Florida’s Probate Maze: Why Even Simple Estates Get Stuck in the System for Years

The numbers are staggering, and they’re getting worse.

According to data from the Florida Courts, more than 67,000 probate cases were opened in Florida circuit courts in 2024 alone. Of those, nearly 42% remained pending for over 18 months — and that was before recent legislative changes made certain contested estates even more complex to resolve. For families navigating grief while simultaneously fighting Florida’s labyrinthine probate system, the delays aren’t just frustrating. They’re financially devastating.

The Perfect Storm: Why Florida Probate Takes So Long

Florida’s probate process has become uniquely time-consuming due to a convergence of factors that other states simply don’t face at the same scale. First, the sheer volume of cases overwhelms circuit courts in high-population counties. Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, and Orange counties each handle thousands of estate matters annually with insufficient judicial resources to keep pace.

Second, Florida’s status as a retirement destination creates unusual complications. Many decedents own property in multiple states, maintain bank accounts and investments scattered across the country, and have blended families with competing claims from different marriages. The Florida Probate Code itself contains more than 150 distinct sections governing everything from creditor claims to homestead exemptions, each with specific timing requirements and notice provisions.

Third — and perhaps most critically — Florida law requires creditors be given a minimum of three months to file claims against an estate, even when no significant debts exist. Add mandatory waiting periods for objections, asset appraisals that routinely take 60–90 days, and tax clearances from both state and federal authorities, and you’re looking at a minimum six-month timeline in even the simplest uncontested case.

When disputes arise? All bets are off.

When Heirs Go to War: The Hidden Costs of Contested Estates

Contested probate cases — those involving will challenges, beneficiary disputes, allegations of undue influence, or claims against the personal representative — make up roughly 18% of Florida probate filings according to research from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. But they consume a disproportionate share of both court time and family wealth.

Consider a recent Sarasota County case in which three adult children challenged their late father’s will, claiming his second wife manipulated him during the final months of his life. The estate, valued at approximately $4.2 million, entered probate in May 2022. As of November 2025, the case remains pending. Legal fees and related costs have surpassed $800,000 — nearly 20% of the estate’s value.

This isn’t unusual. In contested Florida estates, it’s not uncommon for legal and administrative costs to consume 15–30% of the total value before a single dollar reaches any beneficiary. Depositions, forensic accountings, expert witness testimony, and protracted discovery all carry price tags that escalate quickly.

The emotional toll compounds the financial damage. Siblings who once gathered for holidays stop speaking. Grandchildren are cut off from inheritances their grandparents intended for them. Family businesses are liquidated rather than preserved. And throughout it all, the estate remains frozen — assets locked in limbo while attorneys bill by the hour and judges struggle with overloaded dockets.

The Homestead Exemption Trap

Florida’s constitutional homestead protections, enshrined in Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, create another common pressure point in probate. While intended to protect surviving spouses and minor children, these rules frequently generate disputes when decedents remarry late in life or own property in complex ownership structures.

Homestead property cannot be devised away from a surviving spouse or minor children unless specific conditions are met. Many Florida residents — particularly those who relocated from other states — draft wills or trusts that inadvertently violate homestead restrictions. The result: litigation to determine whether property qualifies for homestead protection, who is entitled to it, and whether prior estate planning documents are void.

In one recent Tampa case, a widower’s will left his $1.8 million home to his adult daughter from his first marriage. His second wife, to whom he’d been married for 11 years at the time of his death, contested the bequest on homestead grounds. Two and a half years and more than $300,000 in combined legal fees later, the court ruled the home was indeed homestead property and passed entirely to the surviving spouse — exactly the opposite outcome the decedent had intended.

Why DIY Estate Planning Often Backfires

The proliferation of online will-creation tools and “simple” estate planning templates has ironically increased probate complexity rather than reduced it. Generic documents created without Florida-specific legal review routinely fail to account for homestead restrictions, elective share rights, pretermitted spouse provisions, and the precise execution formalities required under Florida Statute 732.502.

Even a single missing signature from one of the two required witnesses can invalidate an entire will, forcing the estate into intestate administration and triggering distribution schemes the decedent never intended. The cost of fixing these problems in probate court dwarfs what proper planning would have cost upfront.

Getting Ahead of the Problem

For Florida residents with estates exceeding $75,000 in non-exempt assets, or those with real property, complex family dynamics, or cross-border holdings, proactive planning isn’t optional — it’s financial self-defense. Revocable living trusts, properly funded and administered, can avoid probate entirely for most assets. Designated beneficiary accounts, transfer-on-death deeds (now permitted in Florida), and strategic titling reduce what passes through the court system.

But here’s the critical piece most people miss: the quality of your estate planning counsel directly determines whether your plan works when it matters most. Cookie-cutter approaches fail when families are blended, when Florida homestead law applies, when business interests or out-of-state property are involved, or when substantial creditor claims may arise.

Families dealing with Florida estates that have already entered the probate system — particularly those facing delays, disputes, or questionable administration — should consult experienced top-rated probate and estate attorneys in Florida who understand both the substantive law and the procedural realities of how Florida courts actually operate. The difference between competent representation and elite representation often measures in hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of unnecessary litigation.

The 2026 Landscape

Recent changes to Florida’s elective share statute, modifications to creditor claim procedures, and evolving case law on digital assets have further complicated an already complex system. Courts are now grappling with cryptocurrency holdings, NFTs, social media accounts with monetary value, and online business interests that didn’t exist when Florida’s probate statutes were originally drafted.

The probate system isn’t getting simpler. Court backlogs aren’t shrinking. And the financial stakes for getting it wrong have never been higher. For Florida families navigating estate settlement — or for those who want to ensure their own estates don’t become cautionary tales — the message is clear: this isn’t a corner to cut, and time isn’t on your side.

The alternative to planning well is planning poorly. And in Florida probate, planning poorly means your heirs will spend years and small fortunes cleaning up what a few hours of proper legal work could have prevented.