Miami Probate Litigation Attorney

At a glance: contested estates and trusts in Miami-Dade

This page is written by the attorney who would handle the matter. Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is Lorenzo Law’s only attorney (Florida Bar No. 107002); the attorney you speak with at the first call is the attorney who handles any matter the firm accepts. Statutes cited are the 2026 Florida Statutes and link to the Florida Senate’s official text; court procedure comes from the Eleventh Judicial Circuit and the Miami-Dade Clerk. Nothing here is legal advice for a particular case.

What does a Miami probate litigation attorney do?

People search for the same work under different names. Probate litigation is the contested part of a court-supervised estate: objections to a will, petitions to remove or surcharge a personal representative, disputes over who is an heir, creditor objections, and the emergency relief that protects assets while those questions are decided. Estate litigation is the broader term and takes in disputes that run outside the probate file, such as a deed signed shortly before death, a beneficiary designation changed by someone holding a power of attorney, or a partition claim between co-owners of inherited property. Trust litigation concerns a trust rather than a will: the validity of the document or an amendment, a trustee’s accounting, distributions, sales, compensation, and removal. A dispute described as a will contest may turn out to be an attack on a trust amendment, and a dispute described as a trust problem may need a petition in the estate as well. Related matters may involve overlapping records and witnesses.

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is a Miami probate litigation lawyer and trust litigation attorney whose practice is probate, trusts, estate planning and the transfer of Florida real property, which is why disputes over a Miami home, a condominium or a deed are handled in the same office as the estate. Depending on the matter and a conflicts review, he may represent the beneficiary who believes a document was procured or an asset mishandled, or the personal representative or trustee who has been accused and needs the administration defended. The statewide practice pages describe the broader Florida probate litigation, estate litigation and trust litigation work; this page is about how those disputes arise and are heard in Miami-Dade County.

Search terms and where this page answers them

The table groups terms used for estate and trust disputes and links to the relevant sections.

What does probate litigation mean? A contested proceeding connected to a decedent’s estate, decided by a judge rather than processed by the Clerk. What does a probate litigator do? Investigates the facts, pleads the claim or the defense, takes discovery, mediates, and tries the case to the court. What does an estate litigator do? The same work across the whole estate, including assets that never enter probate. What does a trust litigation lawyer do? Contests or defends the trust document, and brings or defends claims about the trustee’s administration. What type of lawyer do you need to contest a will? A probate litigation attorney admitted in Florida; a will contest is a court proceeding, not an estate-planning task.

What a probate litigator does not do is turn every unhappy heir into a case. An unequal will, a sibling who was closer to a parent, or a trustee who is slow to answer email is not, by itself, a claim. The work begins by matching what happened to a legal route, and that route is set out next.

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Which role are you in, and what is the dispute?

Standing is proceeding-specific. Under § 731.201, an interested person is someone who may reasonably be expected to be affected by the outcome of the particular proceeding, and that status can change as the case moves. Being related to the decedent, or unhappy with the result, is not enough on its own; an heir who was written out of the disputed will but would take under an earlier will or by intestacy usually has standing to challenge it, while a distant relative who would take nothing either way usually does not. A creditor is an interested person for the questions that touch the debt. Start with your position, not with a theory.

Roles and disputes in detail

The second question is what, exactly, is being challenged. Probate litigation concerns contested rights or responsibilities connected to an estate. Related trust and deed disputes may require separate proceedings even when they involve the same family and the same condominium. Uncontested administration also involves legal duties and court decisions; it is not simply a clerk recording paperwork, which is why it has its own page.

See the chart “Which dispute is it? Seven situations and the route each one takes”

These are routes for evaluation, not conclusions that misconduct occurred. The broader Florida estate disputes guide and the inheritance lawyer page cover the same routes statewide; the sections below explain how each one works in Miami-Dade.

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Which notice did you receive, and which deadline matters?

The notices in detail

See the chart “Which notice did you receive? Match the document to the first action”

People search for a Florida will contest statute of limitations as if there were one number. There is not: the three-month objection period runs from service of the notice of administration, the pre-letters bar runs from formal notice, revocation of probate is open until discharge unless one of those bars applies, and a trust or deed claim has its own period. The extension allowed by § 733.212 is narrow: estoppel based on the personal representative’s misstatement about the time for objecting, with an outside limit of the earlier of final discharge or one year after service. Lack of a notice of administration is not assurance that a challenge remains available; waivers, earlier proceedings and other bars still matter. The reverse is also true: relatives outside the United States are sometimes not served promptly, and a person who was never served should not conclude from a sibling’s deadline that it is too late.

Two related rules are easy to confuse with a contest deadline. The custodian of an original will must deposit it with the Clerk within ten days after receiving information that the testator is dead under § 732.901; that is a duty to file, not a window to object. And the Florida Probate Rules govern how a contested matter proceeds once started, including formal notice under Rule 5.040 and adversary proceedings under Rule 5.025, which determine what must be served and answered. The statewide Florida probate rules and deadlines guide collects the administration deadlines; this page covers the contested ones.

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Contesting a will in Miami: who can contest, and on what grounds?

To challenge a will is to challenge a document, so a Miami will contest attorney starts with two documents rather than one: the will being challenged and whatever would govern if it fell. If there is no earlier will, intestate succession decides who takes, and that comparison is what gives a contestant standing. If there is an earlier will, its beneficiaries are the people with the most direct interest, and the earlier document itself may be attacked by someone else. Start with all versions of the plan and the court file rather than assuming everyone in the family can bring the same claim. The first question clients ask a Miami will contest lawyer is whether they can contest a will (Miami families usually put it as “can you contest a will in Florida” or “how to contest a will in Florida”); they then ask whether challenging a will in Florida is worth the cost, and that depends on the three things below: standing, grounds and timing. A personal representative may instead need to defend the document or respond to a petition; that side is covered under defending a claim.

Who can contest a will in Florida?

Standing depends on the particular proceeding and your legally affected interest. Can a beneficiary contest a will? Yes, if the beneficiary would take more under an earlier will or by intestacy; a beneficiary who is content with the document has no reason to. Can an executor contest a will, or can a trustee contest a will? A personal representative or trustee named in an earlier will may contest a later will as an interested person. Whether a serving personal representative may contest the very will under which he or she was appointed is less settled: older authority treated doing so as a self-disqualification, but a 2026 Florida appellate decision has called that rule into question, treating the issue instead as whether the person qualifies as an ‘interested person.’ An heir omitted from the disputed will, or a beneficiary under an earlier will, may have a basis to challenge it; a person who takes the same amount whether or not the will stands generally does not. Being written out is not a bar to standing. It is often part of the evidence. A step-child who was never adopted and is not named in any prior document usually cannot contest unless some other interest exists, while a child born or adopted after the will was signed may have a separate pretermitted-child claim under § 732.302 that does not require proving the will invalid at all, subject to the statute’s exceptions (for example, where the will shows the omission was intentional, or where nearly everything was left to the child’s other parent). A surviving spouse often has rights that require contesting nothing; see the surviving spouse.

What are the grounds for contesting a will?

Section 732.5165 provides that a will is void if its execution is procured by fraud, duress, mistake or undue influence, and that only the part so procured is void, with the rest of the will standing. A revocation procured by undue influence, fraud, duress, or mistake is void (§ 732.5165). Setting aside a later will for lack of capacity also voids its revocation clause, so the earlier will can be restored. Revival is not automatic: if the misconduct affected only the gifts and not the decision to revoke, the revocation may still stand and the estate passes by intestacy. Section 732.502 governs execution: the testator signs at the end (or acknowledges the signature) in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses, who sign in the presence of the testator and of each other. It also includes rules for certain wills signed by nonresidents outside Florida, which matters in Miami: a will valid where a nonresident signed it may be recognized here, with exceptions for holographic and nuncupative wills, so a foreign will does not automatically fail because another jurisdiction uses different formalities.

Void wills, revocation and execution

What voids a will in Florida? Procurement by fraud, duress, mistake or undue influence under § 732.5165, a signing that does not meet § 732.502, or a testator without capacity; a valid later will or codicil revokes an earlier one rather than voiding it, but a revocation procured by fraud, duress, mistake or undue influence is itself void. Section 733.107 sets the order of proof: the proponent of the will first establishes its proper execution; the contestant then bears the burden on the ground alleged; and where the presumption of undue influence applies, it shifts the burden of proof. The statewide contesting a will in Florida guide walks through each ground in more depth, including the realistic difficulty of each; this page keeps to how they are litigated in Miami-Dade.

Can a will be contested for dementia or lack of capacity?

Yes, but a diagnosis is evidence, not proof. Contesting a will due to dementia turns on the evidence: a contested will signed by a person with Alzheimer’s disease is not void for that reason alone. Testamentary capacity is measured at the moment of signing, and a person with dementia may have had a lucid interval, while a person with no diagnosis may have lacked capacity on the day. The question is what the testator understood when the pen was on the page. Records from the twelve months around the signing, the drafting attorney’s own notes and questions, the witnesses’ recollection of the conversation, and the timing relative to a hospitalization or a change in medication are the usual sources. Capacity and undue influence are often pleaded together, because a weakened testator is easier to influence, but they are separate grounds with separate proof.

Can you contest a will after it has been admitted to probate?

Sometimes. Section 733.109 allows an interested person to petition to revoke probate of a will before the estate’s final discharge, if that person is not already barred by § 733.212 or § 733.2123. In practice that means the three-month period after service of a notice of administration, and any formal notice served before letters, decide the question more often than the date of the order admitting the will. A person who was never served, or whose waiver was never filed, is in a different position from a sibling who was served months ago. Bring the court file; the docket shows what was served and when. The will contest Florida statute most people mean is § 733.212, and the contesting-a-will time limits it sets are the ones above. When can a will be contested? From the moment it is offered for probate, and in practice from the moment a notice of administration or formal notice is served; to dispute a will after probate, see § 733.109. Can you contest a will after 5 years, or years later? Only if no bar has run and the estate has not been discharged, which is unusual; when is it too late to contest a will? Usually when the three-month period after service has passed, when formal notice before letters went unanswered, or when the estate has been closed.

What if you were left out of the will, or a sibling got everything?

Being unfairly left out of a will is not a ground. It is the reason to look for one. Florida law lets a competent adult leave property to anyone, including one child and not another, and a will that is unfair is still a valid will if it was properly executed by a person with capacity acting freely. The questions that matter are whether the plan changed late, who was present when it changed, who benefited, and whether the testator had independent reasons for the change that are documented somewhere. An earlier will, a long-standing estate plan that was suddenly reversed, a new power of attorney or joint account in the same period, and a drafting attorney the testator had never used before are the facts that turn a disappointment into an investigation. For a dispute between siblings involving a home, see the siblings and the family home guide.

What if the original will is lost, or there are several versions?

A lost will is a separate problem from an invalid one. An original that was last in the testator’s possession and cannot be found after death is presumed destroyed with the intent to revoke. The proponent must rebut that presumption and, under § 733.207, prove the will’s specific content by two disinterested witnesses, or by one disinterested witness if a correct copy is produced. A beneficiary is not a disinterested witness. Several versions raise the opposite problem: which one was last, and whether the later one was validly executed and not itself procured. The custodian’s duty to deposit the original under § 732.901 is where the search usually starts, and the drafting attorney’s file is where it usually ends.

Does a no-contest clause stop you from challenging a will or trust?

No. The no contest clause Florida law addresses in § 732.517 and § 736.1108 is a provision in a will or trust that purports to penalize an interested person for contesting the instrument, or for instituting other proceedings relating to the estate or trust; both sections make such a provision unenforceable, and Florida has no good-faith or probable-cause exception to that rule. Separate fee exposure under § 733.106 remains. In terrorem clauses are enforceable in many other states and in many of the countries Miami families come from, and the clause may still sit in the document and read as though it works; it does not. That does not establish standing, prove a claim or eliminate litigation expense, and where another jurisdiction’s law may govern the instrument, counsel should review it rather than assuming Florida’s rule decides every issue.

Defending a will against a contest

The personal representative named in the will is usually the person who defends it, and the estate may pay for that defense when the representative acts in good faith, a point covered under cost and who pays. The defense begins with the execution evidence: the self-proving affidavit, the witnesses, the drafting attorney’s file, and whatever shows the testator’s own, independent reasons for the plan. A caregiver, companion or relative accused of undue influence is also entitled to defend, and the same evidence that supports the will supports that person. A will that was prepared by an independent attorney, after a private conference with the testator, with witnesses the testator chose, is in a very different position from one drafted from a form at a kitchen table.

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How do you prove undue influence in Florida?

The elements of undue influence Florida courts apply are those three: a confidential relationship, a substantial benefit and active procurement; together they raise the presumption of undue influence Florida’s § 733.107(2) describes. The Florida undue influence Carpenter factors, the ones courts consider when deciding whether a beneficiary was active in procuring the will, come from the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in In re Estate of Carpenter, 253 So. 2d 697 (Fla. 1971), and later cases: presence of the beneficiary at the execution of the will; presence when the testator expressed a desire to make a will; recommending the attorney who drafted it; knowledge of the contents before execution; giving instructions to the drafting attorney; securing the witnesses; and safekeeping the will after execution. The list is not exclusive, and a contestant need not prove all of them. The list describes the kind of evidence that matters, and it is why the first questions in a Miami undue-influence case are practical ones: who made the appointment, who drove, who sat in the room, who paid, and who kept the document afterward.

The presumption is earned with evidence of procurement, not inferred from closeness. A confidential relationship or caregiving alone is not enough without active procurement, so the lesson for a contestant is to build the procurement record, and the lesson for a beneficiary is that assisting an elderly parent is not, without more, procurement.

How to prove undue influence in Florida is therefore mostly a question of records. What to gather: medical records for the months around the signing; the drafting attorney’s file; bank and brokerage statements showing new joint accounts, signature cards or powers of attorney in the same period; messages that show changes in who had access to the testator and the reasons the testator gave for the plan; and the timing relative to a hospitalization. Identify medical providers and relevant dates; protected records are obtained through appropriate authorization or legal process, not by asking a sibling. The statewide undue influence page explains the presumption and the Carpenter factors in more depth, and the challenging transfers before death guide covers the same conduct when it produced a deed or a joint account rather than a will.

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How do you contest a trust in Florida?

How to contest a trust, and the grounds for contesting a trust in Florida, follow the same grounds as contesting a will, applied to a different document. Can an irrevocable trust be contested? An irrevocable trust may be contested within the applicable period. Irrevocability (by the trust’s terms or the settlor’s death) generally determines when a validity contest may begin (§ 736.0207); it does not itself start a limitation period. The applicable deadline depends on the claim and the rules in §§ 736.0604 and 736.1008, including the chapter 95 period and any qualifying disclosure or notice. Can a testamentary trust be contested? Yes, usually by contesting the will that creates it. Can a trust be contested after death? That is when most contests begin. Can a beneficiary contest a trust? Yes; can a non-beneficiary contest a trust? Only with some other legally affected interest, such as taking under the prior instrument. A Miami trust contest is often not an attack on a twenty-year-old irrevocable trust that has been administered for decades. It is an attack on the amendment or restatement signed weeks before the death that moved a condominium, an account or everything to one child, and § 736.0406 covers amendments and restatements, and procured revocations, in the same terms as the original instrument. Under § 736.0207, a validity challenge to a revocable trust generally cannot begin until the trust becomes irrevocable by its terms or by the settlor’s death; a contest of the revocation of the entire trust must wait until the settlor’s death, and the statute does not bar an action by the guardian of the property of an incapacitated settlor, who needs court authorization. Irrevocability is when a contest may begin, not a deadline that ends the right to sue. The evidence, though, has to be preserved before then.

Trust proceedings generally begin by complaint under § 736.0201, subject to its exceptions, which include certain matters involving testamentary trusts and homestead. A trust dispute does not automatically become part of an open probate case, even in Miami-Dade where the will is a short pour-over document that does nothing but send everything to the trust. Coordinating related matters is often useful, because the same documents, witnesses and final-year timeline prove both, but the proper claim, parties, procedure and venue must be determined separately for each.

Can a beneficiary sue a trustee in Florida?

Yes, and the next question is whether you sue the trust or the trustee. A breach-of-trust claim is brought against the trustee, in the trustee’s fiduciary capacity, and sometimes personally, for the loss the breach caused; the trust is the thing being protected, not the defendant. Section 736.1001 lists what a court may do: compel the trustee to perform duties, enjoin a breach, compel a redress of the breach by paying money or restoring property, order an accounting, appoint a special fiduciary, suspend or remove the trustee, reduce or deny compensation, and, subject to the protections for third parties, void an act of the trustee, impose a lien or constructive trust, or trace trust property wrongfully disposed of. A validity challenge is different: it asks the court to declare the instrument, or the amendment, void, and the trustee defends it. How long does a beneficiary have to contest a trust in Florida? For a trust that was revocable at death, the earlier of the chapter 95 period or six months after the trustee sent the instrument and the § 736.0604 notice. The chapter 95 period for a trust contest is generally four years — Florida courts treat an undue-influence or fraud-based contest as an action founded on fraud (§ 95.11(3), running from discovery), and other grounds fall under the four-year residual period — though Florida law has not definitively fixed a single chapter 95 period for every § 736.0604 contest. How long do you have to sue a trustee? Six months from the later receipt of an adequate disclosure and a limitation notice under § 736.1008 for the matters disclosed, and otherwise the applicable limitation period; see notices and deadlines. Can a trustee be held personally liable in Florida? Yes, for a breach that causes loss, which is why trust litigation attorneys and trust litigators plead the loss and not only the removal. Disputes between a successor trustee and the beneficiaries, co-trustee disputes, construction of ambiguous terms, and modification or termination under the Trust Code are separate proceedings again, each with its own parties.

What if the trustee will not provide an accounting or information?

Who counts as a qualified beneficiary, whether the trust was revocable at the relevant time, and whether a waiver or an exception applies all need attention before a demand is made. What happens if a trustee does not provide an accounting? The beneficiary can demand it in writing and, if it is not produced, ask the court to compel it and to consider removal; the trustee accounting Florida law requires is not optional. Section 736.0813 requires a trustee to keep the qualified beneficiaries reasonably informed of the trust and its administration, including notice within sixty days of accepting the trusteeship, notice within sixty days after the trustee learns the trust has become irrevocable, a copy of the trust instrument on request, and a trust accounting at least annually, on termination and on a change of trustee. A trustee who will not confirm that the trust exists is a different problem from one who sends an accounting that cannot be understood, and the court can compel an accounting under § 736.1001 in either case. How to remove a trustee in Florida, and the removal of trustee Florida courts order under § 736.0706, are covered under removal; the trustee removal page covers what follows when silence turns into grounds.

Can a trustee sell property without every beneficiary’s approval?

Beneficiary approval is not required for every authorized sale. Can a trustee sell trust property in Florida without asking? Often yes. The trust terms, statutory powers, fiduciary duties and any court orders matter. Section 736.0802 requires the trustee to administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries and makes a sale or other transaction affected by a conflict between the trustee’s fiduciary and personal interests voidable by an affected beneficiary, with a presumption of conflict for transactions with the trustee’s spouse, descendants, siblings, parents or their spouses and certain affiliated persons. The statute also contains exceptions and protections that require review, including a transaction authorized by the trust terms, approved by the court, consented to, ratified or released by the beneficiary, barred by the time limits in § 736.1008, involving a contract or claim that predated the trusteeship, or consented to in writing by the settlor while the trust was revocable. Do not assume every related-party sale is automatically void, and do not assume a sale at a low price to a stranger is a breach; it may be a bad bargain, which is a different claim with different proof.

For a Miami condominium sale, preserve the contract, the valuation information the trustee relied on, the buyer’s identity and relationship to the trustee, the closing statement, and the records showing where the proceeds went. Those documents separate a disagreement over price from a claim about authority, conflict or missing money.

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What counts as a breach of fiduciary duty by a personal representative or trustee?

Section 733.609 makes a personal representative liable to interested persons for damage or loss resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty, and in those actions the court must award taxable costs as in chancery actions, including attorney’s fees, which it may direct to be paid from a party’s share of the estate, by judgment against the party’s other property, or both; § 736.1001 does the same work for a trustee, with the remedies listed under suing the trustee. The statewide breach of fiduciary duty page sets out the duties in detail. In Miami-Dade the claims arrive in a recognizable set of forms.

Replacing a fiduciary and getting money back are different remedies, and neither follows automatically from suspicion. Removal, accounting and recovery are explained under removal and what the court can order.

What can you do if the executor is not distributing the estate or not communicating?

An executor not distributing assets, a report that an executor refuses to distribute estate assets, or an executor not paying beneficiaries, is a frequent reason to call a Miami breach of fiduciary duty lawyer, and the first step is to separate lawful delay from unlawful delay, because from outside they look identical. Distribution can lawfully wait for the creditor period to run, for a tax clearance, for the sale of real property or for a dispute among beneficiaries to be resolved, and a personal representative who distributes before claims, expenses and taxes are provided for can be surcharged personally for the resulting loss under § 733.609; the Third District applied that rule in Rich v. Narog, 366 So. 3d 1111 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022). It can also wait for no reason at all. The way to tell them apart is the court file and the inventory: whether the inventory was filed, whether the notice to creditors was published and the period has run, whether any claims remain, and whether the personal representative has filed a petition for discharge or given any explanation. A beneficiary is entitled to that information, and a written request that goes unanswered becomes evidence. Challenging the executor of a will, or how to contest an executor of a will, is therefore a question of records first and petitions second; can a beneficiary challenge an executor? Yes, any interested person can object to an accounting or petition for removal. Does an executor have to show accounting to beneficiaries in Florida? Yes: a personal representative files an inventory and, before discharge, a final accounting, and interested persons may object to it. If the answer is silence, the court can compel an accounting, set deadlines, and, where the failure is persistent, remove the representative under § 733.504. A trustee who does not distribute or communicate is addressed under accountings and information; the terms of the trust decide when distributions are due.

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How do you remove a personal representative or trustee?

Can a personal representative step down? Yes, by petition to resign, and the court appoints a successor under the same priority rules; resignation does not end liability for what was done before it. What powers does a personal representative have? Those the code and the letters grant: to take possession of estate property, pay claims and expenses, sell or lease property as the code permits, and distribute, all subject to the court’s supervision and the beneficiaries’ right to object. A petition to remove personal representative Florida courts grant is one that proves a statutory ground, not one that proves a disagreement. Who is qualified to serve as personal representative in Florida, how is a personal representative appointed in Florida, and what happens when a personal representative dies in Florida are administration questions covered on the personal representative guide; Florida uses the term personal representative rather than executor, and this page uses both because clients do. Two points about personal representatives are easy to miss. First, qualification comes before conduct. A nonresident who does not fall within the relationships listed in § 733.304 was never qualified to serve and must be removed under § 733.504 at any stage of the administration; there is no deadline for raising that disqualification. That question can arise when a nominee lives abroad; see who may serve. Second, conflict is a ground without dishonesty: a personal representative who is also a beneficiary and is buying estate property, or preferring a personal claim, may be removable on adverse-interest grounds with no allegation of theft at all.

To remove a trustee, § 736.0706 allows removal on the application of the settlor, a co-trustee or a beneficiary, or on the court’s own initiative, where the trustee has committed a serious breach of trust, where lack of cooperation among co-trustees substantially impairs administration, where unfitness, unwillingness or persistent failure to administer the trust effectively leads the court to find that removal best serves the beneficiaries’ interests, or where a substantial change of circumstances or a request by all qualified beneficiaries leads the court to find that removal best serves the interests of all the beneficiaries and is not inconsistent with a material purpose of the trust, and a suitable co-trustee or successor trustee is available. Several of those grounds carry conditions, which is why the finding, not the complaint, decides the petition.

Removal and recovery are different remedies

Where the personal representative has a conflict in a particular matter, the court may appoint an administrator ad litem for that matter rather than remove the representative (§ 733.308; Florida Probate Rule 5.120), and it may appoint a guardian ad litem for a minor, incapacitated or unascertained beneficiary whose interests would otherwise be inadequately represented; neither is a finding against anyone. Replacing a fiduciary does not recover money or undo a completed transfer. Depending on the claim and the proof, relief may include an accounting, an order addressing conduct, removal, surcharge for a loss, or a constructive trust over property that can be traced, and it may run against the fiduciary personally. A removal petition that does not also plead the loss leaves the money where it is. The practical questions are: what information is missing, which transactions are challenged, and what the financial effect was. The statewide trustee removal page covers the trust side in more depth; a personal representative who steps down voluntarily, or who dies or becomes incapacitated, is replaced under the same priority rules that governed the original appointment, and the personal representative guide explains those.

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Can transfers outside the will be challenged?

These claims are usually brought as separate civil actions rather than as objections in the probate case, although the probate court’s authority to determine what belongs to the estate often brings them back. Standing and procedure differ by asset: a deed challenge is a quiet-title or cancellation action affecting recorded title, covered on the deed contest page; a challenged beneficiary designation involves the institution that holds the account; a transaction by an attorney-in-fact is tested against the power of attorney itself and the agent’s duties under chapter 709. The Lady Bird deed contest guide explains why an enhanced life estate deed is attacked on the same grounds as a will even though it never passes through probate, and the types of deeds in Florida guide explains what each instrument does.

The evidence overlaps almost entirely with a will contest: who arranged the signing, the grantor’s condition on that date, who benefited, whether the grantor understood what the document did, and what happened to the property afterward. A personal representative who learns of such a transfer must decide whether the estate should pursue it, and a beneficiary who believes the representative is ignoring it can ask the court to act. Recovered property returns to the estate or trust, not to the person who brought the claim, which is one of the reasons role matters.

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What happens when heirs disagree about an inherited Miami home or condominium?

A Miami property dispute lawyer and a probate litigator are often the same person here, because a Miami condo inheritance dispute and a fight over an inherited house in Kendall start the same way. Whether the asset is a condominium in Brickell or a house in Kendall, gather the recorded deed, the mortgage statement, the association ledger and assessment notices, insurance information, tax notices, leases and any pending sale papers, and identify who has possession, who collects rent and who is paying expenses. Those records answer most arguments before anyone files anything, and they are what the court will want if someone claims that expenses, rent or proceeds were mishandled. Obtain current figures rather than relying on an old estimate of the unit’s value; in a contested estate it is common for the property everyone is fighting over to be worth materially less, or more, than they assume, and an association balance that has run for a year changes the arithmetic of every settlement.

For a Miami condominium, the association’s estoppel certificate is the document that states the real figure owed on the unit, and unpaid assessments generally follow the unit to whoever takes it. The association is not a party to a family’s dispute over ownership, but its ledger is evidence in it. Three routes are available depending on what the disagreement is about. A deed challenge addresses a disputed transfer of title. A partition action concerns co-ownership and whether the property is divided or sold; a Miami partition action attorney is often the same lawyer handling the estate, because the facts overlap. A sale during probate is an administration decision that the personal representative makes and a beneficiary may object to; the searches “sell inherited house Miami” and “sell inherited house North Miami” lead to that guide, which covers the mechanics of a sale during administration. Can a personal representative sell property in Florida? Generally yes, with the authority the code and the letters give; can a personal representative sell homestead property in Florida? Protected homestead is different: it is not an estate asset, the personal representative cannot sell it even under a will’s power of sale, and title passes at death to the surviving spouse or heirs, who must all join in a sale (a spouse holding a life estate cannot convey the remainder), and the Florida homestead law heir-consent question, whether the heirs must agree to a sale, is covered on the homestead in probate page. None follows automatically from a probate dispute, and the siblings and the family home guide walks through the choice. Where the decedent lived in the home, homestead rules may restrict who could receive it at all.

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What if you are the surviving spouse?

The elective share right in Florida is statutory: the Florida elective share statute is §§ 732.201–732.2155, the Florida elective share law reaches well beyond probate assets, and the Florida elective share calculation is explained on the elective share page linked below. The Florida spousal elective share is an amount equal to a percentage of the elective estate, which reaches well beyond the probate estate into revocable trusts, joint accounts and other transfers, and the election must be filed within the period set by § 732.2135, measured from service of the notice of administration or from death, whichever the statute makes earlier. Homestead is different again: if the decedent was survived by a spouse or a minor child, the homestead could not be devised except in the limited way the statute allows, and if the home was not left to the spouse as the law allows, a surviving spouse takes a life estate with the remainder to the decedent’s descendants, or may instead elect an undivided one-half interest by recording a notice of election within six months after death; with no descendants, the spouse takes the homestead outright. A spouse omitted from a will signed before the marriage may also have a pretermitted-spouse claim under § 732.301. Can a prenup be contested? A waiver of spousal rights in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement must meet the formalities of § 732.702 (a signed writing, two subscribing witnesses for a Florida resident, and fair disclosure if signed after marriage), and a premarital agreement can be set aside on the grounds § 61.079 lists, such as involuntariness, fraud, duress, coercion or overreaching. A postnuptial agreement or a waiver of spousal rights signed during marriage can be set aside under Casto v. Casto if it was procured by fraud, deceit, duress, coercion, misrepresentation, or overreaching, or if it is unfair or unreasonable and was signed without fair and full disclosure of the other spouse’s assets and income (§ 732.702 requires such disclosure for a waiver signed after marriage). That is a separate inquiry from the will.

The complete treatment, including how the elective estate is built, what counts and who pays, is on the Florida elective share page, and the homestead rules are on the homestead in probate page. On this page the point is narrower: a spouse’s rights and a will contest are separate proceedings with separate deadlines, and a spouse who waits for the contest to resolve before electing may lose the election.

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Can there be litigation if there is no will?

Miami-Dade intestate disputes often turn on family facts from another country: a marriage never registered in the United States, a child recognized under foreign law, a divorce that may or may not have been final. Proving heirship then depends on foreign civil records, their authentication and translation, and sometimes expert evidence on the foreign law; see what an overseas family should gather. Priority to serve follows the statute rather than the family’s preference. When more than one heir of the same degree applies, the court may select the one it finds best qualified (§ 733.301(1)(b)). The court may appoint a disinterested professional instead of any heir only on a separate basis — for example, when no preferred person applies (§ 733.301(3)), or when the record shows a preferred applicant is unfit or so conflicted that appointing him or her would spark litigation and impede the administration. The how to become a personal representative guide explains the appointment process; the inheritance lawyer page covers intestate rights statewide.

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Can a creditor dispute an estate?

Creditor litigation in Miami-Dade commonly involves an association collecting assessments on a unit, a lender, a family member who advanced money for care or funeral costs, or a business partner. The personal representative’s duty is to pay valid claims in the statutory order and to object to the rest, and a representative who pays a disputed claim without objection, or who ignores a timely one, can be surcharged. The Florida probate creditors guide covers the procedure in full; the inheriting debt guide covers the heirs’ side.

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What if you are the personal representative or trustee being accused?

A personal representative defending a will contest, an accounting objection or a removal petition has specific obligations while the dispute runs: to preserve the assets, to keep administering what is not in dispute, to account on time, and to avoid any transaction that could be characterized as self-interested until the court has ruled. A trustee defending a validity challenge usually continues to administer the trust pending the outcome, and a trustee defending a breach claim should expect every related-party transaction and every undocumented decision to be examined. In both cases the documents that can end a case early are the ones that show disclosure: the notice that was sent, the accounting that was delivered, the consent that was signed. Jose represents personal representatives, trustees and beneficiaries in appropriate matters, and the first question in a defense engagement is whether the fiduciary’s interests and the estate’s remain aligned or whether separate counsel is needed for one of them.

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What about contested guardianship or elder exploitation in Miami-Dade?

How to avoid guardianship disputes (Miami-Dade County families ask this often) is mostly a planning question, answered by a durable power of attorney, a health care surrogate designation and a funded trust made while the person has capacity; guardianship disputes in families (Miami-Dade County sees them in every section) arise when none of that exists or when someone claims it was procured. A guardianship contest in Miami-Dade typically asks three questions: whether the person is incapacitated at all, since incapacity is decided on the examining committee’s reports and the evidence rather than on a family’s description, whether a less restrictive alternative such as an existing power of attorney or trust makes a guardian unnecessary, and, if a guardian is needed, who it should be. Each is decided on evidence, and the person whose rights are at stake is entitled to counsel. After a death, the guardianship file, the examining committee reports and the guardian’s accountings become some of the best evidence of capacity and of who controlled the person’s affairs in the final years. The Miami guardianship page covers appointments and administration; the guardianship litigation page covers contested proceedings. Reporting suspected exploitation does not require proof, and it does not require waiting until the person dies; a report is not a lawsuit and no outcome can be promised, but it preserves the record.

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Miami property, foreign domicile and family overseas

Families abroad often look for a Miami probate attorney for out of state heirs, and this is the part of a Miami probate practice that differs most from the rest of Florida, and it is why this page treats out-of-state and overseas families at length. The questions arrive in the same order every time: does Florida need a proceeding at all; who may serve in it; and which foreign documents will the court accept. Routine ancillary administration, where the answers are clear and nobody objects, is covered on the Florida ancillary probate guide and the out-of-state executor page; the guide herencia en Florida para extranjeros (en español) covers the same ground for families abroad. The contested versions are below.

Does a death outside Florida require ancillary probate?

Not automatically, and ancillary probate Florida courts open for a nonresident is a narrower thing than people expect. Review how the Miami asset was titled and whether it is subject to estate administration at all. Trust ownership or a valid nonprobate transfer may change the route entirely. When a nonresident leaves Florida assets that require administration, § 734.102 supplies the ancillary administration Florida framework, started by a petition for ancillary administration Florida courts review like any other petition for letters, including who has priority to receive ancillary letters: the personal representative specifically designated in the will to administer the Florida property, if qualified; otherwise the foreign personal representative, if qualified to act in Florida; otherwise a qualified alternate or successor named in the will; otherwise a qualified person selected by those holding a majority interest in the Florida property; and, in an intestate estate, the ordinary preferences of § 733.301. An appointment in another jurisdiction does not automatically give that representative authority to administer Florida property, and a foreign executor who assumes it controls the Miami condominium can start a contested ancillary case.

Section 734.104 offers a separate route to admit an authenticated copy of a qualifying foreign will to record for Florida real property, without administration. Its conditions include execution and foreign probate requirements, no Florida administration proceeding, and either the passage of two years after death or discharge of the domiciliary personal representative. It is a route for uncontested title, not a universal two-year waiting rule and not a deadline for estate litigation. A smaller nonresident estate may qualify for summary administration under § 735.201 (Florida assets subject to administration, less exempt property, of $150,000 or less, or a death more than two years ago), which practitioners often call ancillary summary administration, or, for a testate nonresident with Florida property of $50,000 or less, for the short-form procedure in § 734.1025 within two years of death; the Florida ancillary probate forms are the same Smart Forms the court uses for any administration; and the Florida Probate Rules’ ancillary administration rule (Rule 5.470) governs the filing. Ancillary administration (Miami or any other Florida county) is otherwise opened and litigated like any other estate. Probate for non-U.S. citizens in Florida follows the same statutes: the nonresident rules for serving turn on the family relationship, not citizenship. Citizenship and immigration status are not a bar to inheriting from a Florida estate or to bringing or defending a probate or trust claim in Florida: Florida law gives aliens the same rights of inheritance as citizens (§ 732.1101), and the Florida Constitution guarantees all persons the right to acquire, possess, and protect property (Art. I, § 2). Separate federal tax rules can still apply to a beneficiary or surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen. The cost of ancillary probate in Florida depends on which route applies and whether anyone objects; the routine figures are on the ancillary probate guide, and foreign will probate Florida courts conduct is contested only when the will, the domicile or the appointment is disputed. When someone disputes the will, the domicile or the ownership, the record route is unavailable and the dispute is heard in an ancillary proceeding or a civil action.

Can a relative living abroad serve as personal representative?

Some can, and an out of state executor Florida families name faces the same test as a nonresident personal representative Florida courts are asked to appoint from abroad. Who can serve as personal representative in Florida is governed by §§ 733.301–733.304; for a nonresident, § 733.304 permits a person who is not domiciled in Florida to qualify only if the person is a legally adopted child or adoptive parent of the decedent; related by lineal consanguinity to the decedent; a spouse, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the decedent, or someone related by lineal consanguinity to any such person; or the spouse of a person otherwise qualified under the section. The list turns on relationship to the decedent, and it is narrower than many families expect. Can a stepchild serve as personal representative in Florida? A nonresident stepchild who was not legally adopted is not a blood relative of the decedent, but may qualify if he or she is the biological child of the decedent’s spouse (a person ‘related by lineal consanguinity to’ the spouse under § 733.304(3)); no Florida appellate decision has resolved this on the merits, including whether it matters that the spouse died before the decedent. A resident stepchild is not subject to this restriction. A nonresident first cousin may be able to serve as personal representative. Section 733.304(3) allows a nonresident related by lineal consanguinity to the decedent’s uncle or aunt; a first cousin is the child of that uncle or aunt. No Florida appellate court has squarely decided the point, so the issue should be confirmed with the probate court. Since June 13, 2024, the three-month deadline in § 733.212(3) applies only to objections to the validity of the will, venue, or the court’s jurisdiction — not to objections to the personal representative’s qualifications. A nonresident friend, business partner or companion named as executor abroad generally cannot qualify, however clear the will is, and neither label should be applied until the actual relationship has been traced.

Other qualifications, disqualifications and appointment priorities under §§ 733.302, 733.303 and 733.301 still apply: a nonresident relative who is a convicted felon, has been convicted anywhere of abuse, neglect or exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult, is under eighteen, or is mentally or physically unable to perform the duties cannot serve either, so to the question, can a convicted felon serve as personal representative in Florida, the answer is no, resident or not. Being named executor abroad is not, by itself, enough. Prepare a short family tree and the birth, adoption and marriage records that prove each link, together with any foreign appointment papers. The aim is to establish the actual relationship and eligibility, not to infer them from a surname or a nationality. When the nominee fails § 733.304, someone else must be appointed, and who that is becomes the first contested proceeding in the estate, often before anyone has argued about the will.

What should an overseas family gather?

Keep the original-language documents and any existing translations, certifications or apostilles together. Include the death record, the will, any probate order, the representative’s appointment, and proof of each family relationship. Identify the issuing country and authority, who holds each original, and where witnesses can be contacted. Authentication, translation, admissibility and service abroad are separate issues, and a Florida apostille will not make a foreign will valid here; an apostille authenticates the official’s signature, nothing more. Whether a public document from a particular country can be authenticated by apostille or must be legalized through consular channels depends on that country’s status under the Hague Apostille Convention and on the document; the HCCH apostille resources show a country’s status, and documents from non-Convention countries generally require consular legalization instead. A country list alone cannot establish that a particular document is acceptable, so ask what is needed before paying to replace or legalize records.

A Florida dispute may also require advice from counsel in another jurisdiction, for example on whether a foreign will was validly made or whether a foreign judgment binds the heirs. This page does not promise representation under foreign law. Overseas witnesses and documents add procedural steps, which affects cost, but the family’s location alone does not establish the price or the duration of a case.

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Does the case belong in Miami-Dade County?

Three Miami examples show how the rules separate. A decedent domiciled in Coral Gables whose assets are an account in New York and a condominium in Brickell has a Miami-Dade probate; the account is administered from here and the New York estate, if any, is ancillary there. A decedent domiciled in Bogotá whose only Florida asset is a Key Biscayne apartment titled in the decedent’s name, and that must be administered, has an ancillary proceeding in Miami-Dade, because that is where the property is (§ 734.102). A decedent domiciled in Palm Beach County who owned a Doral warehouse is probated in Palm Beach County; the warehouse is administered from that estate, and a Miami-Dade filing would be in the wrong venue even though the property is here. A trust may be litigated in the county where it is administered or where the trustee or a beneficiary resides, among other alternatives; an action that seeks to determine or change title to land (including partition) must be brought where the land lies, but a claim that merely touches a deed — for money, or to compel a party to act — may be brought elsewhere.

Every municipality in the county files in the same Probate Division, which is why the searches below all lead to the same courthouse and the same rules; what changes from place to place is the property, the association and sometimes the language of the records.

Venue can be contested, and an objection to venue is one of the matters the three-month period under § 733.212 covers after service of a notice of administration. Jose handles contested matters in Miami-Dade and across Florida; the statewide probate litigation page and the Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville pages cover those circuits.

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Where is a Miami-Dade estate dispute heard, and what cannot be e-filed?

The Eleventh Circuit publishes its probate procedures on the Probate Attorney’s Corner, and the Miami-Dade Clerk publishes filing, records and fee information on its probate page. Both change, and the assigned section’s own page controls; what follows is the shape of the procedure as published, so that a family knows what to expect, and the Miami-Dade probate court page covers the Clerk’s logistics, record searches and fee schedule in detail.

The published procedure, step by step

Hearing requests and judicial review through courtMAP are separate from filing with the Clerk. Check the assigned judge’s current procedures and the hearing notice before arranging travel from abroad; remote attendance is at the court’s discretion and is not guaranteed. Phones, hours and the fee schedule are on the Clerk’s page and on the Miami-Dade probate court page rather than repeated here, because they change.

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What if property may be transferred or lost now?

When assets of a Miami-Dade estate are at risk, the probate court has inherent authority to protect and preserve them — including the power to freeze accounts or other assets in which the decedent may have had an interest — and the Third District Court of Appeal has held that the stricter standards governing temporary injunctions in ordinary civil cases do not constrain that authority (In re Estate of Barsanti, 773 So. 2d 1206 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000); Perez v. Lopez, 454 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)). A separate civil temporary injunction remains available as an alternative, but it requires a showing of each element, including a likelihood of irreparable harm, supported by specific findings.

A curator (probate, Florida § 733.501) is the estate-side tool. Section 733.501, as amended effective 1 July 2026, permits the court to appoint a curator when it is necessary, after formal notice to the person apparently entitled to letters of administration, with notice to other interested persons as the court deems appropriate; the court may appoint a curator without notice to those other interested persons only where there is a significant danger that the decedent’s property would be wasted, destroyed, or removed beyond the court’s jurisdiction and notice would cause delay. Where accounts, buyers or relatives are outside the United States, a curator petition supported by the listing agreement, the wire instructions or the closing date can be the vehicle. On the trust side, the court can enjoin a breach, suspend the trustee, appoint a special fiduciary, impose a constructive trust and trace property under § 736.1001.

The Eleventh Circuit’s published emergency procedure requires the motion to be filed and docketed before it is submitted to the courtMAP emergency queue, where the probate emergency duty judge reviews it. The court publishes a review timeframe; it is a review procedure, not a promise of an order, an appointment or firm acceptance within a particular time. Mention urgency when first contacting the firm, and understand that an inquiry does not confirm that representation or emergency work has been accepted. What the firm can do quickly is tell you which record would support the petition and which would not.

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How does a contested estate or trust case proceed?

See the chart “How a contested estate or trust case proceeds in Miami-Dade”

A will contest is heard in the probate case itself, as an adversary proceeding; a trust contest, a deed challenge and a partition claim are generally separate civil actions, and a family with all three may have three case numbers in two divisions. Coordinating them, so that the same deposition serves each case and the same mediation addresses the whole family, is most of what a Miami probate litigation attorney does between the pleading and the hearing.

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What the court can order

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What does probate litigation cost in Miami, and who pays?

How much does it normally cost to contest a will? The cost of contesting a will in Florida is mostly attorney time and expert cost, and it rises with the number of parties, the records to obtain and whether capacity experts or witnesses abroad are needed; there is no fixed price before the file has been reviewed. Is it worth contesting a will in Florida? Only when the likely recovery, discounted for the evidence and collectability, exceeds the likely cost; sometimes the better route is the elective share or a partition, which involve different legal requirements and evidence. The scope starts with your interests, potential conflicts, the documents, the available claims and defenses, and the applicable deadlines. Depending on the matter, representation may involve obtaining records, filing or responding to pleadings, discovery, negotiation, mediation or contested hearings. A settlement may resolve some issues while other administration continues. No result or case duration can be promised.

Ask what work is included, whether a retainer is required, who advances expenses and what happens if there is no recovery. Costs may remain payable without recovery under a contingency agreement; a hybrid arrangement may include an hourly or fixed component payable regardless of outcome. Records, service, translations, depositions and expert work can affect the practical cost. A potential fee award against another party is not guaranteed reimbursement. The useful comparison is the likely work, the evidence, the amount at stake and collectability, not simply the estate’s gross value. Overseas witnesses or documents can add procedural work, but the family’s location alone does not establish the price or duration of a case.

Who pays to contest a will in Florida is therefore usually the person who brings it, unless the court shifts fees under one of the sections above. Fee-shifting is the exception in Florida probate, not the rule, and the cost of probate litigation is therefore mostly a question of the work the evidence requires. Comparing the cost of a contest with the surviving spouse’s elective share, or with a partition sale, is part of the first consultation; compare each available route’s requirements, likely costs and potential relief. The published cost of probate in Florida guide covers administration fees, which are a different subject.

Do probate litigation attorneys take cases on contingency?

Some do, for some cases; a probate litigation contingency fee is lawful in Florida but not universal, and Lorenzo Law may consider a contingency or hybrid arrangement for an appropriate litigation matter. The matters that fit are usually those with a defined asset, a clear defendant who can pay, and evidence that can be assessed at the outset; a removal petition over a modest estate, or a defense engagement, usually does not fit. A contingency agreement in Florida must be in writing and is regulated by the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, and it does not make the case free: costs may remain payable without recovery, and a hybrid arrangement may include an hourly or fixed component payable regardless of outcome. The written agreement, not this page, governs.

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How long a contested case takes

The drivers are concrete. Whether the decedent’s domicile or the nominee’s qualification is contested adds a whole evidentiary front before the merits. Whether documents or witnesses are outside the United States brings in commissions, translation and authentication. Whether the estate holds Florida real property, a condominium with arrears, a closely held business or foreign assets affects what must be preserved while the case runs. Whether the personal representative or trustee is also a beneficiary merges two disputes into one. And whether the fight is over the will alone, the trust, or lifetime transfers as well decides how many case numbers there are. What shortens a case is the same in every one: complete documents early, a clear statement of the result you want, and a realistic view of what the evidence shows.

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After a judgment or a settlement

Most contested estates in Miami-Dade end in a mediated settlement rather than a judgment, and the settlement documents deserve as much attention as the pleadings did. A release that covers “all claims arising from the estate” may cover the deed you intended to challenge next. A receipt and waiver signed to obtain a distribution may waive an objection to the accounting. A family settlement that redistributes property differently from the will or trust may need court approval, may have tax consequences, and may require the consent of people who were not at the table, including minors and beneficiaries whose interests are contingent. A judgment, for its part, is a piece of paper until it is enforced, and a surcharge against a fiduciary who has moved abroad raises the collectability question that should have been asked at the start. The firm’s role at the end of a case is to make sure the document you sign does what you think it does.

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Documents to prepare for a dispute consultation

1. Your role and requested help: relationship to the decedent, beneficiary or fiduciary status, names of the parties and the result you are seeking.
2. Notices and dates: complete court or trustee packets, summonses, hearing notices, waivers, delivery records and case numbers. Record how and when each arrived.
3. The disputed documents: every available will, codicil, trust, amendment, deed or power of attorney; identify who holds the originals.
4. A short timeline: signing, illness, changes in contact, death, appointment, sale, distribution and discovery of the problem. Separate firsthand knowledge from what others told you.
5. Financial and property records: inventories, accountings, limitation notices, statements, contracts, closing papers, association balances, rent and expense records.
6. Overseas or domicile information: addresses, relevant residence records, foreign court documents, family-relationship records, translations and witness locations.
7. Communications and orders: requests for information, replies, settlement proposals and existing court orders. Preserve original messages and attachments without editing them.

Keep records you lawfully possess; identify other records for the lawyer to request. Avoid sending sensitive documents through an initial website inquiry until the firm provides sharing instructions. Depositing a will is different from challenging it: § 732.901 generally requires the custodian to deposit the original with the Clerk within ten days after receiving information of the death, and a custodian who fails to do so without just cause may be ordered to pay the costs and fees of the proceeding to compel it.

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Comparing probate litigation attorneys in Miami?

Questions worth asking any probate litigation law firm or Florida probate litigation attorney you are considering: Who will be my lawyer, and who will I speak to when I call? Have you handled will contests, trust contests and fiduciary claims in Miami-Dade, on both sides? How do you charge, what is included, and what happens to costs if there is no recovery? What is the first thing you would want to see in my case, and what would make you advise against filing? Do you handle the deed, condominium and partition questions, or would those go to another firm? Can you work with my family in Spanish, and with relatives abroad by video? What do you need from me in the first week?

The answers for this office are on this page and on the firm page: Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is the only attorney, Florida Bar No. 107002, admitted in 2013; before admission he served as a third-year law student judicial intern with the Honorable Maria M. Korvick in the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit; his practice is probate, trusts, estate planning and the transfer of Florida real property; he works in English and Spanish; and the attorney you speak with at the first call is the attorney who handles any matter the firm accepts. Anyone can confirm a lawyer’s record in The Florida Bar’s member directory.

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Common questions about Miami probate and trust litigation

How hard is it to contest a will in Florida?

It depends on the evidence, not on the strength of the feeling. A properly executed, self-proved will signed by a person with capacity, prepared by an independent attorney, is difficult to overturn, and it should be; a late change benefiting the person who arranged the signing, with the medical records to match, is a different case. The deadline question comes first: a person who was served with a notice of administration more than three months ago, or who was served with formal notice before letters issued, may already be barred under §§ 733.212 and 733.2123 regardless of the merits. Then standing, then grounds, then proof. The honest answer at a first consultation is often that the case is not a will contest but a trust contest, a deed challenge, or a spousal election.

Can an executor remove a beneficiary?

No. A personal representative administers the estate; it does not rewrite the will. There is no power to disinherit anyone, reduce a share, or decide that a beneficiary no longer deserves what the will leaves. What a personal representative can do, which is what prompts the question, is delay a distribution for lawful reasons, charge the estate for fees and costs that reduce what is left, dispute whether an ambiguous will names you at all, or sell the asset you wanted. None of that is removal. If a personal representative behaves as though the inheritance is theirs to allocate, that is not a power they hold; it is a ground to seek removal.

What is the 10 day rule for probate in Florida?

It is a filing duty, not a contest deadline. Under § 732.901, the custodian of a will must deposit the original with the clerk of the court having venue of the estate within ten days after receiving information that the testator is dead. In Miami-Dade that deposit is a paper filing with the Probate Clerk. Depositing the will does not admit it to probate and does not waive anyone’s right to contest it; refusing to deposit it can lead to an order compelling the deposit and, if the court finds the custodian had no just or reasonable cause, an award of costs, damages and a reasonable attorney’s fee against the custodian.

Do you need to live in Florida to bring or defend a claim?

No. Standing depends on your interest in the estate or trust, not on where you live, and a beneficiary in Caracas has the same right to object to an accounting as one in Coral Gables. Living abroad affects practicalities: how you are served, whether your documents need an apostille or consular legalization, whether your testimony is taken by commission, and whether you may attend a hearing remotely, which is at the court’s discretion. It also affects who may serve as personal representative, under the relationship rules in § 733.304 explained under who may serve. Consultations with family outside the United States are by phone or video, in English or Spanish.

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Speak with a Miami probate litigation attorney

Jose M. Lorenzo, Jr. is Lorenzo Law’s only attorney, a solo practice, and clients work directly with him on every matter the firm accepts: the same attorney from the first call to the final order. Before admission to The Florida Bar in 2013, he served as a third-year law student judicial intern with the Honorable Maria M. Korvick in the Probate Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, the division in which Miami-Dade contested estates are decided. His Florida Bar number is 107002. The firm’s principal office is in Kissimmee; Jose meets clients by appointment in Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale, and consultations are available statewide by phone or video, in English and Spanish, for Florida matters including Miami-Dade estate, trust and guardianship disputes. As a Coral Gables probate litigation attorney by appointment and a Miami-Dade probate litigation attorney, Jose serves families across Miami-Dade County, from Miami Beach, Brickell, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables to Doral, Hialeah, Kendall, Pinecrest, South Miami, West Miami, Aventura and Homestead.

Estate planning, probate administration and litigation are all parts of the practice. If your concern is preventing a dispute rather than fighting one, the Florida estate planning and Miami estate planning pages describe that work; if the estate is uncontested, Miami probate administration is the right page. Spanish-language readers may find the guía para impugnar un testamento en Florida and the herencia en Florida para extranjeros guide useful; they are related resources, not translations of this page.

Request a free initial consultation. Only the initial consultation is free; representation fees and costs are agreed separately in writing.

Request a free initial consultation·Call (305) 224-6811

Received a court notice or learned of a planned sale or transfer? Mention it in your first inquiry and keep the complete notice and its delivery records. Requesting a consultation does not file an objection, stop a sale or extend a deadline, and contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship or confirm that the firm has agreed to represent you. This page provides general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a particular matter.

Sources and authorities cited

Statutes cited are the 2026 Florida Statutes on the Florida Senate’s site. Court procedure is taken from the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Probate Attorney’s Corner and the Miami-Dade Clerk’s probate page as published on 14 October 2026; both change, and the assigned section’s page controls. Case citations are provided for the propositions stated and should be read in full.