Florida Formal Probate Administration Checklist

Florida formal administration moves through connected but distinct operational phases: preserve original instruments and source records, obtain the lawyer’s procedure and venue decisions, assemble the opening set, verify the signed order and issued Letters of Administration, complete directed notice work, control creditor and claim records, and prepare later administration and closing work. A checklist should show which evidence unlocks the next phase rather than imply that filing the petition completes the opening.

The responsible lawyer decides the procedure, venue, testate or intestate position, interested persons, fiduciary qualification, required filings, service recipients, legal dates, creditor status, objections, payment, distributions, and closing. Staff can build verified source tables, preserve exact documents and events, surface conflicts, and carry out approved steps without making those legal determinations.

Florida Statutes § 732.901 states that the custodian must deposit the will with the clerk having venue within 10 days after receiving information that the testator is dead. After receipt, the clerk must retain and preserve the original in its original form for at least 20 years. For this section, the statute’s definition of will includes a separate writing described in § 732.515. The lawyer controls the trigger, calculation, venue, and treatment of each item; staff records the source facts and approved action.

Intake should identify every possible will, codicil, separate writing, envelope, fastener, and related delivery item; protect its physical condition and order; and record receipt, custodian, location, access, transfer, and deposit evidence without marking or reorganizing the original. Deposit with the clerk is not the same event as admission of a will to probate.

Record observable facts separately from legal conclusions. An item may be logged as an apparent original or copy with a date, page count, signatures, notarial material, alterations, damage, or attachments, but the lawyer decides venue, deadline treatment, testamentary status, validity, revocation, republication, incorporation, and what must be deposited or filed.

Section 733.202 permits an interested person to petition for administration, but it does not answer the case-specific questions needed to prepare a petition. Build source-linked tables for decedent identity, death information, domicile and venue indicators, instruments, family and interested-person candidates, the proposed personal representative, property and obligation indicators, prior proceedings, and unresolved conflicts. Use exact source wording and identify unknowns instead of filling gaps by assumption.

Populate only the lawyer-approved petition and supporting set. Check the current Probate Rules, general-practice rules, local division or clerk instructions, filing channel, fee source, confidentiality requirements, oath and resident-agent materials, bond direction, consents or renunciations, proposed-order format, and original-will handling. Preserve the exact filed set and every receipt, rejection, deficiency, correction, and docket event.

A proposed order or proposed letters is not issued authority. The Florida Bar’s probate overview explains that the judge appoints the personal representative and that Letters of Administration evidence the personal representative’s authority. After filing, compare the signed order and issued letters with the petition, docket, and approved next-step plan, including issue date, certification, restrictions, bond conditions, and any judicial directions.

Do not represent that a proposed personal representative has been appointed, open or transfer assets on the estate’s behalf, sign notices as the fiduciary, or release an authority-dependent task merely because the opening package was submitted or accepted by the clerk. Route mismatches, missing authority, limited letters, changed bond terms, or an unexpected order to the responsible lawyer.

The Notice of Administration and Notice to Creditors have different purposes, content, recipient analyses, methods, proof, and legal consequences. Section 733.212 addresses the Notice of Administration and identifies information and warnings it must contain. Section 733.2121 separately addresses publication of the Notice to Creditors, diligent search for reasonably ascertainable creditors, individual service, and specified agency handling. Never reuse one notice’s recipient list or proof as if it completed the other track.

For each notice, create a lawyer-approved control record containing the exact version, source fields, recipients or publication outlet, addresses, method, release authority, transmission or run dates, proof, returns, waivers, corrections, and unresolved exceptions. Staff records source dates and service events; the lawyer decides who must receive notice, whether a waiver is usable, whether service is sufficient, and which response or claim periods apply.

Section 733.604 addresses a verified inventory of estate property, reasonable detail, estimated fair market value at the date of death, confidentiality, later corrections, and specified beneficiary information. Build an internal asset-candidate register before populating the filing copy. Give each candidate a stable identifier and link its exact source description, displayed title or owner, institution or location, protected identifier, ownership indicators, valuation source and date, liens or debts, conflicts, and review status.

Do not convert a deed, statement, beneficiary designation, possession fact, tax value, current balance, purchase price, insured value, or payoff amount into an estate-property classification or inventory value without the lawyer’s approved decision and required valuation support. The lawyer controls probate or nonprobate treatment, ownership interest, protected homestead, exempt property, inclusion or omission, valuation standard, filing, service, amendment, and any disclosure response.

Keep the confidential filing version separate from the broader internal source manifest and working tables. Reconcile the verified inventory, filing receipt, docket and confidentiality indicator, directed service, beneficiary-rights notice, valuation explanations or appraisals, and every amended or supplementary version without overwriting the earlier record.

Section 733.2121 requires publication and a diligent search for reasonably ascertainable creditors, while stating that impracticable and extended searches are not required. Staff should not invent the legal scope of that search. Use the lawyer’s written search plan to build a creditor-candidate matrix from directed sources such as mail, statements, tax material, medical and property records, litigation, judgments, liens, contracts, communications, and estate records.

Keep candidate discovery separate from the legal decision that someone is a creditor or requires notice. Record each source-displayed name, address, account or reference, observed relationship, source citation, duplicate link, verification status, and conflict. Reconcile the lawyer-approved publication instruction or plan, exact notice, newspaper or outlet, run dates, proof of publication, each directed individual service, and any AHCA or agency branch before marking the notice phase complete.

Sections 733.702 and 733.705 contain different rules governing claim presentation, objections, litigation, and payment, while § 733.710 supplies a separate limitation on claims against estates. Keep the § 733.702 presentation analysis distinct from the § 733.710 bar and route both to the responsible lawyer rather than calculating or labeling a case deadline. A reliable ledger preserves source events rather than reducing a claim to one editable status. Give each claim family a stable identifier and link the original claim, amendments, attachments, objections, service proof, independent actions, orders, settlements, withdrawals, releases, satisfactions, payments, and docket events without overwriting earlier versions.

Capture each amount exactly as labeled in its source and separate claimed amount, amended amount, disputed amount, allowed amount, settlement amount, paid amount, and remaining balance. The responsible lawyer decides timeliness, validity, enforceability, priority or class, secured status, objection, extension, litigation, compromise, reserve, payment, and disposition. Staff should not derive those labels from dates, docket presence, silence, or an account balance.

A phase is complete only when its required source set, approval, action evidence, reconciliation, and exceptions are visible. The file should let a second reviewer determine which version was used, what the court or recipient did, what remains unresolved, who owns the next action, and which dates or assumptions must be refreshed before reliance.

Probate records combine public filings with sensitive family, health, financial, tax, and identity information. Store originals and working material in approved locations, restrict access, use the minimum necessary personal data, and preserve confidentiality filings or redactions. A public docket entry is not permission to redistribute every underlying fact.