Probate

It is psychologically hard when a relative or friend dies. Many questions arise after the person’s death. What to do with the person’s house? With his/her automobile? With his/her insurance(s)?, With his/her bank account(s)? To whom will the person’s properties (real and personal) should belong to? Did the person have a Last Will and Testament? If the person did not have a Last Will and Testament, who receives his/her properties? Did the person leave debts that had to be paid? Who pays those debts?

Florida law provides what is called the Probate Code. These are laws which, generally, provide answers to those questions. Florida law also requires, even if the person has a Last Will and Testament, that a case be opened in Court called a “probate administration”. This Court case is required to provide for the administration of the deceased’s properties and debts (proper transfer of properties, payments of debts, sue on the deceased’s name, among many other). It is a very detailed case in which the law imposes many requirements. The law, in many instances, requires that an attorney be hired to process these administration cases.

Our Firm has successfully opened, processed, and completed many probate administration cases in Florida on behalf of our clients. We have had complex cases where we were the acting attorney firm for the deceased’s estate in defending lawsuits filed against the deceased after his/her death, where we opened probate administrations to process lawsuits filed by the deceased’s estate against third persons who caused his/her death, and where transfer of title to a home, land, jewelry, and other properties was necessary.