If a bank told you an account is frozen and didn't explain what that actually means, you're not stuck, and
you're not the only one this has happened to. A probate attorney would typically charge $1,500–$4,200+ to walk you through exactly what Florida law
already lets you do yourself. This kit is $37,
one-time, and covers the same ground — the eligibility rule, the official form, and what to say if a bank or
clerk pushes back.
Florida lets an estate skip full probate through Summary Administration when the entire estate (minus exempt property) is $150,000 or under — or, with no dollar cap at all, when the decedent has been dead more than 2 years. Unlike much of what's written about Florida probate forms online, there genuinely is one statewide fill-in petition — Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 5.9XX — and the court typically reviews a completed filing in 4-6 weeks. The most common real snag isn't a bank account — it's a title company refusing to insure a sale of the decedent's homestead without a separate Order Determining Homestead filed alongside the petition. This is informational, written by researchers, not attorneys.
The state's own form is usually clear about the fields and silent about the process. Families commonly report
a bank branch insisting on court-issued Letters of Administration that the small estate statute doesn't
actually require, and each extra trip lands in the same weeks as the funeral. Closing that gap — between a
downloaded form and an asset holder who actually releases the property — is the whole reason this
kit exists. Written under the pen name James Whitfield; not an attorney.
Built on the official state form
Every claim cited to Florida Statutes § 735.201
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Why timing matters: The $150,000 cap only applies to deaths on or after July 1, 2026 — an estate from a death before that date is still capped at the prior $75,000 figure, and using the wrong figure risks a petition a court won't approve. If the estate includes a house, the real cost of delay isn't the petition itself; it's finding out a title company won't insure a sale months later because no Order Determining Homestead was ever filed alongside the original Summary Administration petition. Miss the window and the estate is generally pushed into full probate instead — a probate attorney typically charges $1,500–$4,200+ for work this kit is built to help you avoid.
Confirm the estate qualifies under one of the two eligibility paths
Either the entire estate subject to administration in Florida (minus creditor-exempt property) is $150,000 or under, or the decedent has been dead more than 2 years, in which case there is no dollar cap at all. Homestead real property itself is separately excluded from the cap calculation entirely under the Florida Constitution.
2
Get the petition packet from your county's circuit court
Florida's Supreme Court publishes a genuine statewide fill-in form — Form 5.9XX, Petition for Summary Administration (intestate or testate) — via flcourts.gov. Many individual circuit courts additionally publish their own self-help instructions packets built around this same statewide form; check your county's circuit court probate self-help page for local filing specifics.
View source →
3
If the estate includes homestead real property being sold or refinanced, file a Petition to Determine Homestead alongside it
Many Florida title companies will not insure a sale or refinance of the decedent's homestead on the strength of a Summary Administration order alone. Filing a Petition to Determine Homestead Status at the same time — many Florida probate judges will sign both orders together — avoids a second trip back to court after a title company raises the issue.
4
Have every beneficiary sign, or formally serve notice on anyone who doesn't
The petition must be signed and verified by the surviving spouse (if any) and every beneficiary who is joining it. Any beneficiary who doesn't join must be formally served notice, and the statutory notice period must run before the court can act — this, not a fixed day-count like Texas's 30-day wait, is Florida's functional waiting period.
5
File with the Circuit Court, Probate Division, in the county of the decedent's residence
File with the clerk of the circuit court's probate division for the county where the decedent was domiciled at death (or, for a nonresident decedent, any Florida county where assets are located). The filing fee is commonly around $346, plus small per-page/per-copy charges for certified copies.
6
Wait for the court's review — commonly 4 to 6 weeks
Once filed, expect a response in roughly 4-6 weeks per official circuit court guidance. If anything in the petition is deficient, the court sends a deficiency notice and the timeline effectively resets once you resubmit.
7
Get multiple certified copies of the signed Order of Summary Administration
Each separate bank, brokerage, or the DMV may want its own certified copy rather than accepting one already used elsewhere — requesting several from the clerk when the order is signed avoids repeat trips.
8
Present the certified order to each bank, brokerage, or other asset holder
Florida Statutes § 735.206 authorizes and protects anyone who pays, delivers, or transfers property under the order's direction — cite this section directly if a branch hesitates or asks for more than the certified order.
Florida uses two distinct statutory mechanisms to avoid full probate for a
modest estate, and — unlike several other states — neither is called a
“small estate affidavit” in the statute itself.
Entire estate at or under $150,000 (or decedent dead more than 2
years, no cap at all): Summary Administration
(Florida Statutes Chapter 735, Part I) is the mechanism — a court-filed
petition and order, reviewed by the Circuit Court’s Probate Division, that
authorizes banks, brokerages, and other asset holders to transfer the
decedent’s property to the people named in the order. This is the broader
of the two mechanisms and the one that can include real property,
including the decedent’s homestead — though a homestead sale or refinance
often needs a separate Order Determining Homestead filed alongside it.
Only enough personal property to cover funeral costs and the decedent’s
final medical bills:
Disposition of Personal Property Without Administration
(Florida Statutes § 735.301) is the mechanism — a narrower, informal
application to the same Probate Division, capped not at a flat dollar
figure but at the sum of preferred funeral expenses (itself capped at
$6,000 under a separate statute) plus medical and hospital expenses from
the decedent’s last 60 days of final illness. It never reaches real
property, even a fractional interest.
Picking the wrong one is a common, avoidable delay — an estate with real
estate in it, or one worth meaningfully more than the funeral and recent
medical bills combined, needs Summary Administration, not the narrower
Disposition mechanism. Both guides above go into their own mechanism’s
requirements, filing steps, common rejection reasons, and what to do when a
bank or title company pushes back.
This page, and the two mechanism guides linked above, are informational
only. They are not legal advice, and they do not draft, file, or
individualize any petition or application on your behalf. For advice on
your specific estate, consult a licensed Florida attorney.
What it actually looks like
Sample pages from the kit
Real pages from the Florida kit PDF. Click any page to enlarge.
Print-friendly, readable on a phone or tablet, and designed to be taken to the bank or clerk. Every operational
claim cites the actual statute or official publication.
Yes — Florida's own form is free (that's the Free state form column below). The $37
is for everything the free form leaves you to work out alone: the eligibility check, the filing sequence, and
what to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back.
This kit
Probate attorney
Free state form
Doing nothing
Cost
$37
$1,500–4,200+
$0
Eventually full probate, if the estate is never settled
Time to filed
Same week to prepare; court approval timing varies by county
2–6 weeks
If you can decode it alone
Not until you act
Bank/DMV/clerk pushback script
Yes
Sometimes
No
n/a
Statute citations
Yes
n/a
n/a
n/a
Delivery time
Instant download
After consult + retainer
Instant
n/a
Attorney costs reflect typical Florida probate-attorney retainers for this kind of filing.
The most-searched sticking point
What to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back
A facially valid filing still gets rejected on the first try more often than it should — usually because front-line staff have never processed one before, not because anything is actually wrong. This is the single biggest gap in every free state resource: none of them tell you what to actually say. The kit's Section 5 gives you the exact script and citation for each of these:
Title company refuses to insure a sale or refinance of the decedent's homestead
Bank or brokerage asks for more than the certified Order of Summary Administration
Front-line bank staff asks for court-issued Letters of Administration instead
Each one has a specific script and statutory citation behind it — not just "you're right, they're wrong," but
exactly what to say and what document to hand over. That's in the kit.
If a bank, DMV, title company, or court clerk rejects your filing for a reason traceable to following this
kit, you get a full refund.
Email the stated rejection reason to support@estateaffidavitguide.com within 30 days of
purchase and we refund the full purchase price within one business day. No phone tag, no forms, no fight.
Not covered: an estate that turns out to be over the dollar limit, a dispute among heirs, or a missing document
unrelated to the filing itself. Changed your mind for any other reason? You have 7 days, no questions asked.
Full refund policy.
Avoid these
4 common reasons filings get rejected
▸ Estate exceeds $150,000 and the decedent died less than 2 years ago
Summary Administration has two independent eligibility paths: the entire estate (minus creditor-exempt property) is $150,000 or under, OR the decedent has been dead more than 2 years — in which case there is no dollar cap at all. Estates that miss both conditions need full (formal) administration instead. The $150,000 figure applies only to deaths on or after July 1, 2026; an estate from a death before that date is capped at the prior $75,000 figure. — Fla. Stat. § 735.201
▸ The will directs formal administration
If the decedent left a will and that will specifically directs that the estate be formally administered under Chapter 733, Summary Administration is not available even if the estate is well under the dollar cap. — Fla. Stat. § 735.201(1)
▸ A non-joining beneficiary wasn't properly served notice
Every beneficiary who doesn't sign and verify the petition themselves must be formally served notice, and the statutory notice period has to run before the court can act. A petition that omits or improperly serves a beneficiary is a common reason a court won't yet issue the order. — Fla. Stat. § 735.203
▸ Missing or incomplete petition contents
Florida Probate Rule 5.530 requires specific information in the petition — an itemized list of assets and values (with exempt/homestead property described separately), a statement about known or unrevoked wills, a creditor statement, and a proposed distribution schedule, among other required elements. An incomplete petition is a common reason a court sends it back for correction rather than a substantive denial. — Fla. Prob. R. 5.530(a)-(d)
Before you present the Florida Summary Administration
Most rejected-on-the-first-try filings are a front-line-staff problem, not an eligibility problem. This free one-pager has what to bring and what to say the first time you hand it to a bank, DMV, or clerk — emailed now. We'll also send a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks (why most pushback is unfamiliarity not law, the exact citation to point to, when to call an attorney) — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Does Florida actually have an official Summary Administration form?
Yes — Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 5.9XX (Petition for Summary Administration, with separate intestate and testate versions) is a genuine, currently-live statewide fill-in form, published via flcourts.gov. This is worth stating plainly because much of what's written online about Florida probate forms describes the landscape as fragmented or county-only, which is true of the surrounding self-help guidance (no single statewide hub explains the process), but not true of the petition form itself.
What if my Florida estate is over $150,000?
Check the second eligibility path first: Summary Administration is also available with no dollar cap at all if the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years, regardless of estate size. If the decedent died less than 2 years ago and the estate is over $150,000, Summary Administration doesn't apply and full (formal) administration is the correct path instead.
Does the $150,000 cap apply to every Florida estate right now?
Only to deaths on or after July 1, 2026 — the cap rose from $75,000 to $150,000 under CS/HB 1337, effective that date. An estate from a death before July 1, 2026 remains subject to the prior $75,000 cap, not the new figure.
Why would a title company refuse my Summary Administration order?
This is the single most common real-world friction point for this mechanism, and it's specific to homestead real property, not bank accounts. Florida title companies frequently decline to insure a sale or refinance of the decedent's homestead on a Summary Administration order alone, and instead require a separate Order Determining Homestead — best filed alongside the Summary Administration petition itself rather than after the fact.
Is there a waiting period before I can file in Florida, like some other states?
No fixed day-count wait like Texas's 30-day rule. Florida's functional wait is procedural instead: any beneficiary who doesn't join the petition must be formally served notice, and the statutory notice period has to run before the court can act; if the decedent died within the last 2 years, creditors must also be given their statutory notice window.
Which Florida mechanism applies to my situation — Summary Administration or Disposition Without Administration?
Summary Administration is the broader mechanism: it covers an entire estate (bank accounts, other personal property, and real property including homestead) up to $150,000, or with no cap at all if the decedent has been dead more than 2 years. Disposition of Personal Property Without Administration is much narrower — it only reimburses preferred funeral expenses (capped at $6,000) and last-60-days medical/hospital expenses out of personal property, never reaches real estate, and has no separate dollar cap of its own beyond those two expense categories. A Florida estate with a house or an estate above $150,000 with a recent death needs Summary Administration (or full probate); an estate that's essentially just enough to cover the funeral and final medical bills may qualify for the narrower Disposition mechanism instead. This is informational only, not legal advice or a determination of which mechanism applies to your specific estate.
Does Florida have a 'small estate affidavit' like other states?
Not by that name. Florida's statutory mechanisms are Summary Administration (Florida Statutes Chapter 735, Part I) and Disposition of Personal Property Without Administration (Florida Statutes § 735.301) — both are real, distinct instruments, but neither is called a 'small estate affidavit' in the statute itself, which is why searching that exact phrase often leads to confusing or out-of-state results.
Ready to start?
$37, one time. Instant download.
Money-back if your filing is rejected for a reason traceable to following the kit, or for any other
reason within 7 days.
No waiting room, no retainer. Most of the
remaining delay families hit is an avoidable rejection or a second trip back to the same bank, DMV, or clerk —
this kit is built to help you avoid both on the first visit.
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5 short, plain-English emails over the following weeks — the eligibility math, the summary administration presentation moment, why most rejections are paperwork not eligibility, and when to call an attorney instead. Then we stop. No ongoing newsletter, no sales list. Unsubscribe anytime.
Primary sources
State sources
▸
Every claim here cites the actual statute or an official publication — see them
Statute: Florida Statutes § 735.201
. The primary source behind every requirement, cap, and deadline described above.
Official form:
Official Summary Administration form
Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 5.9XX, Petition for Summary Administration (Intestate) — a genuine statewide fill-in form, published via flcourts.gov. A separate testate version of the same form also exists. Individual circuit courts (e.g., the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami-Dade) additionally publish their own self-help instructions packets built around this same statewide form under Florida Probate Rule 5.530.
What to bring and what to say the first time you hand a Florida Summary Administration to a bank, DMV, or clerk — emailed now, plus a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks, then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
Free checklist
Before you present the Florida Summary Administration
What to bring and what to say the first time you hand it to a bank, DMV, or clerk — so unfamiliarity on their end doesn't turn one trip into two. Emailed now, plus a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks, then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.
