election, and that is the right way to carry it in mind. The deadline cannot be enlarged under the probate rules, and excusable neglect will not save it. In Samad v. Pla, 267 So. 3d 476 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019), a surviving spouse moved for an extension roughly seven and a half months after the death; the Second District reversed, holding that Fla. Prob. R. 5.042(b) “is inapposite” because it reaches only acts required by the rules or by court order, not acts required by statute.

Two mechanics matter as much as the date:

1. The election is made by recording, not by filing in the probate case. Section 732.401(2)(e) requires a notice of election, in the statutory sworn form, to be filed for recording in the official records of the county where the property is located. A notice handed to the probate clerk and never recorded is not an election.
2. It is irrevocable. Section 732.401(2)(d). No cooling-off period, and no motion to undo it after the market moves.

If the spouse lacks capacity, an attorney-in-fact or a guardian of the property may elect, but only with court approval on a finding that the election serves the spouse’s best interests over her probable lifetime. § 732.401(2)(a)2., (2)(c). The petition for approval must itself be filed within the same six months, and filing it does not restart the clock; a timely petition extends the election period to at least 30 days after the order.

Once the election is recorded, § 732.401(3) switches expense-sharing to a proportionate split between the cotenants, effective the date the notice was filed for recording.

How to actually choose

• Can you afford to stay? If the mortgage is paid off, the taxes are manageable and you intend to live there for life, the life estate gives you the whole house and costs the children nothing until you die. Electing hands them half of it now.
• Do you want out? If you need to move, or cannot carry the taxes and insurance, take the half. It is a marketable, mortgageable asset, and after the election either side can force a sale by partition under Chapter 64.
• Who are the remaindermen, and how old are you? Stepchildren who resented the marriage will refuse to sign a deed, and half a house you control beats a life estate you cannot monetize. Cutting the other way, a younger spouse with a small mortgage balance usually does better keeping the life estate.

Fee simple where there are no descendants, and the elective share overlay

None of this applies where the decedent left a spouse but no descendants. Section 732.401(1) is conditioned on surviving descendants, so with none the spouse takes fee simple and there is nothing to elect.

Homestead also interacts with the elective share. Protected homestead is included in the elective estate under § 732.2035(2). Section 732.2055(1)(a) values a § 732.401(1) life estate and an elected § 732.401(2) one-half interest identically: a flat 50% of fair market value at death, not an actuarial calculation. That value credits against the spouse’s 30% elective share under § 732.2065, so the homestead alone often satisfies much of the share. Our Florida elective share page walks through that math.

Finally: no, the decedent’s children or stepchildren cannot force the spouse out of the house. A remainderman has no right of possession while the life tenant lives, and after an election one cotenant cannot evict another. Their remedy is partition, not eviction.

6. Creditor Protection After Death

In short. Florida homestead is exempt from forced sale by general creditors, and that protection inures to the surviving spouse and heirs at death. Credit card balances, medical bills and personal injury judgments cannot reach it. Mortgages, property taxes and liens for work performed on the property still ride with the home.

Death does not lift the homestead exemption. It transfers it. Art. X, § 4(a), Fla. Const. exempts homestead from forced sale, and § 4(b) provides that “these exemptions shall inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner.”

Is Florida homestead protected from creditors after death?

Yes, as to general unsecured creditors, and the answer to is florida homestead protected from creditors after death does not change with the size of the debts. The protection is not discretionary. A probate court does not weigh the equities. The property is exempt from forced sale automatically at the moment of death. There is no dollar cap; the limit is area, not value: 160 contiguous acres outside a municipality, one-half acre inside one, and inside a municipality only the owner’s or the family’s residence.

The exceptions to Florida homestead creditor protection

The constitution writes its own exceptions and they are narrow. Everything else is blocked.

Cannot reach the home	Rides with the property anyway
Unsecured credit cards	Mortgages, HELOCs, any lien the owner signed
Medical, hospital and nursing bills	Property taxes and special assessments
Personal injury and other money judgments	Mechanic’s and contractor’s liens for purchase, improvement or repair
General estate creditors who filed claims	Liens for house, field or other labor on the realty
Funeral expenses and costs of administration	Federal tax liens, which arise under federal law
Medicaid estate recovery, in most cases	HOA and condominium assessments

Protected homestead is not charged with funeral bills, attorney’s fees or costs of administration. Section 733.608(1) makes every asset except protected homestead available for claims and expenses, and § 736.1109(2) confirms that a general power of sale, or boilerplate directing payment of “debts, expenses and claims,” does not pull homestead into that pool. Code enforcement liens fall outside the constitutional exceptions, so a city generally cannot force a sale to collect one, though the lien clouds title until cleared.

Can creditors force sale of homestead in Florida?

No, not for an ordinary debt. The can creditors force sale of homestead florida question usually arises when a judgment creditor records a certified copy of a judgment. That recording creates no enforceable lien against homestead and the sheriff cannot levy. It does sit in the chain of title, which is why sellers must clear it before a title company will insure.

Does homestead protection pass to the heirs, or stop at death?

It passes, and in full. A child who inherits a remainder takes it free of the parent’s credit card debt. That is why Clifton v. Clifton, 553 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), holds no order of distribution and no personal representative’s deed are needed to move title.

Two limits deserve honesty. Section 4(b) shields the property from the decedent’s creditors; whether it also shields it from an heir’s own creditors turns on whether that heir owns and occupies it as their own homestead. And a sale does not automatically carry protection into the cash. Proceeds have been protected only narrowly, where they stay segregated and the seller shows intent to reinvest in a new Florida homestead within a reasonable time.

The mortgage the heirs inherit along with the homestead

The loan survives. Protection never applied to a lien the owner voluntarily granted, so a mortgage on the homestead stays enforceable after death and the lender can foreclose if the payments stop. Federal law generally stops a lender from calling the loan due on a transfer to a relative at death, but someone still has to pay it.

Medicaid liens against the homestead: what § 409.9101 actually says

Protected homestead is usually safe from Medicaid estate recovery, but say it carefully. Section 409.9101(3) creates a debt for assistance paid after age 55. Subsection (6) bars enforcement where the decedent is survived by a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or permanently and totally disabled child. Subsection (7) bars enforcement against property exempt from creditors’ claims under Florida law, which is what generally protects homestead. So the fear of a Medicaid lien on the homestead is defeated by the property’s exempt character, not by any blanket immunity. If the home lost that character, the analysis changes.

The personal representative’s lien under § 733.608(3)

A personal representative who spends estate funds to preserve, maintain, insure or protect the homestead gets a lien on it. This is the lien a personal representative acquires when an empty house has to be insured out of estate funds.

• It attaches and takes priority as of the date and time a notice of lien is recorded in the county official records, not when the money is spent.
• The interest holders have no personal liability. The lien runs against the property, not the spouse or heirs.
• It terminates on the earliest of a recorded satisfaction, the PR’s discharge, one year from recording unless a proceeding to determine the debt or enforce the lien has been filed, or a court order releasing it.

That one-year clock is the trap. A PR who records and then does nothing loses the lien.

7. The Homestead Determination Proceeding (Fla. Prob. R. 5.405)

In short. A petition to determine homestead status of real property asks the probate court to declare that the decedent’s residence was protected homestead and to name who now owns it. The proceeding is permissive under Fla. Prob. R. 5.405. Title insurance underwriters treat the resulting order as mandatory before any sale.

A petition to determine homestead status of real property asks the probate court to declare that the decedent’s house was protected homestead and to name who owns it now. The order determining homestead status turns a conclusion that already exists into a document a title examiner can read. Florida provides one procedure for determining homestead status in probate, and it is the petition under Rule 5.405.

Read this before you file. The proceeding is permissive, not required. Fla. Prob. R. 5.405(a) says an interested person may petition, and the Fifth District put it plainly while deciding a partition dispute: “proceedings to determine whether a property is homestead are permissive, not required.” Mullins v. Mullins, 274 So. 3d 513 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019). Title passed at the instant of death under Art. X, § 4 and § 732.401(1); the court transfers nothing. What actually drives these petitions is not the statute. It is the title insurance underwriter, who will not insure a sale or refinance without a recorded order naming the owners. The legal requirement and the practical requirement are two different things, and only one of them is written down.

In re Estate of Hamel, 821 So. 2d 1276 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), agrees: the proceeding is declaratory, and its function is to change record title or release the personal representative. If the house stays in the family, unencumbered and undisputed, an order may be optional. If it is sold, mortgaged or fought over, get one.

Who files petition to determine homestead status?

Any interested person: the surviving spouse, any heir or devisee, the personal representative, a remainderman. The rule also reaches property titled in the trustee of a § 733.707(3) trust where the deceased settlor was treated as owner under § 732.4015, so a revocable trust is not beyond its reach. In practice who files petition to determine homestead resolves to whoever needs title cleared.

The ten things the verified petition must state

Rule 5.405 requires a verified petition stating:

1. The petitioner’s interest in the property.
2. The decedent’s date of death.
3. The county of the decedent’s domicile at death.
4. Whether the decedent died testate or intestate.
5. Whether a spouse survived, that spouse’s name, and whether the spouse waived homestead rights and the method of waiver.
6. The names of surviving descendants and whether any minor children survived, identifying minor children by name and year of birth.
7. The legal description of the property.
8. Whether the property was the decedent’s domicile, and if not, whether it was within a municipality and the domicile of a family member.
9. How the property was titled at the time of death.
10. Any other facts supporting the requested determination.

Items 5 and 6 are the newest and most commonly missed. “The spouse waived” no longer suffices; plead how, by a § 732.702 marital agreement or a § 732.7025 deed waiver. Item 9 catches the title trap, since entireties and joint-tenancy property is not protected homestead under § 731.201(33) at all.

Rule 5.405 was amended effective 1 October 2025, and much published guidance predates it. If you are working from a homestead petition form you downloaded, confirm that it carries the waiver-method and minor-children allegations. Many do not.

Formal notice, and why it is not informal notice

Interested persons must be served by formal notice under Fla. Prob. R. 5.040. It delivers the pleading with a notice requiring written defenses within the stated period, or the matter may be decided without that person; it creates jurisdiction and binds them to the result. Informal notice is just a copy, and binds no one. A protected homestead determination is only as good as the service behind it, and that is what an underwriter is really relying on.

What the order must contain

The order must describe the property, determine whether all or any part of it was protected homestead, and if so identify by name the persons entitled and define the nature of each interest. “The property is homestead” is not enough. It must say the spouse holds a life estate and the named children a vested remainder per stirpes.

Testate versus intestate homestead petitions

The testate petition and the intestate petition differ in what the court has to decide. The intestate petition is mechanical: identify the survivors, apply § 732.401. The testate petition adds a step, because the court must first decide whether the devise was valid under Art. X, § 4(c) and § 732.4015. If not, the property descends under § 732.401(1) as if there were no will. Ballard v. Pritchard, 332 So. 3d 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021). It must also say whether the devisee is an heir: homestead devised to an heir passes outside the estate, Lanford v. Phemister, 338 So. 3d 1049 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), while homestead devised to a non-heir falls under the PR’s control, In re Estate of Mahaney, 903 So. 2d 234 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005).

Can you do it in a summary administration?

Yes. Determining homestead inside a summary administration is routine, and it is a common reason a summary administration petition includes a homestead count. It fits naturally, because § 735.201(2) already measures the estate less property exempt from creditors’ claims against the $75,000 threshold.

The court’s reach has a limit. Under Ford v. Ford, 581 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991), it has no authority over property the decedent did not own at death, and the court added that “the Probate Rules are not a substitute for declaratory judgment actions or quiet title suits.” One important qualification: property held in the decedent’s own revocable trust still counts, because § 732.4015(2)(a) treats the grantor as the owner and Rule 5.405 reaches trust property on those terms. Ford involved an unchallenged lifetime conveyance where the petition itself denied any ownership at death.

Do I need a homestead order to sell the house in Florida?

Legally no, practically almost always yes. Title already vested in the heirs and Clifton says no PR’s deed is required. But the underwriter insuring the buyer needs record proof of who the heirs are and what each owns. Without the order, expect the closing to demand that every conceivable heir join the deed, plus affidavits and a holdback.

How long does a homestead determination take in Florida?

As a general practice range and not a rule, an uncontested petition commonly runs one to three months from filing to signed order, driven mostly by how long formal notice takes and by the judge’s calendar. Contested matters, or those needing a guardian ad litem or an evidentiary hearing on waiver or abandonment, take longer. The rule sets no deadline for the court.

Deadlines, appeals, and finality

There is no deadline to file the petition. It can be brought years after the death, and estates are routinely reopened, or opened for the first time decades later, for exactly this purpose. What follows the order is not flexible.

• It is final and appealable under Fla. R. App. P. 9.170(b)(13). See Anderson v. Estate of Quintero, 374 So. 3d 67, 71 n.5 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022), noting that the rule “expressly provides for appellate review of orders that determine the homestead status of real property.”
• The 30-day appeal window is jurisdictional, and the trap is the tolling rule rather than the 30 days. In probate, a motion for rehearing must be filed within 15 days under Fla. Prob. R. 5.020(d), and only a timely one delays rendition. In Dorsey v. Hearns, 433 So. 3d 481 (Fla. 6th DCA 2026), a motion filed 38 days after amended homestead and summary administration orders did not toll anything, and the whole appeal was dismissed for want of jurisdiction.
• Reopening it later is hard, and may not be available at all, and which of those two you face turns on Fla. Prob. R. 5.025. The civil rules do not apply in probate unless the matter is an adversary proceeding. In Steele v. Brown, 197 So. 3d 106 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016), an heir declared the matter adversary and the Estate did not contest it, so Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.540 applied. Relief was still refused eight years on: subsections (b)(1) to (b)(3) expire after one year, an order entered by a court with jurisdiction on notice and by consent is not void under (b)(4), and regret about a waiver is neither new evidence nor a change in circumstances under (b)(5). Where the matter is not adversary, Dorsey observed that the Probate Rules contain no analogue to Rule 1.540 at all.

Why petitions get denied

Most denials are pleading failures: an unverified petition; no allegation of how the property was titled at death; “the spouse waived” with no method; minor children not named with birth years; a legal description that does not match the deed; formal notice not served on an heir; acreage over the constitutional limit; or a request that the court authorize a sale, which this rule does not do.

The notice of taking possession of protected homestead

Separately, § 733.608(2) lets a personal representative file a notice of taking possession of protected homestead. It applies only where property that reasonably appears to be protected homestead is not occupied by a person who appears to have an interest, and it authorizes possession for one purpose: preserving, insuring and protecting it pending a determination of homestead status.

What it does not do matters more. The PR is authorized but not required to act, has no duty to rent the property, cannot evict an occupying heir, and has no power to sell. Harrell v. Snyder, 913 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005), rejected a sale even where the will authorized disposing of “all or any part of the assets of the estate.”

What to gather before filing

• The recorded vesting deed with the exact legal description
• The death certificate, and the will if there is one
• The property appraiser’s record card showing exemption history
• Names and addresses of the spouse and every descendant, and birth years for any child under 18
• Any prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, or a deed with waiver language
• A title search showing mortgages, judgments, HOA and code liens
• A survey or plat if the acreage limits are in play
• The probate case number, or a plan to open the estate

8. Clearing Title and Selling Homestead From an Estate

In short. Clearing title to homestead property means proving three facts of record: the death, that the property was protected homestead, and who inherited it. A personal representative cannot sell protected homestead. Every person holding an interest must sign the deed individually, which is why inherited-home sales collapse without a homestead order.

Title vests in the heirs at the moment of death, but the records still show a dead owner, and that is what stops a closing. Clifton v. Clifton, 553 So. 2d 192 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), holds that homestead passes outside probate, that the personal representative has neither jurisdiction nor title, and that no order of distribution and no personal representative’s deed are required to pass title. Title already moved. What remains is proving to a stranger who now owns it. Clearing title to homestead property means documenting three facts for the buyer and the lender: the death, that the property was protected homestead, and a complete named list of the people who took it. Every route to transferring homestead after death proves that third fact in a different way.

Can personal representative sell homestead Florida property?

No. A personal representative has no power to sell protected homestead. Section 733.607(1) excludes it from the property the PR takes possession of, and § 733.608(1) excludes it from the assets in the PR’s hands. Section 733.608(2) allows limited possession of unoccupied homestead, but only to preserve, insure and protect it. In Harrell v. Snyder, 913 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005), that possession carried no power to sell even though the will authorized the PR to dispose of “all or any part of the assets of the estate.” The clause fails because the home was never an estate asset, so a power over estate assets never reached it.

That is why looking for a personal representative’s deed to homestead property leads nowhere. A deed signed by the PR conveys nothing. Under Clifton, the only signatures that move homestead title are the heirs’ own, each signing individually.

What the title company requires

Underwriters do not insure guesses. The requirements a title company imposes at a probate closing are evidentiary:

What the underwriter wants	Why
An order determining protected homestead under Fla. Prob. R. 5.405	It identifies by name the persons entitled and defines each interest
Proof of formal notice on all interested persons	An order entered without notice can be attacked
A recorded § 732.401(2) election, or proof of no outstanding spousal interest	A life estate or elected one-half must be accounted for
Confirmation that no minor child survived	A parent cannot convey a minor’s vested remainder
A deed signed by every person the order names	Only they hold title

The title policy issues once those boxes are checked, and not before. Marketable title does not come from the vesting itself; it comes from a record showing who the vesting benefited.

How to get homestead out of decedent’s name florida

1. A determination of homestead status. Any interested person may petition under Fla. Prob. R. 5.405, amended effective 1 October 2025, serving interested persons by formal notice. The proceeding is permissive under Rule 5.405(a), Mullins v. Mullins, 274 So. 3d 513 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019), but its practical purpose is exactly this: to change record title or release the PR, In re Estate of Hamel, 821 So. 2d 1276 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002).
2. Summary administration. Summary administration, the route heirs use most often, is available under § 735.201(2) where the estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors’ claims, does not exceed $75,000, or where the decedent has been dead more than two years, with no dollar limit on that second path. Because homestead is exempt, estates that look too large often qualify once the house comes out.
3. Affidavits of heirship. Some underwriters will insure on them; many will not, particularly where a spouse survived or descent runs through a predeceased child.

Quitclaims among the family do not work. People ask for a deed from the estate to the heirs, but no such instrument exists. A quitclaim conveys only whatever interest the signer happens to hold and never establishes who the heirs legally are, so if the family’s belief about heirship is wrong the defect stays in the chain. Our Florida quitclaim deed page covers those deeds.

Who signs the deed to the buyer

Every person the order names, individually. A surviving spouse holding a life estate signs, and so does every remainderman, because neither interest alone conveys fee. A married heir’s own spouse must join if the property is that heir’s homestead, and the § 732.7025(2) devise waiver does not waive the joinder requirement for a sale, mortgage or gift. No court order authorizing the sale is needed, because the court never had authority over the property; the order is obtained for the title company, not for the judge.

A minor remainderman stops the sale outright. Conveying that interest takes a guardianship of the property, court authority to sell, and often a guardian ad litem. Budget months, and expect the minor’s share of the proceeds to be held under court supervision.

Carrying costs, insurance and a closing already on the calendar

The heirs carry the house, not the estate: mortgage, taxes, HOA and insurance fall on the people who inherited it. A PR who advances funds to preserve or insure the property gets a lien under § 733.608(3) and (5), but only from the date a notice of lien is recorded, and interest holders have no personal liability. Vacancy is the quiet risk, since most policies restrict coverage after a set period of non-occupancy. A reverse mortgage generally becomes due at death, leaving the heirs to pay it, refinance or sell.

If a contract is signed and the order is not in hand, the buyer may extend, the parties may close with proceeds escrowed pending the order, or an underwriter may insure over a narrow gap with an indemnity. Closing on signatures from only some of the heirs is not an option.

Proceeds are not automatically exempt, because cash is not real property. For an owner selling during life, the rule comes from Orange Brevard Plumbing & Heating Co. v. La Croix, 137 So. 2d 201 (Fla. 1962): the seller must hold an abiding good faith intent, formed before and existing at the closing, to reinvest in another homestead within a reasonable time; the money must be kept separate and never commingled; and only the portion actually intended for reinvestment is exempt, with any surplus treated as a general asset. There is no fixed deadline, and a separately titled investment account did not destroy the exemption in JBK Associates, Inc. v. Sill Bros., Inc., 191 So. 3d 879 (Fla. 2016). Heirs selling an inherited homestead are in a different position, and the dividing line is whether the property was converted to cash before or after it vested in them.

What happened	Are the proceeds protected?
The owner sold during life	Only on the La Croix conditions above
The will directed that the homestead be sold and the proceeds divided	No. The proceeds lose their homestead character and are reachable by the decedent’s creditors. Estate of Margarette Price v. West Florida Hospital, 513 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)
The homestead vested in the heirs at death, and they sold it afterwards	Yes, and the heirs need no intent to reinvest at all

That last line is the holding of In re Estate of Tudhope, 595 So. 2d 312 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992). Minor children inherited a mortgaged condominium, could not carry it, and sold it through the personal representative. Creditors claimed the escrowed proceeds. The Second District reversed, and the reason is worth quoting because it decides most inherited-property questions of this kind: the homestead estate “was not converted to dollars before it passed to and vested in” the children, and “it is that significant fact which condemns the application of Price and LaCroix to the instant case.”

The practical drafting lesson runs the other way. A will that directs the executor to sell the homestead and divide the proceeds converts protected real property into reachable cash, which is exactly what happened in Price. Say nothing, let it vest, and let the heirs sell. The sale process itself, from listing to closing, is covered in our guide to selling a house during probate in Florida.

9. Homestead in Trusts, Lady Bird Deeds and Joint Ownership

In short. A revocable trust does not escape the homestead devise restriction. Under Fla. Stat. § 736.1109, a trust devise that violates the constitution sends title down Fla. Stat. § 732.401 at the moment of death. A lady bird deed avoids probate but cannot override a surviving spouse’s rights or the minor-child restriction.

Planning instruments do not repeal the constitution. Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const. restricts devise whenever a spouse or minor child survives, and a trust, a deed or survivorship title changes only the mechanics of transfer. What they do change is whether probate is needed and whether the Probate Code’s “protected homestead” rules apply.

Does a trust avoid homestead restrictions in Florida?

No. A homestead held in a revocable trust is governed by the same rule as a homestead left by will. Section 732.4015(2)(b) defines “devise” to include a disposition by trust of what would be the grantor’s homestead, so funding the house into a revocable trust and leaving it to the children is a devise, void if a spouse or minor child survives. Section 732.4017 marks the boundary: a lifetime transfer, including into a trust, is not a devise only if the transferor retains no power to revoke or revest. A revocable trust retains exactly that power.

Section 736.1109, effective 1 July 2021 and declared clarifying and applicable to deaths before, on and after that date, supplies the consequence. Where a trust devise violates Art. X, § 4(c), title passes under § 732.401 at the moment of death, outside the trust, by operation of law. Subsection (2) closes the other gap: a general power of sale, or a general direction to pay debts, expenses and claims, does not subject protected homestead to creditors or administration expenses. Subsection (4) reaches revocable pour-over trusts under § 733.707(3) and testamentary trusts.

Aronson v. Aronson, 81 So. 3d 515 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012), is the illustration: the life estate and vested remainder arose by operation of law at death, and the successor trustees had no power to sell what the trust no longer held. In Stone v. Stone, 157 So. 3d 295 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014), a failed qualified personal residence trust left the interest reverting and subject to the devise restrictions, the devise surviving only because the spouse had waived. Creditor protection is the friendlier half of the answer: putting the home in a trust generally does not cost you that protection, since the exemption follows the property and § 736.1109(2) refuses to expose it to trust-level debts and expenses. Rely on Stone for the reversion point rather than for its waiver reasoning: the deed there was an ordinary granting clause with no mention of homestead, and the same district later remarked in Thayer that “one may question whether the language in Stone was sufficiently specific to waive homestead.”

Does a lady bird deed solve the homestead problem?

Partly. An enhanced life estate deed, sometimes called a lady bird deed or a ladybird deed, reserves a life estate plus the retained power to sell, mortgage, lease or revoke without the remainder beneficiaries’ consent, with the remainder passing automatically at death. Because nothing has to be probated, it does keep the house out of probate, and it does that one job well.

It overrides nothing else. Because the grantor keeps the power to revoke and revest, § 732.4017 gives no shelter, and the remainder designation operates as a devise subject to Art. X, § 4(c). Name someone other than the spouse while a spouse or minor child survives and the designation fails; title passes under § 732.401 instead. A married owner also cannot record one without spousal joinder, and the § 732.7025(2) waiver does not cure that. The tax question comes up at the property appraiser’s office: recording one does not disturb the exemption or the Save Our Homes cap during life, because the owner keeps the possessory interest. Our lady bird deed guide covers the drafting in full.

Survivorship title, and adding children to the deed

Property held by spouses in tenancy by the entireties, or by any owners in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, is not “protected homestead” under § 731.201(33), even where it stays creditor-exempt, and § 732.401(5) confirms the life-estate and election rules do not apply to it. A surviving spouse who owned the home with the decedent as tenants by the entireties usually wants to know whether probate is needed; generally it is not, because the survivor already owns the whole. A joint tenancy with right of survivorship between owners who are not married transfers the same way but lacks the entireties’ creditor characteristics. Either way the devise restriction is beside the point, because nothing is left to devise.

Adding an adult child to the deed during life is usually a mistake. It is a completed gift of a present interest, it exposes the home to the child’s creditors and divorce, it can trigger reassessment at just value under § 193.155(3) as to the transferred interest, and it cannot be undone without the child’s cooperation.

Finally, Florida has no transfer-on-death deed for real property. Other states allow a revocable beneficiary deed; Florida does not, which is why the enhanced life estate deed carries the weight it does here.

10. Property Taxes, the Homestead Exemption and Save Our Homes After Death

In short. The homestead tax exemption ends with the owner’s death, and the Save Our Homes assessment cap resets to just value on the following January 1. Adult children who inherit and move in do not keep the parent’s accumulated cap. Failing to notify the property appraiser can trigger back taxes, penalty and interest.

Florida’s homestead tax exemption and Florida’s constitutional homestead protection are two different bodies of law, and losing one has no effect on the other. A house can be protected homestead in probate with no tax exemption on it, and a house can carry the tax exemption and still fail the probate test, most often because it was held in tenancy by the entireties or joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, which § 731.201(33) places outside “protected homestead.”

Keeping the two apart tells you which office you are dealing with:

	Tax exemption (Art. VII, § 6)	Protected homestead (Art. X, § 4)
Decided by	County property appraiser	Probate court
What it does	Reduces taxable value, caps annual assessment increases	Blocks forced sale, restricts devise, passes title outside probate
Turns on	Ownership and residence on January 1	Ownership and residence at death, plus who survives

The 2026 exemption figures

The exemption is $25,000 applying to all levies, plus an inflation-adjusted additional exemption on assessed value above $50,000 for every levy other than school district levies. Amendment 5 (2024), effective 1 January 2025, indexed that second exemption to the consumer price index. For 2026 it is $26,411, for a total of $51,411. Articles still reciting “$25,000 plus $25,000” predate the indexing. Amendment 3, on the 3 November 2026 ballot, would raise the non-school exemption; it has not passed.

What happens to the exemption when the owner dies

The exemption belongs to the person who qualified for it, not to the building. Families get contradictory answers about what happens to the homestead exemption when the owner dies because entitlement is measured as of January 1 each year: the death does not retroactively undo the exemption already in place for the tax year in progress, but entitlement has to be established again for the years that follow.

What people ask	What the law does
Homestead exemption after death of owner Florida	Entitlement is not inherited with the title. The next January 1 is what matters, measured against whoever then owns and occupies the property.
Homestead exemption removed after death Florida	The appraiser removes it once entitlement ceases. Section 196.011 puts the duty to report that on the person who knows, not on the county.

Does the homestead exemption transfer to the heirs?

No. The constitutional protection in Art. X, § 4(b) inures to the surviving spouse or heirs. The tax exemption does not. An heir who takes title has to qualify personally, and an heir who lives out of state, or keeps the home as a rental or second residence, will not qualify at all.

Save Our Homes and the reset to just value

Section 193.155(1) caps the annual increase in assessed value on homestead property at the lower of 3% or CPI, and over twenty or thirty years the gap between assessed and market value becomes very large. Section 193.155(3) then provides that on a change of ownership the property is reassessed at just value on the January 1 following the change, and the accumulated Save Our Homes benefit disappears. Death is a change of ownership.

A short list of transfers preserves the cap:

• transfers between husband and wife, including a transfer to a surviving spouse;
• passage by operation of law on death to a surviving spouse or minor child;
• passage to another person who is a permanent resident and who was legally or naturally dependent on the owner.

There is no general exception for an adult child who inherits and then moves in. That child may qualify for a new exemption going forward, but on a new base set at just value. This is the single most misstated point in this area. On a home the parents bought decades ago, the first tax bill after the inheritance routinely runs two or three times the last bill the parent paid, and the reset of assessed value to just value is what causes it. Nothing has gone wrong, and no penalty has been assessed.

Telling the property appraiser, and what happens if nobody does

Section 196.011 imposes a duty to notify the property appraiser when entitlement to an exemption ceases. If the exemption is quietly left in place, § 196.161 authorizes a lien for back taxes, and the arithmetic is punishing: back taxes for up to 10 years, a 50% penalty for each year, and 15% interest per annum, with 30 days to pay before the lien is filed. Where the improper exemption resulted instead from a clerical mistake or omission by the property appraiser, back taxes reach only 5 years and no penalty or interest is assessed.

Portability for a surviving spouse

A surviving spouse who keeps owning and occupying the home keeps the existing Save Our Homes benefit. Portability becomes the question later, when that spouse sells and buys elsewhere in the state: it lets the accumulated benefit be carried to the next homestead, within statutory limits, on a timely application in the new county. It is a spouse’s remedy here, not something adult heirs can use.

Finally, Florida imposes no inheritance tax and no state estate tax, and for federal income tax purposes inherited property generally receives a stepped-up basis to its date-of-death value. Neither affects the homestead analysis above.

11. Waiving Florida Homestead Rights

In short. A spouse may waive homestead rights in a writing signed before two subscribing witnesses, either before or after marriage. Financial disclosure is required only for a waiver executed after marriage. A valid waiver makes the spouse the legal equivalent of having predeceased, and it binnot be invoked by the decedent’s adult children either.

A valid waiver makes the surviving spouse the legal equivalent of having predeceased the decedent, so the devise restriction lifts and the homestead can be left to whomever the will names. That is the holding of City Nat’l Bank of Fla. v. Tescher, 578 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1991), and the phrase is the Supreme Court’s own: a waiver is “the legal equivalent of predeceasing the decedent, for purposes of article X, section 4(c).” Read those last words carefully. The waiver lifts the devise restriction and nothing else. It does not surrender the creditor protection, and it does not help at all if a minor child survives, because that child is protected in her own right. Within those limits it is the single most powerful planning tool in this area.

Can a spouse waive homestead rights in Florida?

Yes, and the waiver reaches further than most people expect. Under Hartwell v. Blasingame, 584 So. 2d 6 (Fla. 1991), an adult child cannot step forward and invoke the devise restriction independently, because Art. X, § 4(c) protects only two classes, surviving spouses and minor children. Once the spouse validly waived, nobody was left inside the protected class. Note the limit: a minor child is protected in her own right and cannot be written out by a spouse’s waiver. If your spouse signed those rights away, the decedent’s adult children have no separate claim to raise.

Waiver of homestead rights Florida courts enforce: the formalities

To be enforceable, a waiver of homestead rights must be in writing, signed by the waiving party, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. That witness requirement is stricter than for ordinary contracts and is where homemade agreements fail. No consideration is required. A waiver of “all rights,” or equivalent language, waives homestead along with elective share, intestate share, pretermitted share, exempt property, family allowance and preference in appointment as personal representative. Rights can also be waived partly rather than wholly, and before or after marriage.

The disclosure rule runs backwards from what people assume

Under § 732.702(2), fair disclosure of the other spouse’s estate is required only for an agreement executed after the marriage. A homestead waiver in a prenuptial agreement needs no financial disclosure at all. The same waiver in a postnuptial agreement does. This surprises nearly everyone, and it decides cases: an agreement signed the week before the wedding survives a disclosure attack that would sink the identical document signed the week after.

Waiver by deed

Section 732.7025 allows the waiver to ride on a deed. The safe-harbor sentence is: “By executing or joining this deed, I intend to waive homestead rights that would otherwise prevent my spouse from devising the homestead property described in this deed to someone other than me.” That sentence is what most people are after when they ask whether a spouse can waive homestead in a deed.

Its scope is narrow. Section 732.7025(2) makes clear the deed waives only the devise restriction. It does not waive creditor protection during life or after death, and it does not waive the requirement that both spouses join in a mortgage, sale or gift of homestead.

Deed language decides these cases

Two recent decisions frame the whole question. In Thayer v. Hawthorn, 363 So. 3d 170 (Fla. 4th DCA 2023), a deed reciting only that the property was “granted, bargained and sold,” with no release language and no conveyance of hereditaments, was not a waiver, because a waiver of a constitutional right must be language that can be “clearly understood as waiving the right.” Note the vintage: Thayer construed a 2002 deed and held the § 732.7025 safe harbor inapplicable to it. For deeds signed on or after 1 October 2018, that safe harbor is the first place to look. In Weaver v. Hatfield, 424 So. 3d 545 (Fla. 1st DCA 2025), a release of “all his interest, of whatever kind including any marital or homestead interest,” together with “[a]ll the tenements, hereditaments and appurtenances,” was a valid § 732.702(1) waiver. Between them sits Mendia v. Galvez, 418 So. 3d 838 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025), where a postnuptial agreement plus a quitclaim deed lacking clear waiver language did not waive, because the evidence did not establish intent to waive.

The lesson is unforgiving: generic conveyance boilerplate is not a waiver. The word “homestead” should appear.

Timing, and what a spouse should understand before signing

A waiver must precede death. In Feldman v. Schocket, 366 So. 3d 1104 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022), a waiver signed three weeks after the death failed “for a myriad of reasons”: no fair disclosure under § 732.702(2), a statute that contemplates contracting with a living present or prospective spouse and “contains no provision for effectuating waiver after death,” and an interest that had already vested. A post-death settlement agreement among the personal representative and the heirs is a different instrument and can still be effective.

Before signing, a spouse should understand what is being surrendered: the right to a life estate or an elected one-half interest under § 732.401, the right to occupy the home, and under a broad “all rights” waiver the elective share and family allowance as well. Signing creates no right to stay in the house and no obligation on the other spouse to leave anything by will.

12. Homestead Disputes and Litigation

In short. Homestead litigation clusters around five fact patterns: blended-family possession fights, waste and carrying-cost claims against a life tenant, partition between co-heirs, contested determinations, and disputes over a personal representative’s possession or lien. Most of them turn on facts that were settled long before anyone filed anything.

Most homestead litigation is not about whether the house is homestead. It is about who lives there, who pays for it, and who has to sell. What follows is what a Florida homestead litigation attorney actually sees.

Blended families: the most common dispute between a spouse and the children

A second spouse holds a life estate under § 732.401(1); the decedent’s children from a first marriage hold the vested remainder. Neither side can sell alone. The spouse wants to stay, the stepchildren want the money, and stepchildren are not lineal descendants unless they were legally adopted, which reshuffles who holds what. These cases turn on the six-month § 732.401(2) election, on whether a waiver exists, and on whether the parties will buy each other out.

Waste and carrying costs

Remaindermen can sue a life tenant who lets the property deteriorate. The claim is waste, and it usually arrives as unpaid taxes, a lapsed windstorm or flood policy, or a roof left unrepaired long enough to damage the interior. Before an election is filed, expenses are allocated between life tenant and remaindermen under chapter 738; after an election, the parties hold as tenants in common and share proportionately.

Partition among co-owners

Partition is a co-tenancy remedy governed by chapter 64. It is not available between a life tenant and a remainderman, which is one practical reason a surviving spouse elects the undivided one-half interest under § 732.401(2). Once the election is filed for recording, both sides are tenants in common and either can force the issue. Chapter 64 governs a partition action just the same where siblings hold an inherited homestead in undivided shares after an intestate death. Most sibling disputes over an inherited homestead follow one fact pattern: three heirs on the deed, one living in the house, none able to agree on price.

The heir living in the house rent-free

A co-tenant in possession is generally not charged rent merely for occupying jointly owned property; the others have to show ouster, meaning they were excluded. What co-heirs can do is demand contribution toward taxes, insurance and necessary repairs, seek an accounting for rents the occupant collects from third parties, and file for partition, where those credits are resolved. The personal representative cannot help: § 733.607(1) excludes protected homestead from what the PR takes possession of, and the § 733.608(2) preservation power applies only where the property is not occupied by someone who appears to have an interest.

Contesting homestead determination Florida courts have entered

Any interested person may petition under Fla. Prob. R. 5.405, amended effective 1 October 2025, and standing is where these fights often begin: a stepchild, a creditor and a surviving spouse do not all have the same stake. If you want to challenge a homestead status the court would otherwise take at face value, the verified petition is the vehicle, served by formal notice under Rule 5.040. The proceeding is permissive, not mandatory, Mullins v. Mullins, 274 So. 3d 513 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019).

Contesting a homestead determination the court has already entered is a different exercise. The order is final and appealable, Fla. R. App. P. 9.170(b)(13); Anderson v. Estate of Quintero, 374 So. 3d 67 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022), and the 30-day deadline is jurisdictional, Dorsey v. Hearns, 433 So. 3d 481 (Fla. 6th DCA 2026). Years later is too late: Steele v. Brown, 197 So. 3d 106 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016), refused to vacate a homestead order absent a Rule 1.540 basis.

Invalid devises and personal representative overreach

A devise of less than a fee to the surviving spouse is invalid, In re Finch’s Estate, 401 So. 2d 1308 (Fla. 1981), and an invalid devise sends the homestead down the § 732.401(1) path instead, Ballard v. Pritchard, 332 So. 3d 570 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021). PRs also overstep. The § 733.608(2) power is limited to preserving, insuring and protecting, and Harrell v. Snyder, 913 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005), held it gives no power to sell, even where the will authorized disposing of “all or any part of the assets of the estate.” The § 733.608(3) lien is likewise constrained: it attaches only on recording a notice of lien, interest holders have no personal liability, and it terminates one year from recording unless a proceeding to determine the debt or enforce the lien is filed.

Deeds signed late in life, and pressured heirs

The other recurring case is a deed signed in the last months of life, often to one child, often unrecorded until after the funeral. The claims are undue influence, lack of capacity, forgery and, where a spouse’s signature appears, a waiver that does not meet § 732.702(1). Heirs also get pressured into signing away an interest before anyone has told them what it is worth.

Evidence decides these cases: medical records around the signing date, the drafting attorney’s file, the notary’s journal, who drove the decedent to the appointment, and bank and utility records showing residence and intent. Most resolve at mediation with a buyout, a sale and split of proceeds, or an agreed occupancy with a fixed end date. A homestead property attorney earns the fee mainly by pricing the parties’ real positions before the litigation consumes the equity.

13. Cost, Timeline and Whether You Need a Lawyer

In short. Whether you need a lawyer turns on Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a), which requires a personal representative to be represented unless he is the sole interested person or is himself a Florida attorney. Protected homestead is excluded from the statutory fee base because it carries no inventory value.

Most families do need a lawyer here, and the reason is narrow: title vested at death, but only a court order names the people it vested in, and no title underwriter will insure a sale without one. The Fla. Prob. R. 5.405 petition is verified, has to plead a specific list of facts including how the property was titled at death and the name and birth year of every minor child, and has to be served on interested persons by formal notice under Rule 5.040. Florida practice also generally requires a personal representative in a formal administration to appear through counsel.

What drives the cost on a homestead file

Facts drive it, not the value of the house: whether a spouse survived and whether a valid waiver exists, whether a minor child survived, which forces a guardianship of the property before any sale, whether a § 732.401(2) election was recorded, how many descendants there are and whether descent runs through a predeceased child, and whether anyone contests. An uncontested determination among heirs who all agree is a modest matter. A contested one is litigation. For how fees are set generally, see our guide to Florida probate attorney fees; for the shorter path, see our summary administration page.

The fee base: why the house may not count

State this one carefully, because it is often gotten wrong. The exclusion is mechanical rather than announced. Three provisions chain together. Protected homestead is not an asset in the personal representative’s hands under § 733.608(1). Fla. Prob. R. 5.340(a) therefore directs that it be listed in the inventory without a value, which is the only estate asset treated that way, a point Gaines v. DeWitt, 41 So. 3d 951 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010), confirms. And § 733.6171(3) defines the compensable value that drives the presumptive fee schedule as the inventory value of the probate estate assets. An asset carrying no inventory value cannot contribute to that base.

Appellate decisions assume the result without holding it. Estate of Shefner v. Shefner-Holden, 2 So. 3d 1076 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009), describes fees calculated after exclusion of the homestead property. In re Estate of Bryan, 576 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991), held that fees computed on an estate value including property later determined not to be an estate asset were unreasonable. Lanford v. Phemister, 338 So. 3d 1049 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), refused to reimburse a personal representative’s fees out of homestead proceeds that passed outside the estate. Faulkner v. Woodruff, 159 So. 3d 319 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015), is often cited here but answers a different question: it holds the probate court keeps jurisdiction to review the reasonableness of fees paid from homestead proceeds, not that homestead counts in the base.

The same definition governs personal representative commissions, and there the statute is more explicit. Section 733.617(1)–(2) uses the identical “inventory value of the probate estate assets” formula, and § 733.617(3)(e) expressly lists dealing with protected homestead as an extraordinary service warranting additional compensation. A legislature that treats homestead work as extraordinary is not also counting the house in the ordinary base. Attorney fees run parallel: § 733.6171(4)(i) treats legal advice regarding homestead status, proceedings involving that status, and services related to protected homestead as an extraordinary service, billed separately.

If the residence is not protected homestead, because it was held in tenancy by the entireties or joint tenancy with survivorship under § 731.201(33), or was not the decedent’s residence, it is a probate asset and it does count. On a valuable house that classification question moves the presumptive fee substantially. No Florida decision squarely holds that protected homestead is excluded from the § 733.6171(3) fee base as a matter of law; this is the reading the statutes and rule compel, and it is how the fee should be presented and, if necessary, defended.

Timeline

General practice ranges only, never promises. An uncontested Rule 5.405 determination commonly moves within a few months of filing, paced by formal notice and the court’s calendar. Summary administration is generally faster than formal administration. A contested determination, an heir nobody can locate, or a minor’s vested remainder can add many months. Two dates are not flexible: the § 732.401(2) election must be filed for recording within six months of death, and an appeal from the order determining homestead must be taken within 30 days.

14. Frequently Asked Questions

In short. These are the thirteen questions we are asked most often about Florida homestead property in probate. Each answer is written to stand alone. Longer and more specific questions, roughly one hundred and seventy of them, are answered on our companion Florida homestead probate FAQ.

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Does homestead property have to go through probate in Florida?

Homestead passes outside the creditor estate, but a probate proceeding is normally still required to obtain a judicial order clearing title. Title vested in the heirs at death. The public records still show a deceased owner, and no title underwriter will insure a sale until a judge identifies who inherited.

Can I leave my Florida house to whoever I want in my will?

Only if you leave no surviving spouse and no minor child. If a minor child survives, the homestead cannot be devised to anyone. If a spouse survives and there is no minor child, it may be devised to that spouse alone, and only as a full fee simple interest.

My dad’s will left me the house. Why does the lawyer say it doesn’t count?

Because a devise that violates Art. X, § 4(c) of the Florida Constitution is void, not merely reduced. If your father was survived by a spouse or a minor child, the will provision fails and the home descends under Fla. Stat. § 732.401 instead. There is no way to cure the defect after death.

What happens to homestead when a spouse dies in Florida?

If the decedent left a spouse and one or more descendants and did not validly devise the home, the surviving spouse takes a life estate with a vested remainder to the descendants per stirpes, or may elect an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common. If there are no descendants, the spouse takes fee simple.

Does the surviving spouse get the whole house or just part of it?

Usually just part of it. With descendants surviving, the default is a life estate rather than outright ownership. The whole house passes to the spouse only where there are no descendants, or where the decedent validly devised the homestead to the spouse in fee simple with no minor child surviving.

How do I elect to take 50% of the house instead of a life estate?

By recording a notice of election, in the statutory form, in the official records of the county where the property sits. It is not filed in the probate case, although practitioners typically file a copy there as well. Fla. Stat. § 732.401(2)(e) prescribes the form.

What is the deadline to elect the one-half interest in homestead?

Six months after the decedent’s death, and it must also be made during the surviving spouse’s lifetime. The court cannot enlarge that period for good cause. Once made, the election is irrevocable.

Can creditors take the homestead in Florida probate?

General creditors cannot. Credit card balances, medical bills and personal injury judgments cannot force the sale of protected homestead, and the protection inures to the surviving spouse and heirs. Mortgages, property taxes and assessments, and liens for work performed on the property still ride with the home.

What is an order determining homestead and why do I need one?

It is a final, appealable order identifying the property as protected homestead, naming the persons entitled to it and defining each interest. The law does not require it. Title insurance underwriters do, which is why it is effectively mandatory before any sale or refinance.

Can a homestead be sold during probate in Florida?

Yes, but not by the personal representative acting alone. Because title vested in the heirs at death, every person holding an interest must sign the deed individually. In practice the sale closes after an order determining homestead status establishes who those people are.

Do all the heirs have to agree to sell the homestead?

Every owner must join in the conveyance. If one refuses, the remaining co-owners can bring a partition action under Chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes to force a court-ordered sale and divide the proceeds.

My property taxes tripled after my mom died, why, and can I fix it?

The Save Our Homes assessment cap resets to just value on the January 1 following a change of ownership. Adult children who inherit and move in do not keep the parent’s accumulated cap. They receive a new exemption and a new assessment base. The reset itself cannot be undone, though a surviving spouse or a resident dependent may qualify for an exception.

Does a lady bird deed avoid probate on Florida homestead?

Yes, a properly drafted enhanced life estate deed transfers the property outside probate. It does not override the constitutional devise restriction. If a spouse or minor child survives and the deed names someone else, the transfer is still subject to challenge, and a deed signed without the required spousal joinder leaves the title vulnerable.

Myth vs. Reality: What Families Get Wrong About Florida Homestead

In short. Most homestead problems start with a belief that is almost right. The house does pass outside probate, but not without a court order. The will does control the estate, but not the homestead. The surviving spouse does inherit, but usually a life estate rather than the house. These are the corrections that matter most.

Myth: “Homestead avoids probate, so there is nothing to file.”

Reality: Title passes outside the creditor estate at the moment of death, but the public record still shows a deceased owner. No title underwriter will insure a sale until a judge enters an order naming the people who inherited. Not a probate asset and no court proceeding needed are two different statements, and only the first is true.

Myth: “The tax exemption and homestead protection are the same thing.”

Reality: They are separate constitutional provisions. The tax exemption comes from Art. VII, § 6 and is applied for with the county property appraiser. The creditor and devise protections come from Art. X, § 4 and arise from ownership, residence and intent. A parent who never filed for the exemption can still own fully protected homestead at death.

Myth: “The will decides who gets the house.”

Reality: If a spouse or minor child survives, a devise that violates Art. X, § 4(c) is void and the home descends under Fla. Stat. § 732.401 regardless of what the will says. There is no way to cure the defect after death.

Myth: “My children are adults, so I can leave the house to anyone.”

Reality: The devise is unrestricted only where there is no surviving spouse and no minor child. With a spouse and adult descendants, the spouse still takes a life estate or the elected one-half interest unless the homestead was devised to that spouse in full fee simple, or the spouse validly waived.

Myth: “The surviving spouse inherits the whole house.”

Reality: Where descendants survive, the default is a life estate with a vested remainder to them. Full ownership passes to the spouse only where there are no descendants, or where the decedent validly devised the homestead to the spouse in fee simple.

Myth: “We can decide later whether to take half the house.”

Reality: The election must be recorded within six months of death and during the surviving spouse’s lifetime. It is irrevocable, and the court cannot enlarge the period for good cause. Missing it cannot be undone.

Myth: “A life estate means the house is mine and I can sell it.”

Reality: A life tenant holds possession, not fee title, and cannot convey the house or force a partition. The life tenant also carries taxes, insurance, ordinary repairs and mortgage interest, which is why an unaffordable life estate is a genuine trap.

Myth: “Homestead is protected, so no creditor can touch it.”

Reality: The protection is from forced sale by general creditors. Mortgages, property taxes and assessments, and liens for labor or materials furnished to improve or repair the property all survive and still ride with the home.

Myth: “We can sign quitclaim deeds among the heirs and skip probate.”

Reality: A quitclaim transfers whatever the signer happens to own. It never establishes who the heirs legally are, which is the fact the underwriter needs. Deeds signed among heirs outside a proceeding create title defects rather than clearing them.

Myth: “The personal representative owns and controls the house.”

Reality: Protected homestead is not an asset in the personal representative’s hands under Fla. Stat. § 733.608, and the representative cannot sell it. Every person holding an interest must sign the deed individually.

Myth: “We can sell first and sort out probate afterwards.”

Reality: Title companies will not insure until homestead status is adjudicated. This is the single most common reason an inherited-property closing collapses, and it is entirely avoidable by starting the determination early.

Myth: “My parent’s exemption and Save Our Homes cap come with the house.”

Reality: The exemption ends with the owner and the cap resets to just value on the January 1 following the change of ownership. There are narrow exceptions for a surviving spouse and for a resident dependent, but none for an adult child who inherits and moves in.

Myth: “Putting the home in a trust or a lady bird deed solves it.”

Reality: Neither overrides the constitutional devise restriction where a spouse or minor child survives. Fla. Stat. § 736.1109 sends a violating trust devise down § 732.401 at the moment of death.

Myth: “The nursing home or Medicaid will take the house.”

Reality: Florida does not enforce Medicaid estate recovery against property exempt from creditors’ claims under Fla. Stat. § 409.9101. Families act on the opposite belief and sell cheap or refuse to open probate at all.

Myth: “Renting it out or moving into care destroyed the homestead.”

Reality: Abandonment turns on intent to return. A temporary absence, including residence in a healthcare facility, does not automatically end homestead status. It is fact-specific and frequently gotten wrong in both directions.

About the author. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is the founder of Lorenzo Law and a Florida probate lawyer whose practice is concentrated in estate administration, probate and trust litigation, wrongful death claims brought by a personal representative, and guardianship. Before entering full-time practice he clerked for the Honorable Maria M. Korvick in the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County, and spent nearly a decade as a paralegal at two Miami-area firms. Admitted to The Florida Bar in 2013 (No. 107002), Florida International University College of Law.

When to Handle It Yourself and When to Retain a Lawyer

Not every homestead matter needs counsel, and Florida law is explicit about when it does. Use this before you decide.

Your situation	Handle it yourself	Retain a lawyer
You are the only heir, there are no creditors, and nothing is being sold	Possible. Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a) permits a sole interested person to proceed without counsel	Not required
A closing is scheduled and the title underwriter wants a homestead order	No	Yes. The petition is verified, pleads ten specific allegations, and must be served by formal notice
A spouse survived and the six-month election window is open	No	Yes, immediately. The deadline cannot be extended and the choice is irrevocable
The will left the home to someone other than the spouse or an heir	No	Yes. The devise may be void, and what happens instead is set by statute, not by the will
Heirs disagree about selling, or someone is living in the house rent-free	No	Yes. This is partition and possession litigation
There are creditors, or beneficiaries other than you	No	Yes. Creditors defeat the sole-interested-person exception in Rule 5.030(a)
The property appraiser has issued a back-tax lien	No	Yes. Fla. Stat. § 196.161 allows ten years of back taxes plus a 50% penalty and 15% interest

If you are unsure which row you are in, that is itself a reason to ask. The two calls that cannot wait are a closing that will not fund and a six-month election clock already running.

Talk to us: Lorenzo Law handles homestead determinations and inherited-property title clearing statewide, from offices in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale. See our Miami probate attorney and Fort Lauderdale probate lawyers pages, or request a consultation.