Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Re: Deceased Mother's estate

The home need not be sold. In fact, if valued at $75,000 or less, a simpler (and less expensive) probate - Summary Probate is available. It will result in an Order Of Summary Administration showing the property passing to the heirs (your "deed", for all practical purposes). It must be done in Florida, in the county where the property is located. It is a very expeditious process, and should cost less than $1,000, including attorney's fee, court costs, etc. There are reasons to have an appraisal, but it is rarely required by the court. Please contact me if I may be of assistance, as I am able to handle probate throughout Florida.

Re: Deceased Mother's estate

OK, I suspect you are talking about 'summary administration'. This should be fairly straightforward; essentially you would bring a petition saying she's dead, she left this property in florida, and that it passed to whoever the heirs were and that there are no bills unpaid, and that the total value of the florida estate is less than $75,000. The judge would sign the order transferring the property directly to the heirs; and the only other thing you would have to do is advertise the estate to cut off creditors rights if she's been dead less than 2 years. As far as the value of the house, Florida does not have an estate or inheritance tax, and assuming the house doesn't push the estate over the federal tax exemption (depending on what year she died) so long as the valuation is supportable- that is, you can point to some sort of reasonable basis for the valuation- such as a tax assessment value- you should be fine. You can't make up the valuation, but county tax valuation is typically OK.