Administratively Closing of Florida Estates and Discharge of the Florida Executor

Are you involved in a Palm Beach County estate with a Palm Beach estate lawyer that has been closed?  Are you in the middle of an inheritance disagreement and the Palm Beach probate lawyer isn’t giving much guidance?   In Palm Beach, if a probate estate does not stay active, it can be administratively closed.  A Palm Beach estate or Palm Beach probate may be closed by a Palm Beach probate judge if there has been no or little action over the recent past on the court’s docket.  Rather than lying dormant, the Palm Beach estate lawyer and all beneficiaries who have probate lawyers and are involved with the probate court, receive a notice from the judge.  The judicial notice will say something like, you should show cause or demonstrate why the estate should remain open: or it will be closed by the probate judge in X days.   You have an opportunity to get your probate lawyer in there to explain why you need to keep the estate open.  But if there’s no action on the Florida probate or estate, it will be closed.  To re open it, you have to file a motion or a petition to re open the Florida probate.  A beneficiary or a creditor or an interested person who has standing to be active in the Palm Beach probate may do this.  The court may then appoint an executor or a Florida (Palm Beach) personal representative, or perhaps an administrator ad litem, to run the Palm Beach estate.  Those powers or that legal authority may be limited.  And for Palm Beach executors, remember that you don’t get discharged when an estate is administratively closed.  You need a judge’s order after notice and hearing to get discharged.  That’s VERY important to properly close the estate and also to limit the liability of the Palm Beach executor or Palm Beach personal representative.   Not familiar with discharge?  Email michelle@pankauskilawfirm.com.   Advocate hard. Litigate smart.