Hillsborough County Probate Court: Filing an Estate in Tampa’s 13th Circuit
Reviewed by Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq. — Florida Bar No. 107002, admitted 2013. Former judicial clerk in the Probate Division of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Probate, guardianship and estate litigation throughout Florida, in English and Spanish. Last reviewed: 8 August 2026.
In short: The Hillsborough County probate court is the Probate, Guardianship, Mental Health and Trust Division of Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit — a broader remit than most Florida probate divisions. Filings are taken at the George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street, Room 204, Tampa, and at Plant City. Counters run a full 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m., which is longer than any other major South Florida county. The circuit governs probate by deadline and certification rather than by checklist: proposed orders are due within 10 days of the court’s decision, anything to be heard must be filed five days before the hearing, and every item of property in a petition must carry a complete and correct description.
Quick reference — Hillsborough County probate court
| Court | Probate, Guardianship, Mental Health and Trust Division, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit |
| Main location | George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street, Room 204, Tampa, FL |
| Plant City | 301 N. Michigan Avenue, Room 1071, Plant City, FL |
| Hillsborough County probate court phone number | (813) 276-8100 |
| Hours | Monday–Friday, 8:00 a. m. – 5:00 p. m. |
| Mailing address | P.O. Box 3360, Tampa, FL 33601-3360 |
| Divisions | A · B · M (mental health) · N (risk protection orders) · O (East Circuit) |
| Case search | HOVER, the Clerk’s online records system |
| Proposed orders | Due within 10 days of the court’s decision, with a certifying cover letter |
| Pre-hearing filing deadline | 5 days before the hearing |
| Will deposit | Free · requires date of death or SSN and an Acknowledgement of Venue |
| Statutory fee — formal administration | $395 base, plus local service charges |
| Statutory fee — summary administration | $340 base ($1,000+) · $230 (under $1,000) |
Where the Hillsborough County probate court is — and it is not only Tampa
The probate court in Tampa sits in the George Edgecomb Courthouse at 800 E. Twiggs Street, Room 204. That is the main location, and it is the one people mean when they search for the probate court in Tampa, FL.
It is not the only one. Hillsborough also takes probate filings at Plant City — 301 N. Michigan Avenue, Room 1071. For a family in eastern Hillsborough that is a materially shorter drive than downtown Tampa, and almost no guide to the Tampa probate court mentions that the option exists.
One detail in Hillsborough’s favour, and it is worth noticing because it is rare. The counters run a full 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. In Broward the probate counter closes at 3:30. In Miami-Dade the Clerk’s windows shut at 4:00 while the courthouse stays open until 5:00. Hillsborough gives you the whole business day — the most forgiving counter hours of any large Florida probate division. The Tampa location also takes online appointments, which is worth using rather than queuing.
Originals go by mail to P.O. Box 3360, Tampa, FL 33601-3360, and the general probate line is (813) 276-8100.
What Florida probate filing fees actually are — and why three counties quote three prices
This is the section that answers the Hillsborough probate filing fee question properly, because the usual answer is wrong in an interesting way.
Florida probate filing fees are set by statute, not by county. Under §28.2401, Florida Statutes, the base charges are:
| Proceeding | Statutory base |
|---|---|
| Formal administration, guardianship, ancillary, curatorship or conservatorship | $395 |
| Summary administration — estate $1,000 or more | $340 |
| Summary administration — estate under $1,000 | $230 |
| Disposition of personal property without administration | $230 |
| Guardianship of the person only | $230 |
| Caveat | $40 |
So why does a caveat cost $40 in Miami-Dade, $41 in Palm Beach and $42 in Broward, and why do clerks quote $401 for a formal administration when the statute says $395?
Because the statute sets a base and the counties add authorised service charges on top of it. The statute itself contemplates this — including a supplemental service charge on summary and formal administration, and a portion of each fee remitted to the state’s Courts Revenue Trust Fund. The number at the counter is the statutory base plus whatever local charges that clerk applies.
Two practical consequences:
- Budget from the statutory base and expect a little more. A formal administration is a $395-plus-charges filing everywhere in Florida. Anyone who tells you probate filing fees vary wildly between Florida counties is wrong; they vary by a few dollars.
- Confirm the exact total with the Hillsborough Clerk before you file. The differences are small, but a payment that is two dollars short is a rejected filing, and a rejected filing costs days.
And keep the proportions in mind. The filing fee is the smallest number in a probate. Attorney’s fees, publication of the notice to creditors, certified copies for every institution, any required bond and appraisals all sit above it.
How the 13th Circuit governs probate: by deadline, not by checklist
If you have filed probate in South Florida, Hillsborough will feel different, and the difference is structural.
Miami-Dade’s Eleventh Circuit publishes numbered CC checklists and routes proposed orders through Court Map. Broward’s Seventeenth eliminated its uncontested motion calendar and moved that work into CMS behind a sworn attorney affirmation. Palm Beach’s Fifteenth requires a checklist with ten categories of petition and funnels every proposed order through OLS.
Hillsborough governs by deadline and certification instead. Four requirements do most of the work, and each one is a rejection or a continuance waiting to happen:
- Property must be described completely and correctly. Each item of real or personal property identified in a petition, order or other document must be listed with a complete and correct description. This sounds obvious until you see how often an estate’s real property is described by street address alone.
- Proposed orders are due within 10 days. The attorney directed to prepare an order must submit it to the court within 10 days after the court’s decision. Not “when convenient.”
- Proposed orders need a certifying cover letter. The attorney must certify either that all parties have agreed to the content of the proposed order, or that opposing counsel did not respond within five business days. That certification is a representation to the court, not a formality.
- Anything to be heard must be on file five days before the hearing. Any petition, pleading, motion or document that is the subject of a hearing or conference must be filed with the clerk no later than five days before it. And the notice of hearing must state the length of time reserved on the judge’s calendar and specify the matters to be heard — a generic notice is not compliant.
Four circuits, four different gates. Every one of these systems exists to stop incomplete filings at the door, and no two of them work alike. A practice that spans Tampa and South Florida is running four separate workflows, and treating them as one is how estates lose months.
So is there a Hillsborough County probate checklist?
People search for a Hillsborough County probate checklist because Miami-Dade publishes numbered ones and Palm Beach rejects petitions filed without one. Hillsborough does not publish per-petition checklists in that sense. What it publishes is a forms library; the local requirements live in administrative orders instead.
Which means the working Hillsborough County probate checklist is one you assemble yourself, and it has four items:
- the statutory requirements for your petition type under Chapters 733 and 735;
- a complete and correct legal description for every item of property named;
- the 10-day deadline for submitting the proposed order, with its certifying cover letter; and
- the 5-day pre-hearing filing rule, plus a notice that states reserved time and matters.
That list is shorter than Miami-Dade’s and considerably easier to get wrong — because nothing bounces at the door to tell you a piece is missing. In Palm Beach an incomplete petition is rejected immediately. In the Tampa probate court the consequence surfaces later, as a continued hearing or an order the judge declines to sign.
Which division — and why this one is broader than most
Hillsborough’s probate division is formally the Probate, Guardianship, Mental Health and Trust Division. That naming is not decorative. Alongside estates, guardianships and trusts, this division carries mental health matters and risk protection orders, in dedicated divisions M and N. A separate division O was established for the East Circuit, which is why case assignment procedures were updated.
Estates and guardianships are handled in divisions A and B, with an administrative judge designated over the division as a whole.
Why it matters to you: a Hillsborough probate judge’s docket includes urgent mental health work that does not exist on a Miami-Dade or Palm Beach probate calendar. Plan hearing time accordingly, and reserve realistically — the circuit requires your notice to state how long you have reserved, which is a rule that only bites people who guess.
Depositing the original will in Hillsborough County
Under §732.901, Florida Statutes, the custodian of a deceased person’s original will must deposit it with the clerk in the county where the decedent lived within 10 days of learning of the death. In Hillsborough there is no fee for this.
Hillsborough adds two requirements that other counties do not:
- You must supply the decedent’s date of death or Social Security number when the will is filed.
- An Acknowledgement of Venue form must accompany the will. This is a Hillsborough-specific document, and a will arriving without it is not a complete deposit.
Mail originals to P.O. Box 3360, Tampa, FL 33601-3360.
What can be e-filed. The death certificate can go through the E-Portal, as can the Oath of Guardian, Designation of Resident Agent and Acceptance, and the Oath of Personal Representative with its Designation of Resident Agent and Acceptance. The original will cannot. As everywhere in Florida, paper travels separately from everything else.
Hillsborough County probate records and case search
Hillsborough runs its online case access through HOVER, the Clerk’s records system. It is where a Hillsborough County probate search or a Hillsborough County probate records lookup actually happens, and it is free to use. The Clerk also publishes daily filing lists.
Three things to know. Probate cases are indexed under the decedent’s name, not the petitioner’s — searching your own name returns nothing. A case number beats a name, particularly for common surnames in a county of well over a million people. And guardianship files are confidential by statute, so a probate search will not open one to the public.
The $150,000 change
On 1 July 2026, Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida (CS/HB 1337) took effect and doubled the summary administration ceiling under §735.201 from $75,000 to $150,000, measured on the estate subject to administration in Florida less property exempt from creditors’ claims. The same act raised the no-court intestate threshold to $20,000, the tax-refund threshold to $5,000 and the bank-affidavit threshold to $2,000.
For Hillsborough — a county of mid-market homes and working families — this is the change that moves the most estates. Where the residence qualifies as protected homestead and passes to heirs, it is generally exempt from creditors’ claims, so once the court makes that determination its value comes out of the §735.201 calculation before the ceiling is tested. That determination is a step of its own, not an assumption. What the new figure changes is how many Tampa families never need a personal representative appointed at all.
A caution. Plenty of Florida probate material still prints $75,000. If what you are reading does not say $150,000 and does not cite Chapter 2026-57, it predates July.
Selling a house in probate in Tampa
One of the most common Hillsborough estates is a house and very little else, which makes the sale question the real question.
A personal representative cannot simply list and sell. Authority to sell comes either from the will or from a court order, and where an order is needed the petition must describe the property completely and correctly — the circuit’s own rule, and the single most common defect in these filings. Real property is identified by legal description, not by street address.
Two practical points that come up constantly in Tampa estates:
- Get the valuation right and get it early. An appraiser for probate in Tampa, FL is not the same engagement as a mortgage appraisal: the estate needs a date-of-death value, which drives the inventory, the accounting and the beneficiaries’ tax basis. Ordering a current-market appraisal and discovering later that you needed a retrospective one wastes weeks.
- Homestead changes everything. Whether the residence is protected homestead determines whether it can be reached by creditors, whether it can be sold in the administration at all, and who it passes to. It is a determination the court makes, and it is the first question to answer, not the last.
Do you need a probate attorney in Florida?
The honest answer is: not always, and Florida says so.
Where you can proceed alone. Disposition of personal property without administration, and — in practice, in most counties — summary administration, can be filed by a self-represented person. Clerks publish packets. If the estate is a single bank account, one heir, no real property and no dispute, filing probate yourself in Florida is a reasonable thing to do.
Where you cannot. Florida requires representation for most formal administrations: a personal representative who is not the sole interested person must be represented by an attorney. That is a rule, not a recommendation.
Where the rule is not the point. Engage a Tampa probate attorney if the estate includes real property; if there is a homestead determination; if an heir is out of state or out of the country; if the decedent was not a US citizen; if there is a blended family or more than one marriage; if there are creditors or a mortgage in default; or if anyone has hinted at a contest.
And on cost: in a Florida formal administration, attorney’s fees are paid from the estate under §733.6171 — not personally by whoever agreed to serve. That misconception stops people from stepping forward who should. What a Tampa probate attorney costs varies with which of the four routes the estate takes and whether anyone objects; any probate attorney in Tampa, FL who quotes a number before knowing that is guessing.
Choosing counsel — three questions worth asking
A search for probate attorneys in Tampa returns a long list with very little to separate one entry from the next. Three questions do most of the sorting, and none of them is “how long have you been in practice.”
“Which division will my case be assigned to, and have you appeared there?” Hillsborough runs divisions A and B for estates and guardianships, alongside M, N and the East Circuit’s division O. A probate attorney in Hillsborough County who files here routinely knows how each division handles reserved hearing time and proposed orders. One who files here twice a year does not.
“How do you handle the 10-day proposed order rule?” This is a deceptively good question. Tampa probate lawyers who practise across circuits are managing four different order-submission regimes at once, and the ones with a real system for it will say so immediately. The ones without will tell you it has never been a problem.
“What is the fee basis, in writing, before I engage?” In a formal administration the fee comes out of the estate, which is precisely why it should be documented at the start rather than negotiated at discharge. Tampa probate attorneys who are comfortable putting the basis in writing on day one are the ones to shortlist.
A last practical note. Probate estate lawyers in Tampa and probate lawyers in Hillsborough County outside the city serve the same court under the same rules — but a firm’s office location determines nothing here, unlike Palm Beach, where the attorney’s zip code decides which courthouse hears the case. In Hillsborough, choose on practice depth, not on the drive.
When a Tampa estate becomes litigation
Not every Hillsborough estate is uncontested, and Tampa probate litigation has its own rhythm. The common triggers are a will executed late in life while someone was sick and dependent, a beneficiary who cannot get an accounting from a trustee, a personal representative who has stopped communicating, or a second marriage where the children of the first are told there is nothing left.
Three points worth knowing before anyone files anything:
- The circuit’s hearing rules apply with more force here, not less. The five-day pre-hearing filing deadline and the reserve-your-time requirement matter most when there is an opponent who will point out that you missed them.
- Trust and probate litigation in Tampa often runs alongside the estate, not instead of it. A contested trust does not stop an estate that also needs administering.
- Cases settle far more often than they try. Anyone promising you a trial result at the outset is selling something.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a probate attorney in Florida?
Not for every matter. Disposition of personal property without administration and summary administration can generally be handled by a self-represented filer. Formal administration requires an attorney unless the personal representative is the sole interested person.
Do I need a lawyer for probate in Florida if the estate is small?
If it qualifies for summary administration — now up to $150,000 after exempt property — you may file it yourself. Get counsel anyway if there is real property, a homestead question, an out-of-state heir or any disagreement.
Can I file probate myself in Florida?
Yes, for the smaller routes. The Clerk publishes forms and self-help resources. What you cannot do alone is a formal administration where others have an interest in the estate.
Where is the probate court in Hillsborough County?
The George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street, Room 204, Tampa, with additional filing location in Plant City (301 N. Michigan Avenue, Room 1071). Hours are 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m., Monday to Friday, and the phone number is (813) 276-8100.
How much does it cost to file probate in Hillsborough County?
Florida sets the base by statute: $395 for formal administration, $340 for summary administration of an estate worth $1,000 or more, $230 below that and for disposition of personal property without administration, and $40 for a caveat. Counties add authorised service charges on top, so confirm the exact total with the Clerk.
Where is the probate court in Tampa, FL?
The Tampa, Florida probate court is the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit’s Probate, Guardianship, Mental Health and Trust Division, at the George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs Street, Room 204. Filings are also accepted at Plant City.
How do I search a Hillsborough County probate case?
Through HOVER, the Clerk’s online records system, using the decedent’s name or the case number. Guardianship files are confidential and will not appear.
Talk to a Florida probate attorney
Lorenzo Law is a Coral Gables firm devoted to probate, estate planning, guardianship, and trust and estate litigation throughout Florida, in English and Spanish. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. clerked in the probate division of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit before founding the firm.
(305) 224-6811 · 2850 S Douglas Rd, Suite 303, Coral Gables, FL 33134
General information about the Hillsborough County probate court, not legal advice; reading it creates no attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms and local procedures change — confirm current requirements with the Clerk or the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit before filing.
Sources
- Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court — Probate, Guardianship and Trust
- Thirteenth Judicial Circuit — Administrative Order S-2024-013 (probate case assignment and filing requirements); Administrative Order A-2025-060 (judicial assignments, eff. 1 July 2025)
- §§ 28.2401, 732.901, 733.6171, 735.201, Florida Statutes
- Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida (CS/HB 1337), effective 1 July 2026