Ask your probate lawyer Palm Beach and she will tell you that it all starts with one thing, the Petition for Administration. What is the petition for administration?
What you need to know about Florida’s Petition for Administration in Estates & Probates
- To “open” an estate in Florida, you file a petition for administration
- Why do you need to “open” probate?
- Well, when a person dies in Florida, his or her assets need to go, or be transferred, to the correct recipients, sometimes referred to as beneficiaries or devisees
- Sometimes, indeed, many times, those estate recipients are named in the will
- But ask any probate litigator Florida and they will tell you that beneficiaries don’t always receive an inheritance even if they are named in the will
- Why wouldn’t a family member or beneficiary receive an inheritance from a Palm Beach probate?
- What is there is a will contest Boca Raton or a will challenge and everyone is fighting over the estate money?
- And, don’t forget about the money that the deceased person owed
- Shouldn’t the estate attorney Florida help the personal representative or estate executorpay off the decedent’s credit card bills, final income tax return, real estate taxes, mortgage, electric bill, water bill, condo fees….. you get the picture, right?
- Estate administration is a lot more than just giving family members or beneficiaries named in the will an inheritance or a family trust
Why do creditors get paid before familiy in Florida estates?
- Florida probate lawyers have to deal with family members and the widow, but also creditors of the estate
- If the person who died owed money, doesn’t the estate have to pay those people?
- Should a person who dies in Florida be able to leave an inheritance to family if he or she owed people money?
- Well, estate lawyers Palm Beach know that dealing with creditors is an important part of the estate administration process, also called the Florida probate
- You start a probate by filing a petition for administration with the probate court where the person resided at the time of death.
- Pay the clerk of courts your filing fee, deposit the will and you are on your way
- Here is a copy of Florida Probate Rule 5.200 Petition for Administration: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/07/07-00/Probate%20Privacy%20Report%20Appendix%20A%204-2-07.pdf
- Do you know how to complete or fill out, correctly, a Florida petition for administration form?
- What do you have to list in a petition for administration?
- Check out Florida Probate Rule 5.200 to see what is needed to get that estate started and you may be on your way to get an inheritance