Florida inheritance lawyer
A Florida inheritance lawyer is who you need when the inheritance itself is the problem — money that moved before the death, a sibling who will not sell, a parent’s account that emptied in the final year, or a share of an estate that never arrived. An inheritance attorney works on what you were supposed to receive and did not.
Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. handles contested estates, trusts and inheritances in all 67 Florida counties, in English and in Spanish — so the inheritance attorney who takes your call is the one who files the petition. The initial consultation is free.
Updated August 7, 2026. Every statute below was read against the current Florida Statutes this week. The remedy most families have never heard of is §772.11 — Florida’s civil theft statute, which awards three times the amount taken, plus attorney’s fees.
What does an inheritance lawyer do?
Recovers what should have reached you, from whoever has it.
That is a wider job than contesting a will, because in most Florida cases the inheritance never went near the will. It was moved while the person was alive, or it passed outside the estate entirely.
| Where the inheritance went | What is actually brought | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Taken outright — cash, jewellery, accounts | Civil theft, treble damages | §772.11 |
| Moved before death by a joint owner or an agent | Undue influence, conversion, constructive trust | §733.107 |
| Locked in a house nobody can sell | Partition, or an heirs-property buyout | §64.207 |
| Held by an executor who will not distribute | Removal, compel distribution, surcharge | §733.504 |
| Held by a trustee who will not account | Breach of trust, accounting, tracing | §736.1001 |
| Redirected by a late will or amendment | Will or trust contest | §732.5165 |
| Nothing was left at all | Intestate share, elective share, pretermitted share | §732.102 |
The first question a Florida inheritance lawyer asks is not “what does the will say.” It is “where did the money go, and when.” A will contest is one tool an inheritance attorney uses. It is rarely the only one, and it is often not the first.
How do you prove inheritance theft?
With documents, not with testimony about what your parent intended.
Inheritance theft is rarely a dramatic act. It is a series of ordinary-looking transactions: a name added to an account, a power of attorney used for the agent’s benefit, a car retitled, a “loan” that was never repaid, a beneficiary designation changed six weeks before a death.
What actually proves it:
- Bank and brokerage statements for the final 24 months. The pattern shows up as a change in rhythm — new payees, round-number withdrawals, transfers to an account in one person’s name.
- Signature cards and account-opening documents. These date the moment a joint owner appeared.
- The power of attorney, and every transaction taken under it. An agent who benefits themselves is acting outside the authority in almost every Florida form.
- Beneficiary designation change forms, with their dates, held against the medical records for the same week.
- The drafting or transacting institution’s file.
Inheritance theft is proved by timing, not by character evidence. A transfer six weeks before death, made by the person holding the power of attorney, in favour of the person holding the power of attorney, does not need a witness to be persuasive.
What is the statute of limitations on inheritance theft?
It depends on which claim you bring, and the shortest one is measured in months.
| Claim | Period | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Civil theft under §772.11 | 4 years | §95.11(3) — no specific period, so the four-year catch-all |
| Conversion — taking or detaining personal property | 4 years | §95.11(3)(g) |
| An action founded on fraud | 4 years | §95.11(3)(i) |
| Objection after the notice of administration | 3 months | §733.212(3) |
| Claim over a matter disclosed in a trust accounting | 6 months from receipt | §736.1008 |
| Any action against the personal representative | Ends at discharge | §733.901 |
| Creditor claim against the estate, absolute bar | 2 years from death | §733.710 |
The four-year number is the one people find online, and it is the one least likely to control your case. If the estate is open, the three-month and six-month clocks are already running, and discharge closes the door on the executor entirely. Do not let a four-year figure make anything feel unhurried.
Can you get treble damages for a stolen inheritance?
Yes — three times what was taken, plus attorney’s fees — and the requirement most people miss is a letter.
§772.11 gives a person who proves theft by clear and convincing evidence a cause of action for “threefold the actual damages sustained”, with a $200 minimum, plus “reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs in the trial and appellate courts.”
Three things control whether it is available:
- A written demand is a precondition. The statute requires a written demand for $200 or the treble damage amount before suit. The defendant then has 30 days to comply, and if they pay, they get a written release.
- The standard is clear and convincing evidence, higher than the ordinary civil standard. This is why the documents matter more than the family history.
- The statute cuts both ways. A defendant faced with a claim brought “without substantial fact or legal support” can recover their own attorney’s fees. This is not a claim to file speculatively.
Attorney’s fees are the practical point. In most inheritance disputes each side pays their own lawyer, which is what makes a modest theft uneconomic to pursue. §772.11 changes that arithmetic entirely.
Do all heirs have to agree to sell inherited property?
No. One can force it — but in a family case the others usually get the right to buy them out first.
Two different statutes govern, and which one applies decides everything.
While the estate is still open, §733.814 lets “the personal representative or any beneficiary” petition to partition. A house cannot be cut into thirds, so partition of a home means sale.
But if the property is “heirs property”, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies and changes the outcome — see the next section. That Act is why the blunt answer circulating online, that one sibling can simply force a sale, is wrong more often than it is right in family cases.
What is heirs property in Florida, and why does it matter?
It is the family home that passed to several relatives at once — and Florida gives it special protection against being auctioned out from under them.
§64.202 defines heirs property as real property held in tenancy in common that, when the partition action is filed, meets all of the following:
- no written agreement binding all cotenants that governs partition; and
- one or more cotenants acquired title from a relative, living or deceased; and
- at least 20% of the interests are held by relatives, or 20% by someone who acquired title from a relative, or 20% of the cotenants are relatives.
If it qualifies, §64.207 gives the cotenants who did not ask for a sale the right to buy out the one who did:
- the court notifies the other cotenants that they may buy all the interests of whoever requested the sale
- they have 45 days to tell the court they elect to buy
- the price is the court-determined value of the whole parcel multiplied by that cotenant’s fractional share
- if several elect, the right is allocated in proportion to their existing shares
- payment is due on a date no sooner than 60 days after notice, with a further 20 days for the remaining buyers if someone fails to pay
And before ordering any sale, §64.209 requires the commissioners to weigh a list of factors that includes something almost nothing else in Florida law recognises:
“a cotenant’s sentimental attachment to the property”
alongside how long the family has owned it, whether anyone still lives there, who has been paying the taxes and insurance, and the harm of discontinuing that use. No single factor is dispositive.
This is the difference between losing the family home at auction and buying out the relative who wanted out. It only works if someone raises it.
Who inherits if there is no will in Florida?
Florida’s intestacy statute decides, and the answer turns entirely on whose children they are.
§732.102 sets the surviving spouse’s share:
| Situation | Spouse receives |
|---|---|
| No surviving descendants | The entire intestate estate |
| All descendants are shared, and the spouse has no other children | The entire intestate estate |
| The decedent has a descendant who is not the spouse’s | One-half |
| All descendants are shared, but the spouse has other children | One-half |
Read the last two rows together. A blended family halves the spouse’s share — and it does so whether the stepchildren are the decedent’s or the survivor’s. That single fact produces a large share of Florida’s inheritance litigation, because the family assumes the survivor takes everything.
Whatever the spouse does not take passes to the decedent’s descendants, then to parents, then to siblings and their descendants, and outward from there.
How do you find the heirs to an estate?
Diligently, and on the record, because guessing invalidates what follows.
Heirs are located from the decedent’s own documents and from public records: prior wills, insurance and pension paperwork, tax returns, deeds, obituaries, marriage and divorce records, birth and adoption records, and immigration files where the family is abroad. In Florida estates, missing heirs are frequently children from an earlier marriage, or relatives in another country who have never been contacted.
An affidavit of heirs is the sworn statement filed in the probate case listing every person who would inherit — the family tree in evidentiary form. It is signed under oath, and it is the document a later-appearing heir will use to challenge everything that happened without them.
A distribution made to the wrong people does not end the matter. An omitted heir who surfaces later can pursue the estate and, in the right circumstances, those who received the money.
Can you be disinherited in Florida?
A child, yes. A spouse, largely no.
Adult children have no protected share. Florida permits a parent to leave an adult child nothing, for any reason or none. Being cut out is not by itself a legal wrong — it is only a starting point, and what makes it actionable is how the document came to say so.
A surviving spouse cannot be cut out. The elective share under §732.2065 is “an amount equal to 30 percent of the elective estate”, available whatever the will provides, with no proof of wrongdoing required. It runs on the §732.2135 clock: 6 months from the notice of administration or 2 years from death, whichever is earlier, extendable only for good cause and never past two years.
And there are protections nobody chooses. Florida’s homestead rules restrict how a home can be left when there is a surviving spouse or minor child, and exempt property and family allowance sit outside the will as well.
A disinherited child’s real question is not “can they do that.” It is whether the document that did it was the decedent’s own decision.
Are heirs responsible for the decedent’s debts?
Not personally. The estate pays, and then it stops.
A beneficiary does not inherit a debt. Creditors are paid from estate assets, in statutory order, and if the estate runs out the balance is simply unpaid — the family does not make up the difference from their own money.
Two things that genuinely do follow the asset:
- A mortgage, including a reverse mortgage. The debt stays attached to the house. Heirs are not personally liable, but they cannot keep the property without dealing with the loan. A reverse mortgage typically becomes due when the borrower dies or permanently leaves, and the family’s real decision is whether to repay, refinance, sell, or hand it back.
- Unpaid assessments on a condominium or HOA property, which run with the unit.
And the deadline that protects families: §733.710 bars virtually all creditor claims two years after the death, and no court can waive or extend it.
When the inheritance never reached the estate at all
The most valuable assets in a modern Florida estate frequently pass outside the will, and that is where inheritances quietly disappear.
- Joint accounts with right of survivorship pass to the survivor on death, regardless of the will. Whether the joint owner was added for genuine survivorship or merely “for convenience” is one of the most litigated questions in Florida inheritance law.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations on bank and brokerage accounts do the same.
- Life insurance and retirement accounts pass to whoever is on the beneficiary form — a form that can be changed in minutes, without witnesses, and often is.
- Deeds signed during life, including enhanced life estate deeds, move the house before the will ever operates.
A will that leaves everything equally to four children distributes nothing if the accounts were retitled and the house was deeded. This is why the beneficiary designation changes and the deed history are pulled at the first meeting, before anyone reads the will closely.
What can you actually recover?
More than the item itself, depending on the claim:
- Three times the value plus attorney’s fees, where civil theft under §772.11 is proved by clear and convincing evidence
- A constructive trust over the specific property, so it is returned rather than compensated
- Tracing — under §736.1001(2) a court may void an act, impose a lien or constructive trust, or trace trust property wrongfully disposed of. “It has already been spent” is not the end of the analysis.
- Surcharge — a personal money judgment against an executor or trustee restoring what their conduct cost
- Denial or reduction of their compensation
- Your share of the sale price, where partition or an heirs-property buyout resolves a stalemate over a house
Where inheritance disputes are heard in Florida
In the circuit court for the county where the estate belongs. Local filing and hearing rules differ enough to change the pace of a case, so each page below carries its county’s court address, filing traps and deadlines.
| County | Circuit | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | Eleventh | Miami probate litigation attorney |
| Broward | Seventeenth | Fort Lauderdale probate litigation attorney |
| Palm Beach (north) | Fifteenth | West Palm Beach probate litigation attorney |
| Palm Beach (south) | Fifteenth | Boca Raton probate litigation attorney |
| Hillsborough | Thirteenth | Tampa probate litigation attorney |
| Pinellas & Pasco | Sixth | Pinellas County probate litigation attorney |
Inheritance matters are handled in all 67 counties.
What does an inheritance dispute cost?
An inheritance dispute lawyer prices the work by what has to be proved, not by the size of the inheritance.
What moves the number:
- how many years of financial records must be obtained and reconstructed
- whether the claim is civil theft, which carries a higher standard of proof but also fees and treble damages
- whether the property is heirs property, which adds a valuation and a buyout process
- whether heirs are missing or abroad, which adds service and translation
- whether the fight is the will, the trust, the accounts, or all three
- whether the person holding the money is also the executor or trustee
Ask about the fee structure and about §772.11 at the first meeting. Whether a fee-shifting claim is available frequently decides whether a case is worth bringing at all.
What you will not find here is a prediction of your odds. Rule 4-7.13 prohibits promises about outcomes.
Credentials you can check
The Florida Bar certifies in Wills, Trusts and Estates, and Rule 4-7.14 permits specialist or expert only where the claim is objectively verifiable.
- Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002 — confirmable free through The Florida Bar’s member directory.
- Practice concentrated in probate, wills, trusts and the transfer of Florida real property.
- Solo practice: the person who answers the phone files the petition and appears at the hearing.
- Service in English and Spanish, in all 67 counties.
Rule 4-7.13 prohibits unsupported comparisons, so you will not read that this is the best firm in Florida.
What to do this week
If money moved before the death, the records that prove it are held by banks that discard them on their own schedule. Request them now, not after the estate closes.
Bring five things:
- Every bank, brokerage and credit-card statement you can obtain for the last two years of life.
- Any power of attorney, and anything showing what was done under it.
- Beneficiary designation forms and their dates, for insurance, retirement accounts and payable-on-death accounts.
- The deed history for any real property, including anything signed during the final years.
- The will and every trust document, with any amendment from the final two years.
Speak to a Florida inheritance lawyer directly — an inheritance attorney who has read the statements, not just the will. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. — (305) 224-6811. Free consultation in English or Spanish, statewide. You can also write from the contact page.
Related: Florida estate litigation attorney · Florida probate litigation lawyer · Florida trust litigation attorney · contesting a will in Florida. Esta página en español: impugnar un testamento en Florida.
About this page. Author and reviewer: Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Florida Bar No. 107002. Every statute cited was read against the Florida Statutes on August 7, 2026.
This page offers general information about Florida law and is not legal advice for a specific case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every estate turns on its own facts, and the law changes.