You, the plaintiff, must file a “Statement of Claim” form, available at your Clerk's office. This must be fully completed and signed to receive a pre-trial conference date. If your claim is based upon written documentation, attach a copy of the contract to the Statement of Claim form. You may file by mail or in person.
The first step is for the executor to publish a “Notice to Creditors” in a local newspaper. This puts general creditors on notice that they may have a claim against the estate. The notice triggers a 3-month window for creditors to file their claims from the date of first publication.
Creditors who did not receive notice to creditors, however, can make claims for as long as two years from the date of death. Throughout this period, the personal representative must make a list of all known and potential creditors and file this with the court.
The statement of claim should be typed or printed in black ink. Make certain you file your claim against the right party. Copies of contracts, notes, leases, receipts, or other evidence in support of your claim must be attached to your statement of claim, and copied to each person sued and the court.
Filing for probate – 10-day deadline This specifies that the individual in possession of the deceased's last will and testament must file for probate within 10 days from the date of death of the deceased in the same county where the deceased died. The size of the estate to be probated does not affect these ten days.
Unknown creditors must file their claims within the 90-day window following the publication of the notice. Note that all claims against an estate are barred two years after the decedent's date of death, regardless of whether a probate proceeding has been initiated or a Notice to Creditors has been published.
File a Small Claims Case You, the plaintiff, must file a “Statement of Claim” form, available at your Clerk's office. This must be fully completed and signed to receive a pre-trial conference date. If your claim is based upon written documentation, attach a copy of the contract to the Statement of Claim form.
Although the exact time frame is debatable, an estate can be expected to be settled within a few months for simple estates and a year or more for more complex estates. The probate process for Florida estate settlements typically takes about six months to a year, depending on all factors involved.
Florida law does not require all of a decedent's assets to go through probate. The ownership of certain beneficiary-designated accounts, such as jointly held accounts and payable-on-death accounts, will transfer automatically outside of probate.