Miami-Dade Probate Attorney

A Miami-Dade probate attorney handles estates that move through the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit — the court that takes every estate of someone who died living in Miami-Dade County, and every estate of someone who died elsewhere but owned property here. This page explains how that division actually works: which building, which judges, which forms, what the Clerk charges, how to look up a case, and how hearings are set. It also covers what hiring a probate lawyer in Miami Dade County involves, what it costs, and how to find the kind of probate attorney Miami-Dade families actually need.

People search for this court by several names — the Miami probate court, the Miami Dade probate court, the probate division — and they all mean the same place. Two notes before anything else. First, Florida does not use the word executor in its statutes — the person who administers an estate here is called the personal representative. The two words mean the same thing, and I use both on this page because that is how people actually search. Second, Miami-Dade moved. The probate division left the historic 1928 courthouse and now sits in the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center. Several law firm pages still send people to the old address.

I am a solo practitioner. If you call, you speak with the attorney who will handle your case — the same one from the first phone call through the order of discharge. Call (305) 224-6811 for a free consultation. Se habla español.

Talk to a Miami-Dade probate attorney

Free consultation — (305) 224-6811
Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq. · Florida Bar No. 107002
Coral Gables: 2850 Douglas Rd., Suite 303, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Fort Lauderdale: 12 SE 7th St., Suite 701, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Se habla español. Send a message and I will call you back.

Bring what you have — the original will if you can find it, a death certificate, a recent property tax printout. If you have none of it yet, call anyway. Most of the first conversation is working out which of Florida’s administration paths the estate actually needs, and that usually takes a few minutes.

The Coral Gables office is a short drive from the courthouse, so the probate attorney Miami Dade families hire does not have to fly in for a hearing. If you are out of state or out of the country — which describes a great many Miami-Dade heirs — the whole matter can be handled remotely by phone, email and video, and most probate hearings here are already on Zoom. Virtual consultations are available, including evenings, and a flat fee is available on most uncontested administrations.

Probate Miami-Dade: the division at a glance

Court	Probate Division, Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County
Courthouse	Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 N.W. 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33128
Clerk’s probate counter	Suite 6.223 (6th floor, Room 223)
Court hours	Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Clerk’s counter hours	Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Case numbers	CP-02 estates · GD-02 guardianship · MH-02 mental health
Bench	Six circuit judges and two general magistrates
E-filing	Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (myflcourtaccess.com)
Original will	Filed on paper at Room 223, within 10 days of learning of the death
Case search	Civil, Family and Probate Courts Online System

The Miami-Dade probate court: where cases are filed and heard

What is the Miami-Dade probate court address?

The Miami Dade probate court address is the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 N.W. 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida 33128. That is the courthouse that handles probate in Miami-Dade County. The Eleventh Circuit’s own Probate Division page places the division’s judges and support personnel in that building, and the individual judges’ pages list courtroom assignments there.

Probate in Miami Dade County runs through one building — there is only one probate court in Miami Dade County, and the probate division is housed in it. The Soto Justice Center opened on November 10, 2025 — a twenty-three story, forty-six courtroom building that replaced the 1928 Miami-Dade County Courthouse. Probate, mental health, civil, the Recorder’s office and land sales all moved into it. If you are working from anything written before late 2025, assume the address is wrong.

Where is the Miami-Dade probate clerk’s office?

The Miami Dade probate clerk address is Suite 6.223 — sixth floor, Room 223, inside the same building. That is where paper originals are deposited and where the Miami Dade Clerk of Courts probate staff sits. The direct lines are (305) 349-7492 and (305) 349-7502. Court Administration’s probate line, which covers estates, guardianship and mental health, is (305) 349-5713. Mental health filings are handled separately, at Suite 5.228, (305) 349-7475.

What is the Miami Dade probate court phone number, and what are the hours?

There are two different sets of hours and people get caught by this constantly. The courthouse is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Clerk’s probate counter is open 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., weekdays only, closed on court holidays. If you drive downtown at 4:30 to deposit an original will, the building will be open and the counter will not.

Is Lawson E. Thomas or 73 W. Flagler still the probate courthouse?

No, and this is worth stating plainly because at least two competing law firm pages still say otherwise.

• Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 N.W. 1st Avenue, houses Family Court and Domestic Violence. Not probate. The address is one block from the Soto building, which is probably how the confusion survives.
• 73 W. Flagler Street, the old Miami-Dade County Courthouse, no longer appears on the Clerk’s list of locations at all.

The reason the error persists is that the Eleventh Circuit’s own consumer-facing probate page has not been updated — it still lists Lawson E. Thomas, the Gerstein Justice Building, the Children’s Courthouse and the North and South Dade Justice Centers as probate locations, and does not mention the Soto Justice Center. The Probate Division’s page and the Clerk’s current location listings are the ones to rely on.

Miami-Dade probate judges: who hears these cases

Who are the Miami-Dade probate judges?

The probate judges Miami Dade County cases are assigned to all sit in the probate division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit — six circuit judges and two general magistrates. As of September 2026, per the court’s judicial directory:

Judge	Section	Role
Yvonne Colodny	PMH 05	Administrative Judge, Probate Division
Maria de Jesus Santovenia	PMH 04	Associate Administrative Judge
Jorge E. Cueto	PMH 01	Circuit Judge
Bertila Soto	PMH 03	Circuit Judge
Jose L. Fernandez	PMH 06	Circuit Judge
Nushin G. Sayfie	PMH 07	Circuit Judge
Aaron Feuer	PMHGMA	General Magistrate
Olanike Adebayo	PMHGMB	General Magistrate

Assignments rotate. Administrative Order 25-03 created Section PMH 07 and AO 25-18 made the Associate Administrative Judge appointment, both in 2025, so verify the current assignment on the court’s directory before relying on it.

What do the PMH section numbers mean?

The probate division Miami Dade County operates is labeled PMH — Probate, Mental Health — because the division hears all three subject areas. Every case is assigned to a numbered section, and that section travels with the case. The section determines which judge hears your matter, which hearing procedures apply, and how hearings are scheduled, because those policies are set judge by judge rather than division-wide. The two magistrate sections, PMHGMA and PMHGMB, work the same way.

What does a general magistrate do in probate?

General magistrates hear matters referred to them by the circuit judges. In Miami-Dade that has historically included determinations of incapacity, appointment of emergency temporary guardians, and restoration-of-capacity proceedings. Section PMHGMB was established by Administrative Order 21-20 specifically to add a second magistrate to the division’s probate workload.

How to read a Miami-Dade probate case number

What does CP-02 mean?

CP marks the case as a probate case — an estate. The court itself instructs people searching the probate calendar to look for case numbers ending in CP-02. The trailing digits are part of the division’s numbering convention; the court does not publish what they stand for, so treat the suffix as a label rather than a code with a hidden meaning.

A Miami-Dade local case number generally runs year, sequence number, court-type code, then the trailing segment — so a probate file reads something like 2026-001234-CP-02. That is illustrative, not an official sample; the court does not publish a specimen number. The Clerk’s search system also accepts a State Case Number, which is the longer uniform format used statewide.

What is the difference between CP-02, GD-02 and MH-02?

• CP-02 — probate. Estates, both testate (there is a will) and intestate (there is not).
• GD-02 — guardianship. Adult and minor guardianships, guardian advocacy, annual accountings and plans.
• MH-02 — mental health. Filed and staffed separately from the probate counter.

If you have a case number and are not sure what kind of matter you are looking at, the suffix answers it before you open the docket.

Miami-Dade probate forms: Smart Forms and the CC checklists

The probate forms Miami Dade County requires are not the statewide ones. Searching for Miami probate forms, Miami Dade probate forms or Miami Dade probate court forms turns up two different libraries, because the Eleventh Circuit maintains two separate form sets — and they are routinely confused — including by other law firm pages, which describe the CC checklists as though they were Smart Forms. They are not the same thing and they are not interchangeable.

What are the Miami-Dade probate court forms and Smart Forms?

The Eleventh Judicial Circuit probate smart forms — searched for as Miami Dade probate smart forms, or Miami Dade probate court smart forms — are the circuit’s fillable petitions and proposed orders. They use letter prefixes: the E series for estates (E1 through E11, plus an Estate Inventory form), the G series for guardianship (G1 through G20), the A series for depository acceptances and receipts, a Z5 series for attorney and guardian fee matters, and SH-01 through SH-17 for self-represented litigants handling summary administration and homestead.

Are Smart Forms mandatory in Miami-Dade?

Yes. The court’s own language, from its Probate Attorney’s Corner — the Miami Dade County probate attorney corner, if that is what you searched for — is direct:

As per this Court’s July 11, 2016 Administrative Memo, attorneys must use the Smart Form petition or order if one exists for a given matter. Judges may refuse to sign orders that do not use the Smart Forms.

The Eleventh Judicial Circuit rules and administrative memoranda that govern this are published on the court’s own site. This is one of the quieter reasons out-of-county counsel run into delay here. A perfectly good petition drafted from a statewide template can come back unsigned because a Miami-Dade Smart Form existed for it.

What are the CC-01 through CC-12 probate checklists?

These are what people mean by a Miami probate checklist, a Miami Dade probate checklist or a Miami Dade probate court checklist. The CC series are Checklist and Certification forms — a separate library from the Smart Forms. They are also mandatory and must be e-filed. Which one applies depends on the administration type and whether there is a will:

Form	Use it when
CC-01	Summary administration, no will (intestate)
CC-02	Summary administration, with a will (testate)
CC-03	Formal administration, no will
CC-04	Formal administration, with a will
CC-05	Formal administration, no will, with a bond
CC-06	Formal administration, with a will, with a bond
CC-07	Homestead within a summary administration
CC-08	Homestead within a formal administration
CC-09	Sale of real property in an estate
CC-10	Distribution of an estate
CC-11	Attorney fees in an estate
CC-12	Discharge of the personal representative

Are there Miami-Dade guardianship forms too?

Yes. The Miami Dade guardianship court is the same court — guardianship and mental health sit in the probate division alongside estates, so the same judges, the same scheduling system and the same filing counter apply.

Guardianship runs a parallel Miami Dade guardianship checklist series, CC-101 through CC-107, alongside the G-series Miami Dade guardianship forms (G1 through G20), also published as Miami Dade guardianship smart forms. A Miami Dade guardianship case search runs through the same Clerk system as estates, using a case number ending in GD-02 rather than CP-02.

Miami-Dade probate filing fees

How much does it cost to file probate in Florida — and in Miami-Dade specifically?

These are the Miami Dade probate filing fees as the Clerk publishes them. They are the court’s fees — entirely separate from what an attorney charges, which is covered further down this page.

Filing	Fee
Formal administration (also ancillary administration, curatorship, conservatorship)	$401.00
Summary administration, estate valued at $1,000 or more	$346.00
Summary administration, estate valued under $1,000	$236.00
Disposition of personal property without administration	$232.00
Caveat and notice of trusts	$40.00
Petition and order to admit foreign wills	$232.00
Opening an estate; determination of heirs; opening a safe-deposit box; settling a minor’s claim	$232.00
Verified inventory valued over $25,000	$85.00
Petition for incapacity	$232.00
Guardianship of the person only, or V.A. guardianship	$236.00
Formal guardianship	$401.00
Reopening a case	$50.00
Annual accounting	$20 / $85 / $170 / $250, by estate size

Fees as published by the Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller. The Clerk’s fee schedule page carries an effective date of April 1, 2019 — these remain the figures the Clerk publishes today, but confirm before filing. Pages advertising these as “2026 fees” are overstating their vintage.

What is the Miami-Dade summary administration filing fee?

$346.00 where the estate is valued at $1,000 or more, and $236.00 where it is under $1,000. The Miami Dade summary administration checklist that has to go with it is CC-01 or CC-02, depending on whether there is a will. That is a real saving against the $401.00 formal administration fee, but the filing fee is rarely what decides the question — eligibility does, and the savings in attorney time and elapsed months dwarf the difference in court costs.

Is there a fee to file the inventory?

Yes, if the inventory is valued over $25,000: an $85.00 verified-inventory fee. Below that threshold there is no inventory charge. Annual accountings in guardianship are tiered separately, from $20 for an estate of $25,000 or less up to $250 for one over $500,000.

Are court filing fees the same as attorney’s fees?

No — they are entirely different, and confusing them is the single most common misunderstanding I hear on a first call. The figures above go to the Clerk of the Court. Attorney’s fees are separate, are negotiable, and Florida law requires an attorney charging on the statutory schedule to tell you so in writing. There is more on that below, and a fuller treatment in my Miami probate attorney page and my guide to the cost of probate in Florida.

E-filing, paper originals and the ten-day will deadline

Do I have to e-file probate in Miami-Dade?

Attorneys must e-file, through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal at myflcourtaccess.com. But “everything is electronic” is not accurate, and the exceptions are the part people get wrong.

Where do I deposit the original will?

On paper, in person or by mail, at:

Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center
20 N.W. 1st Avenue, 6th Floor, Room 223
Miami, FL 33128

The original will and any original codicils cannot be e-filed. Florida Probate Rule 5.043 requires the clerk to retain the will in its original form, and the court’s instructions to practitioners say the same. A scanned copy uploaded to the Portal does not satisfy the requirement.

How long do I have to deposit a will in Florida?

Ten days. Under section 732.901, the custodian of a will must deposit it with the clerk in the county where the decedent lived, within ten days after being informed of the death. That obligation belongs to whoever is holding the will — a family member, a bank, the drafting attorney — and it exists whether or not anyone intends to open an estate.

The deadline is frequently missed, and the consequence is narrower than people fear: there is no criminal penalty. A custodian who had no just or reasonable cause for the delay can be liable for costs, damages and a reasonable attorney’s fee. If you are holding a will past the ten days, deposit it — do not sit on it further.

What else has to be filed on paper?

Death certificates and birth certificates. The court requires them to be physically filed within two working days of e-filing the case and receiving a case number. Order more certified death certificates than you think you need — the court needs one, and so will every bank, insurer, title company and transfer agent you deal with afterward.

Miami Dade probate search: finding cases, dockets and records

A Miami Dade probate court case search, a docket lookup and a records request all start in the same place.

How do I run a Miami Dade probate case search?

Every probate Miami Dade County opens is searchable through the Clerk’s Civil, Family and Probate Courts Online System — the Miami Dade civil family and probate case search. You can search by Local Case Number, by State Case Number, or by party name — which is the route to take when you know the deceased person’s name but nothing else. A Miami Dade probate records search runs the same way. The Clerk also runs a general Court Records Search for Miami Dade probate court records and a separate County Recorder’s Official Records search, which is where recorded deeds and orders affecting title live — including a recorded Miami-Dade lady bird deed, which is what keeps a home out of this division altogether. For a Miami Dade probate court docket search the division posts a live docket display, useful for confirming a hearing is still on calendar. Probate records Miami Dade County holds are indexed by case number and by party name alike.

Are probate records public in Florida, and how do I run a Miami-Dade probate records search?

Court files in Florida are presumptively public, and probate files are no exception — but probate has meaningful carve-outs. Estate inventories and accountings are confidential and exempt by statute, and the clerk designates them as confidential automatically. In guardianship, the guardianship reports and court monitor orders are likewise confidential.

Online access is a further layer. The Clerk grants registered, advanced access to civil, family and probate records under the Florida Supreme Court’s Standards for Access to Electronic Court Records and its Access Security Matrix, which set out who may view what. If you need a document you cannot reach, the routes are a statutory entitlement as an interested person, or a motion under the public-access rule.

Are wills public record in Florida?

Once a will is deposited with the clerk and the estate is opened, it becomes part of the court file. Before that, it is simply a private document in someone’s possession — there is no registry of unprobated wills in Florida, and no way to search for one that has not been deposited.

How do I find out whether someone left a will?

In practice: search the Clerk’s case system by the person’s name to see whether a probate case has been opened; ask whoever held their papers, including any attorney who did estate planning for them; check with their bank about a safe-deposit box, which can be opened by court order for exactly this purpose; and check the Recorder’s official records for deeds, which sometimes reveal a trust or a life-estate arrangement that makes probate unnecessary. If a custodian is holding a will and will not deposit it, the ten-day rule above is the lever.

Probate hearings in Miami-Dade: Zoom, in person and courtMAP

Are Miami-Dade probate hearings on Zoom?

Usually, for short matters. Miami-Dade probate is hybrid, and — this is the part that surprises people — the format is set by each judge on their own directory page, not by a single division-wide order. Taking the Administrative Judge’s section as the pattern: five- to ten-minute motions are heard by Zoom, and only the judge can change that format; non-evidentiary hearings under thirty minutes are by Zoom unless every party asks for in person and the judge agrees; and evidentiary hearings and bench trials are in person unless every party asks for Zoom and the judge agrees.

Check the assigned section judge’s page before assuming anything. Sections differ, and a page that tells you “Miami-Dade probate hearings are on Zoom” without qualification is not describing the actual practice.

How is a probate hearing scheduled?

Through courtMAP, the circuit’s online scheduling system, for both special sets and motion calendar. Petitions and motions must be filed and served before a special set is scheduled — you cannot reserve time on an unfiled motion. Whether a given judge holds a motion calendar at all varies by section, and the court tells practitioners to check the section judge’s directory page first.

How long is a special set hearing?

Capped, in the Administrative Judge’s section, at sixty minutes. That constrains how a contested matter gets presented, and it is a practical reason to narrow issues before a hearing rather than expecting to argue everything at once.

Which type of administration will the estate need?

Not every estate takes the same route. The probate Miami Dade opens for a $40,000 bank account looks nothing like the one it opens for a contested estate with real property, and the difference drives both the timeline and the cost. This section covers the Miami-Dade angle; my guide to summary administration in Florida and my overview of the Florida probate process go deeper on the mechanics.

What is the summary administration limit in Florida in 2026?

$150,000. Chapter 2026-57 (CS/HB 1337), section 7, raised the section 735.201(2) threshold from $75,000 to $150,000, effective July 1, 2026. The statute now reads:

“That the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $150,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years.” — § 735.201(2), Fla. Stat., as amended by ch. 2026-57, effective July 1, 2026

Florida Probate Rule 5.530(a)(7) was conformed to the same figure by Florida Supreme Court opinion SC2026-0690, effective July 16, 2026. The statute is the controlling authority here; the rule change simply follows it.

Two cautions. The value being measured is not the gross estate — it is the estate subject to administration in Florida, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors. That is a two-step calculation, and skipping the second step is how people wrongly conclude they do not qualify.

And whether the new threshold reaches deaths that occurred before July 1, 2026 has not been decided. The reason is worth showing rather than asserting. Section 14 of chapter 2026-57 reads, in full:

“Section 14. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.”

That is the entire section. There is no applicability clause keyed to a date of death and no savings clause. The filing-date reading has textual support, because section 735.2055 asks whether the estate would qualify at the time of filing. No Florida court has ruled either way. Anyone telling you this is settled is ahead of the law.

One practical consequence: the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit’s standing administrative order in neighboring Broward still carries the old $75,000 figure. Local court materials lag statutory changes. Rely on the statute, not on an un-updated local order.

Does the homestead count toward the $150,000?

No. Protected homestead is excluded on both grounds — it is exempt from creditors’ claims, and section 733.608(1) places it outside the assets in the personal representative’s hands.

Worked through: a decedent leaving an $800,000 homestead and a $40,000 bank account has $40,000 subject to administration. That estate qualifies for summary administration. In a county where a modest house can be worth more than most people’s entire net worth, this is the single most useful thing on this page, and it is the reason many Miami-Dade families who assume they are facing a full formal administration are not.

What if the person died more than two years ago?

Then summary administration is available on a second, independent ground — and that ground carries no value limit at all. An estate of any size qualifies if the decedent has been dead more than two years. The two grounds are alternatives, not requirements to be met together.

When is formal administration required?

When the estate exceeds the threshold and the two-year ground does not apply, or whenever someone needs actual authority to act on the estate’s behalf. Letters of administration are what a bank, a title company or a buyer will ask to see. If real property has to be sold, a business interest managed, a lawsuit pursued or defended, or creditor claims handled, the estate needs a personal representative with letters, which means formal administration.

What assets skip probate entirely?

A good deal, often. Property held with a valid right of survivorship, accounts with a living named beneficiary, retirement accounts and life insurance payable to someone other than the estate, and assets already titled in a trust all pass outside the process. So does protected homestead, which vests in the heirs or surviving spouse at the moment of death — though a title insurer will still want a court order, because the public record shows the decedent as owner. My page on Florida non-probate assets works through the categories.

How long Miami-Dade probate usually takes

How long does probate take in Miami-Dade County?

Miami-Dade runs one of the busiest probate dockets in Florida, and timelines here tend to run longer than in smaller counties. The probate Miami Dade families go through is simply slower than the same case filed in a smaller county. A straightforward formal administration commonly takes several months to a year. The statutory creditor period alone runs three months from first publication of the notice to creditors for unknown creditors — and for a creditor who is known and served, the later of that three months or thirty days after service. That clock cannot be compressed. Summary administration is considerably faster where the estate qualifies.

Estates with contested issues, out-of-state or foreign property, or an operating business take longer — sometimes much longer. Florida sets no outer limit on how long an administration may last, and no deadline by which probate must be started after a death.

What slows a Miami-Dade case down?

Two things, reliably. An incomplete inventory — assets surfacing after the case is underway, which means amended filings and fresh notice. And disagreement among beneficiaries that emerges after the personal representative has already been appointed, which is far more expensive to resolve than the same disagreement aired at the start.

A third, particular to this division: filings that do not use the required Smart Forms, or that are missing the applicable CC checklist. Those come back, and the round trip can cost weeks.

Situations that come up constantly in Miami-Dade

These are the patterns that make probate Miami Dade handles different from probate anywhere else in the state.

Homestead and condominiums

Homestead has its own constitutional protections, its own descent rules and its own restrictions on who a home can be left to. In this county it is frequently the largest asset in the estate, and frequently a condominium — which adds association assessments, estoppel letters and, in older buildings, structural reserve and milestone inspection questions that can affect what the unit is worth and how quickly it can be sold.

Out-of-state and international families

Miami-Dade generates more of these than anywhere else in Florida. Where someone died domiciled elsewhere but owned property here, the estate generally needs ancillary administration. Domicile at death is the dividing line, and it is a contestable question of fact, not a formality. Florida also restricts who may serve as a personal representative, and those restrictions apply in full to ancillary appointments — a friend or a distant relative living abroad often cannot serve, however clearly the will names them. See my guide to ancillary probate in Florida.

Notice to creditors and the Daily Business Review

Publishing the notice to creditors is what starts the three-month bar running for unknown creditors; a known creditor who is served gets the later of that three months or thirty days from service. Florida requires publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county; no court or clerk designates a particular paper. In Miami-Dade the Daily Business Review runs a standing probate notices section and is the customary outlet. Publication costs vary and are not posted publicly, so treat any figure you see quoted online as an estimate. More on the mechanics in my guide to Florida probate creditors.

When a will or a personal representative is challenged

Disputes over a will’s validity, or over how a personal representative is handling the estate, are probate litigation — a different posture, with its own deadlines. The notice of administration starts a three-month clock to object to the will’s validity, to venue or to jurisdiction, and missing it forecloses those objections permanently. If you have received a notice of administration and are unhappy about something, the time to call is now, not after the three months run.

Why hire a Miami-Dade County probate attorney

Do I need a probate attorney?

In most Florida estates, yes — see the rule below. But before you hire a probate attorney, it is worth knowing what you are actually buying. A Miami-Dade County probate attorney is not filling in a form you could have downloaded. The work is deciding which administration path the estate qualifies for, getting the personal representative appointed without a round trip from the clerk, keeping the creditor and notice clocks from running against you, and dealing with homestead before it becomes a title problem two years later.

The local layer matters more here than people expect. This division requires its own Smart Forms and its own CC checklists, hearing format is set judge by judge rather than by a general rule, and the original will has to be walked in on paper to a specific room. Those are not things a statewide template knows.

What does a probate attorney cost, and is it worth it?

Probate attorney fees in Florida are negotiable, and the statute says so out loud. What a delay costs is less visible: a rejected filing is weeks, a missed creditor deadline can be the whole claim, and a homestead order that never got entered is a house that cannot be sold. On a straightforward estate, the difference between competent and careless is usually measured in months, not dollars — and avoiding those months is most of what a Miami Dade probate attorney is being paid for.

How do I compare probate attorneys in Miami-Dade County?

Three questions separate a Miami Dade County probate lawyer who practices in this division from one who practices statewide and visits:

• Ask which PMH section the case will land in and what that judge’s hearing policy is. Someone who works here answers immediately.
• Ask which CC checklist applies and whether they file on the circuit’s Smart Forms. Judges here can refuse to sign orders that do not.
• Ask who appears at the hearing. At a larger firm the answer is frequently not the person you are speaking to.

Most probate attorneys in Miami Dade County will say yes to all three. The ones who actually practice here answer specifically. Whichever probate attorney Miami Dade residents settle on, those three answers are the test.

Looking for the best probate attorney in the county is the wrong frame, honestly — there is no such ranking, and the badges on law firm websites are mostly paid or peer-nominated. The better test is whether the person can answer those three questions without looking anything up.

Who should hire the attorney — and can a beneficiary hire their own?

The personal representative retains counsel for the estate. But a beneficiary can absolutely retain their own lawyer, and sometimes should. A probate attorney for a beneficiary does different work than the estate’s counsel: reviewing the inventory and accounting, pressing for information that is not being volunteered, objecting to a claim or a fee, and in the harder cases petitioning to remove the personal representative. If you are an heir who is being told nothing, the estate’s lawyer cannot help you — that is not a failing on their part, it is the conflict rule working as intended.

Working with a Miami-Dade probate attorney

What does a probate attorney do?

Opens the estate and gets the personal representative appointed; prepares the petitions, the required Smart Forms and the CC checklist; handles the notice of administration and the notice to creditors; prepares the inventory; deals with creditor claims, including the ones that should be objected to rather than paid; addresses homestead, exempt property, family allowance and spousal rights; handles sales of real property where court approval is needed; prepares the accounting; and takes the estate through to distribution of the inheritance and the order of discharge. In a contested estate, the same lawyer is litigating.

Do you need a lawyer to file probate in Florida?

Usually, yes — and the rule is narrower than most explanations of it. It is worth knowing before you decide whether to file alone or bring in a probate attorney Miami Dade judges already recognize.

Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires a personal representative to be represented by counsel, with two textual exceptions: a personal representative who is the sole interested person, and a personal representative who is a member of The Florida Bar. There is no carve-out in the rule for summary administration or for disposition without administration; in those proceedings the reason a person can appear without counsel is that no personal representative is being appointed at all.

So if you are the only interested person — the sole beneficiary, no other heirs, no creditors to deal with — you may be able to proceed alone. If there is a second beneficiary, you cannot, and no amount of family agreement changes that. The Eleventh Circuit publishes self-represented litigant Smart Forms (the SH series) precisely because the narrow paths exist, not because the requirement is optional.

Who hires the probate attorney — the estate or the personal representative?

The personal representative retains counsel — so a probate attorney for an executor and an estate administration attorney are describing the same role. The attorney’s client is the personal representative in that fiduciary capacity — not the beneficiaries individually. Fees are generally paid from estate assets. This distinction matters more than it sounds: if you are a beneficiary who is unhappy with how an estate is being run, the estate’s attorney is not your attorney, and cannot become one.

Does the executor have to use the lawyer who wrote the will?

No — and Florida law requires the attorney to tell you so in writing.

Section 733.6171(2)(b) obliges an attorney charging on the statutory schedule to disclose, in writing, that there is no mandatory statutory attorney fee; that the fee need not be based on the size of the estate and the presumed-reasonable figure may not suit every administration; that the fee is negotiable; that selecting the attorney is the personal representative’s decision; and that the personal representative is not required to use the attorney who prepared the will. The statute also entitles you, at the end of the representation, to a summary of ordinary and extraordinary services rendered. A separate subsection requires the attorney to obtain the personal representative’s signature acknowledging those disclosures.

People assume the drafting lawyer comes with the will. They do not. If you are named as personal representative and would rather work with someone else, that is your call to make, and the law is explicit about it.

Can I change probate lawyers in the middle of a case?

Yes. A personal representative may substitute counsel, and doing so does not restart the administration. There is usually a fee question to resolve with the outgoing attorney over work already performed, and Florida gives the court authority to review both the propriety of the employment and the reasonableness of compensation. Changing counsel mid-case is more common than people expect, particularly when an estate turns contested and needs a different skill set than it started with.

What is the difference between a probate lawyer and an estate lawyer?

Mostly timing. Estate planning happens while someone is alive — wills, trusts, deeds, powers of attorney, health care surrogate designations. Probate is what happens afterward, administering what that person left. Many lawyers, myself included, do both, because the second teaches you a great deal about how to do the first. If you are here because someone has died, you are looking for probate.

What a Miami-Dade probate attorney costs

How much does a probate lawyer cost in Florida?

Probate lawyer fees depend on the administration type and on whether anything is contested, and the honest answer to a general question is a range rather than a number. Florida does publish a fee schedule in section 733.6171(3) that is presumed reasonable for ordinary services — but read the statute’s own disclosure above before treating that as a price list. There is no mandatory statutory fee. The fee is negotiable. Flat fees and hourly arrangements are both common and both permissible.

Two things worth knowing about the schedule. The percentages decline as the estate grows, so summaries quoting a flat “3% to 5%” are wrong at both ends. And the base is the inventory value of the probate assets plus income earned during administration — jointly held property, beneficiary-designated accounts and trust assets are not in it. My full breakdown of what probate costs in Florida works through the numbers.

Is there a flat fee for probate?

Often, yes. For a straightforward summary administration, or a formal administration with a clear asset picture and no dispute, a probate attorney flat fee is usually workable and tells you up front what the matter costs. Contested estates are hard to price flat, because the other side controls half the work. I will tell you which category I think a matter falls into during the first call.

Who pays the probate attorney’s fees?

Fees for administering the estate are generally paid from estate assets, not from the personal representative’s own pocket. In litigation the answer is more complicated and depends on what is being litigated and who prevails. If you are a beneficiary rather than the personal representative and you hire your own counsel, you are generally paying for that yourself, subject to some exceptions.

Choosing a Miami-Dade probate attorney

Most of what follows applies anywhere in Florida. But a Miami Dade probate lawyer should be able to answer the local questions without hesitating, and that is the part worth testing.

Questions to ask a probate attorney in Florida

Most articles on this give you generic questions. These are the ones that actually separate someone who practices in this division from someone who does not:

• Which section is my case assigned to, and what is that judge’s hearing policy?
• Do you file using the Eleventh Circuit’s Smart Forms, and which CC checklist applies to my estate?
• Where does the original will get deposited, and who is doing it?
• Does this estate qualify for summary administration once the homestead is taken out?
• Are you quoting a flat fee or the statutory schedule — and can I see the written fee disclosure before I sign?
• Who will actually appear at the hearings?
• What are the three things most likely to delay this case, and what do you do about them?
• If this becomes contested, do you handle the litigation or refer it out?

What to expect from a probate attorney

A Miami Dade probate attorney should give you clear answers on scope and fee before you sign anything. A written fee disclosure if the statutory schedule is being used, and your signature acknowledging it. Regular contact — you should not have to chase the lawyer handling your family’s estate. And candor about timing, including when the delay is the court’s rather than anybody’s fault.

What should I bring to a first consultation?

Whatever you have. Nothing on this list is a prerequisite for calling — but the more of it you can bring, the more precisely the first conversation can answer your questions.

• The original will and any codicils, if you can locate them
• Certified death certificates — bring what you have and plan on ordering more
• The deed or a property appraiser printout for any Florida real estate
• Recent mortgage and condominium or HOA statements
• Bank, brokerage and retirement statements showing balances near the date of death
• Life insurance policies and any beneficiary designations you can find
• Vehicle titles
• A list of known creditors, including last-illness and funeral expenses
• Names and addresses of every beneficiary, heir and next of kin
• Any trust documents
• The decedent’s most recent tax return

What I handle in Miami-Dade County

Everything below runs through the same Probate Division described on this page.

• Probate administration — formal administration, summary administration, ancillary administration for non-resident decedents, and disposition of personal property without administration
• Estate administration from opening through the petition for discharge, including inventory, creditor claims, sales of estate real property and the final accounting
• Probate litigation — will contests, undue influence and lack of testamentary capacity, removal of a personal representative, objections to accountings and to attorney or fiduciary fees, and beneficiary representation
• Homestead — petitions to determine homestead status, the devise restriction, and the surviving spouse’s election
• Guardianship — adult and minor guardianship, emergency temporary guardianship, annual plans and accountings
• Estate planning — wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, trust administration, durable power of attorney, living will and health care surrogate designation, and lady bird deeds

Probate, estate planning and guardianship are the practice — not a sideline to a general practice. If a matter needs something outside that, I will say so rather than learn on your file.

About the attorney

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq. — Florida Bar No. 107002, admitted 2013. Before entering private practice I clerked for the Honorable Maria M. Korvick in the Miami-Dade probate division — the same division described on this page. I have worked as a Miami Dade County probate attorney ever since, and appear in that division regularly.

Lorenzo Law is a solo practice. That is deliberate, and it is the point: there is no intake coordinator, no rotating associate, no file that gets handed down when it stops being interesting. The attorney you speak with on the first call is the one who prepares the petition, stands up at the hearing and signs the petition for discharge. My Coral Gables office at 2850 Douglas Road is a short drive from the Soto Justice Center, and I also keep an office in Fort Lauderdale.

The practical result is a probate attorney Miami Dade families can actually get on the phone. Practice areas: probate administration, probate litigation, estate planning, guardianship and Florida homestead law. Se habla español.

Abogado de sucesiones en Miami-Dade

Si un familiar falleció mientras vivía en el condado de Miami-Dade, o era dueño de una propiedad aquí, la herencia se tramita en la División de Sucesiones del Undécimo Circuito Judicial. El proceso se llama probate en inglés: la validación del testamento y la administración de los bienes del fallecido.

¿Dónde se tramitan las sucesiones en Miami-Dade?

En el Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 N.W. 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33128. La ventanilla de sucesiones del Secretario del Tribunal está en la Suite 6.223 — sexto piso, sala 223 — abierta de lunes a viernes de 9:00 a.m. a 4:00 p.m. El tribunal abre de 8:00 a.m. a 5:00 p.m., así que no son los mismos horarios.

El testamento original se entrega en papel en esa misma sala, dentro de los diez días siguientes a que la persona que lo tiene se entere del fallecimiento. No se puede presentar electrónicamente. Los demás documentos se presentan por el portal electrónico de las cortes de Florida.

¿Cuánto cuesta presentar una sucesión?

Las tarifas de presentación del Secretario son de $401.00 para la administración formal y de $346.00 para la administración sumaria cuando el patrimonio vale $1,000 o más. Estas son las tarifas del tribunal — los honorarios del abogado son aparte y son negociables. La ley de Florida obliga al abogado a informarlo por escrito.

Desde el 1 de julio de 2026, la administración sumaria está disponible cuando el patrimonio sujeto a administración en Florida, menos los bienes exentos de reclamos de acreedores, no supera los $150,000. La homestead protegida no se cuenta. También está disponible, sin límite de valor, cuando la persona falleció hace más de dos años.

¿Necesito un abogado para una sucesión en Florida?

Generalmente sí. El representante personal — el albacea, en términos comunes — debe estar representado por un abogado, salvo dos excepciones: cuando es la única persona interesada en la herencia, o cuando él mismo es abogado en Florida. Si hay más de un heredero o beneficiario, se necesita abogado.

Atiendo a familias de habla hispana en todo el condado de Miami-Dade, y también a familias que viven fuera de los Estados Unidos y tienen bienes aquí. Llame al (305) 224-6811 para una consulta gratuita.

Miami-Dade cities we serve

Each page below covers probate in that specific community. If your city is not listed, the matter still runs through the same Miami-Dade probate division at the Soto Justice Center — call and we will handle it the same way.

• Aventura
• Bal Harbour
• Brickell
• Coconut Grove
• Coral Way
• Cutler Bay
• Doral
• Downtown Miami
• Florida City
• Hialeah
• Homestead
• Kendall
• Liberty City
• Miami Beach
• Miami Gardens
• Miami Lakes
• Miami Shores
• Miami Springs
• North Miami
• North Miami Beach
• Opa-locka
• Overtown
• Palmetto Bay
• Pinecrest
• South Miami
• Sunny Isles Beach
• Surfside
• The Hammocks
• West Miami

Also serving Hialeah Gardens, Key Biscayne, Medley, Miami Springs, Sweetwater, Virginia Gardens, Westchester and Wynwood.

Related pages

• Miami probate attorney — the main practice page, covering costs, homestead, intestate succession, will contests and the full administration process
• Summary administration in Florida
• The Florida probate process, step by step
• What probate costs in Florida
• How long probate takes in Florida
• Florida probate creditors and the notice to creditors
• Ancillary probate in Florida
• Florida non-probate assets
• Florida probate litigation
• South Florida probate attorney
• Florida probate service areas

Court and clerk resources

Primary sources for everything on this page. Verify current details here before relying on them — court assignments, fees and forms change.

• Eleventh Judicial Circuit — Probate Division
• Probate Attorney’s Corner — filing instructions, original-document requirements and scheduling. Often searched as the Miami Dade probate attorney corner.
• Probate Smart Forms
• Probate Checklists (CC series)
• Judicial Directory — current section assignments and each judge’s hearing policy
• Miami-Dade Clerk — Probate Court
• Clerk — Soto Justice Center location and hours
• Civil, Family and Probate Courts Online System — case and docket search
• Florida Courts E-Filing Portal

Talk to a probate attorney in Miami Dade County

Whether you are the named personal representative and do not know where to start, a beneficiary who is not being told anything, or someone holding an original will and unsure what to do with it — the first conversation costs nothing and usually shortens the road considerably. You want a Miami Dade probate attorney who appears in this division regularly, knows which section your case landed in, and files on the forms these judges expect. I practice from Coral Gables and take probate matters anywhere in the county.

Call (305) 224-6811 for a free consultation, or send a message and I will get back to you.

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr., Esq. · Florida Bar No. 107002 · Lorenzo Law
Coral Gables: 2850 Douglas Rd., Suite 303, Coral Gables, FL 33134
Fort Lauderdale: 12 SE 7th St., Suite 701, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Se habla español.

This page describes Miami-Dade court procedures current as of September 12, 2026, and general Florida law. It is information, not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it.