Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

1. No

2. No

The estate must go to probate.

1) No. The property passed by operation of law at the moment of Widow's death to her two children. Because she was survived by her two adult children the minor grandchildren by the one daughter would not take anything.

2) Yes, with a caveat.. As I stated, the homestead passed directly to the adult daughters when widow died. The homestead is not part of the probate estate and a homestead order and probate proceeding are not necessary to pass the title. See White v. Theodore Parker, P.A. (in Re Estate of Hamel), 821 So. 2d 1276, and discussion and cases cited therein. Such as ":homestead rights exist and continue even in the absence of a court order confirming the exemption. See Raulerson v. Peeples, 77 Fla. 207, 81 So. 271 (Fla. 1919); Clifton, 553 So. 2d at 194; Cavanaugh, 542 So. 2d at 1351. Thus proceedings to determine whether a property is homestead are permissive, not required." IF title passed to both daughters upon widow's death then daughter one could convey that property, even in the absence of a probate proceeding or homestead determination.. The doctrine of after acquired title does not apply normally in the case of a quitclaim deed; i.e, if I give you a quitclaim deed to property I don't own today, but I acquire title to it tomorrow, a quitclaim deed (unlike a warranty deed) will not 'relate back' and transfer the title under the deed; the difference is, the daughter acquired her interest when mom died; so long as the quitclaim deed was done after mom died, she could pass title, whether or not a probate and homestead proceeding had been brought. Now ,the caveat is, a Title Company may question this.