One of the few guarantees in life for people in Florida is that at some point in time everyone will pass away. People may not know when or how they may pass away though. The hope is that people will live a long, full life but not everyone is that lucky. However, no matter how and when people pass away, one thing is true and that is that they cannot take their property and assets with them.
It is important that people plan for this by drafting a will, which will allow the person to dictate who will receive their property whenever it is that the person passes away. Drafting a will allows the person to pick the person they want to administer their estate as well. If people do not have a will when they pass away, their property will go to family members in accordance with the intestate laws and people may not agree with that distribution. However, even with a will, the estate will need to go through the probate process.
Information needed for probate petition
The probate process begins with filing a petition. In order to properly fill out a petition people need to provide the court with certain information. The information needed includes, but is not limited to:
- The name and address of the petitioner and the name and last known address of the deceased.
- The name of the decedent’s spouse, if there is a surviving spouse, and other beneficiaries known to the Petitioner.
- Name of the personal representative and statements about whether they qualify to serve as personal representative.
- A statement about the approximate value of the estate and the nature of the property
- Statement about all unrevoked wills that the decedent drafted and provide a copy to the court.
- Other information depending on certain circumstances.
There are many estates in Florida that need to go through the probate process. This process starts with the petition, but there are many other steps people need to complete before they can close the estate and end the probate. This can be a complicated process and consulting with experienced attorneys could be beneficial.
