— The Statute Library
Florida probate law, translated.
Every statute this site cites — 275 Florida statutes and 7 Probate Rules — with the official catchline, what it means in plain English, and where it does real work in a Florida probate. Each page links to the official text.
The Florida Probate Code
Chapters 731–735 — who inherits, what makes a will valid, how an estate is opened, administered, and closed, and the two small-estate shortcuts.
Chapter 731 — Probate Code — General Provisions
Chapter 732 — Wills & Intestate Succession
- § 732.101Intestate estate
- § 732.102Spouse's share of intestate estate
- § 732.103Share of other heirs
- § 732.105Half blood
- § 732.106Afterborn heirs
- § 732.107Escheat
- § 732.108Adopted persons and persons born out of wedlock
- § 732.111Dower and curtesy abolished
- § 732.201Right to elective share
- § 732.2035Property entering into elective estate
- § 732.2065Amount of the elective share
- § 732.2135Time of election; extensions; withdrawal
- § 732.216Short title
- § 732.301Pretermitted spouse
- § 732.302Pretermitted children
- § 732.401Descent of homestead
- § 732.4015Devise of homestead
- § 732.4017Inter vivos transfer of homestead property
- § 732.402Exempt property
- § 732.403Family allowance
- § 732.501Who may make a will
- § 732.502Execution of wills
- § 732.503Self-proof of will
- § 732.504Who may witness
- § 732.507Effect of subsequent marriage, birth, adoption, or dissolution of marriage
- § 732.513Devises to trustee
- § 732.514Vesting of devises
- § 732.515Separate writing identifying devises of tangible property
- § 732.5165Effect of fraud, duress, mistake, and undue influence
- § 732.517Penalty clause for contest
- § 732.521Definitions
- § 732.522Method and place of execution
- § 732.6005Rules of construction and intention
- § 732.601Simultaneous Death Law
- § 732.603Antilapse; deceased devisee; class gifts
- § 732.604Failure of testamentary provision
- § 732.701Agreements concerning succession
- § 732.702Waiver of spousal rights
- § 732.7025Waiver of homestead rights through deed
- § 732.703Effect of divorce, dissolution, or invalidity of marriage on disposition of certain assets at death
- § 732.802Killer not entitled to receive property or other benefits by reason of victim's death
- § 732.8031Forfeiture for abuse, neglect, exploitation, or aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person or a disabled adult
- § 732.806Gifts to lawyers and other disqualified persons
- § 732.901Production of wills
Chapter 733 — Administration of Estates
- § 733.101Venue of probate proceedings
- § 733.105Determination of beneficiaries
- § 733.106Costs and attorney fees
- § 733.107Burden of proof in contests; presumption of undue influence
- § 733.109Revocation of probate
- § 733.201Proof of wills
- § 733.207Establishment and probate of lost or destroyed will
- § 733.209Estates of missing persons
- § 733.212Notice of administration; filing of objections
- § 733.2121Notice to creditors; filing of claims
- § 733.301Preference in appointment of personal representative
- § 733.304Nonresidents
- § 733.504Removal of personal representative; causes for removal
- § 733.505Jurisdiction in removal proceedings
- § 733.506Proceedings for removal
- § 733.508Accounting and discharge of removed personal representatives upon removal
- § 733.601Time of accrual of duties and powers
- § 733.602General duties
- § 733.604Inventories and accountings; public records exemptions
- § 733.607Possession of estate
- § 733.608General power of the personal representative
- § 733.609Improper exercise of power; breach of fiduciary duty
- § 733.610Sale, encumbrance, or transaction involving conflict of interest
- § 733.612Transactions authorized for the personal representative; exceptions
- § 733.617Compensation of personal representative
- § 733.6171Compensation of attorney for the personal representative
- § 733.702Limitations on presentation of claims
- § 733.705Payment of and objection to claims
- § 733.707Order of payment of expenses and obligations
- § 733.708Compromise
- § 733.710Limitations on claims against estates
- § 733.805Order in which assets abate
- § 733.816Disposition of unclaimed property held by personal representatives
- § 733.817Apportionment of estate taxes
- § 733.903Subsequent administration
Chapter 734 — Ancillary Administration
Chapter 735 — Small Estates
The Florida Trust Code
Chapter 736 and its neighbors — creating and amending trusts, spendthrift protection, trustee duties, and the remedies when a trustee gets it wrong.
Chapter 736 — The Florida Trust Code
- § 736.0110Others treated as qualified beneficiaries
- § 736.0201Role of court in trust proceedings
- § 736.0402Requirements for creation
- § 736.0403Trusts created in other jurisdictions; formalities required for revocable trusts
- § 736.0404Trust purposes
- § 736.0405Charitable purposes; enforcement
- § 736.0406Effect of fraud, duress, mistake, or undue influence
- § 736.0408Trust for care of an animal
- § 736.0409Noncharitable trust without ascertainable beneficiary
- § 736.0410Modification or termination of trust; proceedings for disapproval of nonjudicial acts
- § 736.04113Judicial modification of irrevocable trust when modification is not inconsistent with settlor's purpose
- § 736.04115Judicial modification of irrevocable trust when modification is in best interests of beneficiaries
- § 736.04117Trustee's power to invade principal in trust
- § 736.0412Nonjudicial modification of irrevocable trust
- § 736.0413Cy pres
- § 736.0414Modification or termination of uneconomic trust
- § 736.0502Spendthrift provision
- § 736.0503Exceptions to spendthrift provision
- § 736.0504Discretionary trusts; effect of standard
- § 736.0505Creditors' claims against settlor
- § 736.05055Notice of trust
- § 736.0602Revocation or amendment of revocable trust
- § 736.0703Cotrustees
- § 736.0704Vacancy in trusteeship; appointment of successor
- § 736.0706Removal of trustee
- § 736.0708Compensation of trustee
- § 736.0802Duty of loyalty
- § 736.0813Duty to inform and account
- § 736.0816Specific powers of trustee
- § 736.1001Remedies for breach of trust
- § 736.1002Damages for breach of trust
- § 736.1004Attorney's fees and costs
- § 736.1008Limitations on proceedings against trustees
- § 736.1017Certification of trust
- § 736.1104Person not entitled to receive property or other benefits by reason of victim's death
- § 736.1108Penalty clause for contest
- § 736.1207Power of court to permit deviation
Chapter 689 — Land, Trusts & Perpetuities
Chapter 518 — Investment of Fiduciary Funds
Estate Planning Documents
The statutes behind the documents — powers of attorney, disclaimers, digital-asset access, pay-on-death accounts, and the title shortcuts that skip probate.
Chapter 709 — Powers of Attorney
Chapter 739 — Disclaimers
Chapter 740 — Digital Assets
- § 740.002Definitions
- § 740.003User direction for disclosure of digital assets
- § 740.004Terms-of-service agreement preserved
- § 740.005Procedure for disclosing digital assets
- § 740.006Disclosure of content of electronic communications of deceased user
- § 740.007Disclosure of other digital assets of deceased user
- § 740.008Disclosure of content of electronic communications of principal
- § 740.009Disclosure of other digital assets of principal
- § 740.01Disclosure of digital assets held in trust when trustee is original user
- § 740.02Disclosure of content of electronic communications held in trust when trustee is not the original user
- § 740.03Disclosure of other digital assets held in trust when trustee is not the original user
- § 740.05Fiduciary duty and authority
- § 740.06Custodian compliance and immunity
- § 740.08Applicability
- § 740.11Relation to wills
Chapter 655 — Bank Accounts at Death
Chapter 319 — Motor Vehicle Titles
Chapter 725 — Statute of Frauds
Health Care & Anatomical Gifts
Surrogates, living wills, the proxy list when there's no paperwork, organ donation, and who may consent to what.
Chapter 765 — Advance Directives & Anatomical Gifts
- § 765.202Designation of a health care surrogate
- § 765.205Responsibility of the surrogate
- § 765.302Procedure for making a living will; notice to physician
- § 765.401The proxy
- § 765.510Legislative declaration
- § 765.512Persons who may make an anatomical gift
- § 765.513Donees; purposes for which anatomical gifts may be made
- § 765.514Manner of making anatomical gifts
- § 765.5155Donor registry; education program
- § 765.516Donor amendment or revocation of anatomical gift
- § 765.517Rights and duties at death
- § 765.5185Corneal removal by medical examiners
- § 765.521Donations as part of driver license or identification card process
- § 765.547Cooperation between medical examiner and procurement organization
Chapter 766 — Medical Malpractice
Chapter 760 — Genetic Testing & Privacy
Homestead, Exemptions & Creditors
What creditors can and cannot reach — Florida's exemption arsenal, fraudulent-transfer limits, tax homestead, and the estate-tax dead letter.
Chapter 222 — Property Exempt from Creditors
- § 222.11Exemption of wages from garnishment
- § 222.13Life insurance policies; disposition of proceeds
- § 222.14Exemption of cash surrender value of life insurance policies and annuity contracts from legal process
- § 222.17Manifesting and evidencing domicile in Florida
- § 222.21Exemption of pension money and certain tax-exempt funds or accounts from legal processes
- § 222.22Exemption of assets in qualified tuition programs, medical savings accounts, Coverdell education savings accounts, and hurricane savings accounts from legal process
- § 222.25Other individual property of natural persons exempt from legal process
- § 222.29No exemption for fraudulent transfers
- § 222.30Fraudulent asset conversions
Chapter 726 — Fraudulent Transfers
Chapter 95 — Time Limits on Lawsuits
Chapter 55 — Judgments
Chapter 196 — Homestead Tax Exemption
Chapter 198 — Estate Taxes
Family, Guardianship & Protection
Guardianship of people and money, exploitation of the elderly, marriage and parentage rules that decide who counts as an heir.
Chapter 744 — Guardianship
Chapter 825 — Exploitation of the Elderly
Chapter 415 — Adult Protective Services
- § 415.102Definitions of terms used in ss. 415.101-415.113
- § 415.1034Mandatory reporting of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults; mandatory reports of death
- § 415.1036Immunity
- § 415.104Protective investigations of cases of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults; transmittal of records to state attorney
- § 415.1051Protective services interventions when capacity to consent is lacking; nonemergencies; emergencies; orders; limitations
- § 415.111Criminal penalties
- § 415.1111Civil actions
Chapter 61 — Dissolution of Marriage
Chapter 741 — Marriage
Chapter 742 — Parentage
Chapter 826 — Bigamy
Chapter 90 — Evidence Code
Death, Remains & Records
Death certificates, medical examiners, funeral law's who-decides hierarchy, graves, and the records that are public — or sealed.
Chapter 382 — Vital Statistics & Death Records
Chapter 406 — Medical Examiners & Unclaimed Remains
- § 406.11Examinations, investigations, and autopsies
- § 406.12Duty to report; prohibited acts
- § 406.13Examiner's report; maintenance of records
- § 406.135Autopsies; confidentiality of photographs and video and audio recordings; confidentiality of reports of minor victims of domestic violence; exemption
- § 406.145Unidentified persons; reporting requirements
- § 406.49Definitions
- § 406.50Unclaimed remains; disposition, procedure
- § 406.51Final disposition of unclaimed deceased veterans; contract requirements
- § 406.52Retention of human remains before use; claim after delivery to anatomical board; procedures for unclaimed remains of indigent persons
- § 406.53Unclaimed remains of indigent person; exemption from notice to the anatomical board
- § 406.55Contracts for delivery of human remains after death prohibited
- § 406.56Acceptance of human remains under will
- § 406.57Distribution of human remains
- § 406.59Institutions receiving human remains
- § 406.60Disposition of human remains after use
- § 406.61Selling, buying, or conveying human remains outside state prohibited; exceptions; penalty
Chapter 497 — Funeral & Cemetery Services
Chapter 496 — Charitable Solicitation
Chapter 872 — Graves & Dead Bodies
Chapter 873 — Sale of Human Remains
Chapter 119 — Public Records
Chapter 384 — Communicable Disease Control
Chapter 379 — Fish & Wildlife
Civil Claims & Wrongful Death
Claims that outlive a person — survival actions, the Wrongful Death Act, civil theft, computer crimes, and publicity rights after death.
Chapter 46 — Survival of Actions
Chapter 49 — Service by Publication
Chapter 768 — Wrongful Death & Negligence
- § 768.16Wrongful Death Act
- § 768.18Definitions
- § 768.20Parties
- § 768.21Damages
- § 768.22Form of verdict
- § 768.25Court approval of settlements
- § 768.26Litigation expenses
- § 768.28Waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions; recovery limits; civil liability for damages caused during a riot; limitation on attorney fees; statute of limitations; exclusions; indemnification; risk management programs
Chapter 772 — Civil Theft
Chapter 775 — Criminal Penalties & Restitution
Chapter 815 — Computer Crimes
Chapter 540 — Right of Publicity
Business & Succession
What happens to an LLC, corporation, nonprofit, or partnership interest when its owner dies — and the agreements that beat the will.
Chapter 605 — Limited Liability Companies
Chapter 607 — Business Corporations
Chapter 617 — Nonprofit Corporations
Forfeiture, Lottery & the State
When the state has a claim of its own — contraband forfeiture, crime-proceeds liens, and lottery prizes that outlive the winner.
Chapter 932 — Contraband Forfeiture
Chapter 944 — Crime Proceeds
Florida Probate Rules
The court's own procedure — formal notice, adversary proceedings, and the filings that open, run, and close every Florida probate.
These are plain-English summaries, verified against the official text on flsenate.gov — they are not the statutes themselves, and they aren't legal advice for your situation. Every page links to the official text; when the Legislature moves, the official text controls.