The Nussbickel Law Firm, P.A. Legal Blog

A Florida will does not avoid probate. It directs probate. Any asset held in the decedent's sole name, without a beneficiary designation or survivorship rights, still passes through the probate court before it reaches the people named in the will. This guide explains what a will actually does after death, which assets land in probate and which skip it, what Florida probate costs, and how the summary administration threshold that doubled to $150,000 in July 2026 changes the math. Written for Southwest Florida families deciding between a will, a trust, or both.

When someone dies without a will in Florida, the estate doesn't go to the state — it goes through intestate probate, where Florida statutes decide who serves as personal representative and who inherits. This guide from a Fort Myers probate attorney walks through the full probate process without a will: the court's priority list for appointing an administrator, the intestate succession rules for spouses and children, which assets skip probate entirely, typical costs and timelines in Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties, and the summary administration limit that doubled to $150,000 on July 1, 2026.

A will does not override a trust, and a trust does not override a will — in Florida they usually control different assets, decided by how each asset is titled. Property moved into a funded revocable trust is governed by the trust; assets left in your sole name pass under your will through probate. This guide from a Fort Myers estate planning attorney explains which document controls which asset, the funding mistakes that cause most "conflicts," when a new will can amend a trust under Fla. Stat. § 736.0602, and how the July 2026 summary administration change affects Southwest Florida families.

Who pays probate attorney fees in Florida? The estate does. Attorney fees are paid from the deceased person's assets as a Class 1 expense of administration under Fla. Stat. § 733.707, ahead of ordinary creditors, so the personal representative never pays personally — and beneficiaries bear the cost through smaller inheritances. This guide from a Fort Myers probate lawyer explains Florida's presumed-reasonable fee schedule under § 733.6171, when extraordinary fees can be charged to one person's share, and when small estates skip attorneys entirely.

If you've been named executor and you've started Googling "online probate services," you've probably noticed something confusing: half the results are software that helps you settle an estate, and the other half are websites that help you write a will. Those are two completely different things. A...

How long does probate take in Florida? For most families, anywhere from a few weeks to about a year. Summary administration — the small-estate shortcut, now available for estates up to $150,000 after a July 2026 change — often closes in four to eight weeks, while a typical uncontested formal administration runs six months to a year because of Florida's three-month creditor claim period. This guide from a Fort Myers probate attorney breaks the timeline down by procedure, explains the statutory clocks that set the pace, and flags what stretches an estate into years, for families in Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties.

Most Florida probate cases legally require an attorney — Florida Probate Rule 5.030 mandates that a personal representative in a formal administration be represented by Florida counsel unless they are the estate's sole interested person or a Florida attorney themselves, exceptions that rarely apply in practice. But not every estate needs formal probate. This guide explains the two small-estate shortcuts that don't require a lawyer — disposition without administration (§735.301) and summary administration (§735.201), whose threshold just doubled to $150,000 effective July 1, 2026 — plus what a probate attorney actually does, the six steps of formal administration in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, Florida's presumed fee schedule under §733.6171, realistic timelines, and the four probate myths that cost Southwest Florida families the most.

A Fort Myers estate planning attorney explains why wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, and advance directives matter for families in Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties — and what Florida law actually requires.

Effective July 1, 2026, CS/HB 1337 doubles Florida's summary administration threshold from $75,000 to $150,000 — opening the shorter probate path to many more Lee County estates. But summary administration appoints no personal representative, and the people who receive the assets can remain personally liable to creditors for up to two years. Fort Myers probate attorney Greg Nussbickel breaks down what changed, who qualifies, and why filing timing matters this summer.