Chapter 733 — Administration of Estates

Florida Statute 733.707

“Order of payment of expenses and obligations”

What it means

When an estate cannot pay everything, §733.707 decides the order. Costs of administration and fees are Class 1. Funeral, interment, and grave-marker expenses are Class 2, capped at $6,000 in aggregate no matter who paid. Debts and taxes with federal preference are Class 3, medical bills from the final 60 days of the last illness are Class 4, then family allowance, child-support arrears, and post-death business debts.

Class 8 is everyone else — including creditors holding judgments won against the decedent while alive, plus any funeral or medical amounts over the caps. Each class is paid in full before the next; a class that can't be paid fully shares ratably. Assets the decedent held in a revocable trust are reachable under subsection (3).

— What it says

Class 1: costs and expenses of administration, plus personal representative and attorney compensation.
Class 2: funeral, interment, and grave-marker expenses, capped at $6,000 in aggregate, whoever paid them.
Class 3: debts and taxes with federal preference; Class 4: medical and hospital bills of the last 60 days of the final illness.
Class 5 family allowance; Class 6 court-ordered child-support arrearage; Class 7 debts of the decedent's continued business, to that business's assets.
Class 8: all other claims — including judgments from the decedent's lifetime — plus any excess over the Class 2 and Class 4 caps.
Within a short class, creditors share ratably; the decedent's revocable trust is liable under §733.707(3).

— In a real probate

How it plays out

The order surprises families in both directions. A judgment creditor who chased the decedent for years discovers Class 8 means pennies. A daughter who paid a $9,000 funeral learns only $6,000 of it is preferred — the balance waits at the back. In any administration that might be insolvent, we build the class list before a single estate cheque is written, because a personal representative who pays out of order is personally exposed for the difference.

Where this shows up

Pages on this site where § 733.707 does real work:

Related sections

§ 733.702Limitations on presentation of claims § 733.705Payment of and objection to claims § 733.710Limitations on claims against estates § 732.403Family allowance § 733.607Possession of estate § 733.617Compensation of personal representative

Questions people ask

Who gets paid first from a Florida estate?

Administration costs and fees (Class 1), then up to $6,000 of funeral expenses (Class 2), then debts with federal preference such as taxes (Class 3), then last-60-days medical bills (Class 4). Ordinary creditors and lifetime judgments are Class 8, paid last under Florida Statute 733.707.

The official text

This page is a plain-English summary, verified against the 2026 Florida Statutes — it is not the statute, and it isn't legal advice for your situation.

Read § 733.707