Florida's small estate limits doubled on July 1, 2026: summary administration now reaches $150,000, and there is no single small estate affidavit

Florida's main small estate procedure, summary administration, is available when the Florida estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors' claims, is worth no more than $150,000, or when the decedent has been dead more than 2 years. The figure was $75,000 until chapter 2026-57 (CS/HB 1337) took effect on July 1, 2026. The same act doubled Florida's three smaller figures: $2,000 for a bank payout without court, $20,000 for an heir's affidavit filed with the court, and $5,000 for a federal tax refund.

Figures above were read from the 2026 Florida Statutes and chapter 2026-57 on the Florida Senate and Laws of Florida sites on 2026-10-12. See sources.

We record each state's limit, waiting period and official forms, with the statute and the date we checked. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice; the outcome for a particular estate depends on its facts and on the court.

The four Florida figures that changed on July 1, 2026

Chapter 2026-57 amended four dollar amounts in chapter 735 of the Florida Statutes, the part of the Probate Code on small estates. Each one doubled.

The bill page on the Florida Senate site records the timeline: the House passed CS/HB 1337 110-0 on February 17, 2026, the Senate passed it 37-0 on February 26, 2026, the Governor approved it on April 29, 2026, and it was assigned chapter number 2026-57 on April 30, 2026. Section 14 of the act reads: "This act shall take effect July 1, 2026."

Summary administration under section 735.201

The 2026 text of section 735.201(2) reads: "That the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $150,000 or that the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years." Subsection (1) adds a second condition for an estate with a will: the will must not direct administration as required by chapter 733. The section applies to both resident and nonresident decedents.

Other rules in part I of chapter 735, none of which the 2026 act changed:

• Who files. Any beneficiary or person nominated as personal representative in the will may file the petition. It must be signed and verified by the surviving spouse, if any, and the beneficiaries, except a beneficiary who will receive a full distributive share (section 735.203).
• Creditors. Before the order is entered, the petitioner must make a diligent search for known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, serve them with the petition, and provide for their payment to the extent assets are available (section 735.206(2)).
• The order. The court may enter an order of summary administration allowing immediate distribution. Banks and others holding the decedent's property are authorized to comply with it (section 735.206(3) and (4)(b)).
• Claims. After 2 years from the death, neither the estate nor the recipients are liable for claims against the decedent unless enforcement proceedings were started (section 735.206(4)(f)). A published notice to creditors can bar unknown creditors who do not file within 3 months (section 735.2063).

What is subtracted before comparing with $150,000

The statute subtracts "property exempt from the claims of creditors". Florida law gives that status to several kinds of property:

• Exempt property under section 732.402, for a decedent domiciled in Florida: household furniture, furnishings and appliances up to a net value of $20,000; two motor vehicles of no more than 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight each, regularly used as personal vehicles; section 529 qualified tuition programs; and benefits paid under section 112.1915. Section 732.402(3) says this property is exempt from all claims against the estate except perfected security interests.
• Protected homestead. Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution exempts a homestead from forced sale (up to 160 acres outside a municipality, or one-half acre inside one) and says "These exemptions shall inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner." Section 731.201(33) defines "protected homestead" by reference to that provision, and says property held as tenants by the entireties or in joint tenancy with right of survivorship is not protected homestead.

Florida Probate Rule 5.530, as reproduced in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit's July 2026 packet, requires the petition to give "a description of all assets in the estate and the estimated value of each, and a separate description of any protected homestead and exempt property". Whether a particular home qualifies as protected homestead is a question for the court; this page does not decide it.

Does Florida have a small estate affidavit?

Not under that name. The phrase small estate affidavit does not appear in chapter 735 of the 2026 Florida Statutes. Part II of the chapter, on disposition of personal property without administration, contains three procedures that use an affidavit or an informal application, plus the tax refund rule:

• Bank accounts up to $2,000, no court (section 735.303). A financial institution may pay the funds in the decedent's "qualified accounts" (sole-name deposit accounts or certificates of deposit with no pay-on-death or other survivor designation) to a family member, if the combined funds at that institution do not exceed $2,000. "The financial institution may not make such payment earlier than 6 months after the date of the decedent’s death." The family member signs a sworn affidavit (the statute prints a form) stating, among other things, that the total in all qualified accounts at all financial institutions known to the affiant does not exceed $2,000, and that no probate or summary administration has been started. Eligible family members, in order: the surviving spouse; an adult child if there is no spouse; an adult descendant if there is no spouse or adult child; a parent if there is none of those.
• Intestate personal property up to $20,000, filed with the court (section 735.304). For a decedent who died without a will and left only exempt personal property plus nonexempt personal property worth no more than $20,000 plus preferred funeral expenses and reasonable medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness. The decedent must have been dead more than 1 year, and no administration may be pending in Florida. An heir files an affidavit, which must be served on heirs who did not join, on known creditors and, if the decedent was over 55, on the Agency for Health Care Administration. The court then authorizes the transfer by letter under seal.
• Funeral and last-illness costs (section 735.301). When the estate holds only exempt personal property and nonexempt personal property worth no more than preferred funeral expenses plus reasonable medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days, the court may authorize payment on informal application "by affidavit, letter, or otherwise". This section states no fixed dollar figure and was not changed in 2026.
• Federal tax refund up to $5,000 (section 735.302). A refund of up to $5,000 may go directly to the surviving spouse on a verified application, or, if there is none, to a child designated by all children over 14, when no administration has been started or is planned.

None of these transfers real estate. The 735.304 and 735.301 procedures cover personal property, and 735.303 covers only bank deposits. Real property is handled through summary administration or formal administration; the Orange County clerk's packet, for example, asks for legal descriptions of real property in the proposed order.

What else CS/HB 1337 changed

The act was not only about small estates. According to its title and the House's final bill analysis dated April 30, 2026, it also:

• requires a safe-deposit box lessor to give access to a personal representative who presents letters of administration, and to let a Florida personal representative pay charges and end the lease (sections 655.933 and 655.936);
• expressly lets a personal representative start a court proceeding to enforce the representative's authority, with taxable costs and attorney fees awarded to a prevailing representative (sections 733.603, 733.612 and new 733.6125);
• adds such proceedings to the list of extraordinary services for which the representative's attorney may be paid (section 733.6171).

Deaths before July 1, 2026

Chapter 2026-57 contains one effective-date clause, section 14, and no clause saying whether the $150,000 figure depends on the date of death, the filing date, or whether an estate was already open. The final bill analysis does not address the question either. Section 735.2055, which the act did not change, reads: "The petition for summary administration may be filed at any stage of the administration of an estate if it appears that at the time of filing the estate would qualify." We found no Florida statute, court order or clerk page that states how the new figure applies to a death before July 1, 2026. Some private websites state that the date of death controls; we did not find an official source for that statement.

Court forms updated after the change, and pages still showing $75,000

Florida probate forms are published by individual circuits and clerks, not by one state office. On 2026-10-12 we read the official pages and forms below.

What we could not confirm

• The Florida Supreme Court's own opinion amending Probate Rule 5.530 to $150,000. The court's opinions page is disallowed for automated reading by its robots.txt, and the Florida Bar's Probate Rules PDF returned HTTP 403. We relied instead on the rule text reprinted in the Fifteenth Circuit packet, whose rule pages carry the date 07/01/2026.
• How the $150,000 figure applies to deaths before July 1, 2026 (not stated in the act or the final bill analysis; see above).
• The Pinellas County Clerk's probate page (HTTP 403) and the Flagler County Clerk's own summary administration packet (its server's robots.txt could not be read). We did not read them.
• Whether the Clay County checklist dated by its 2024 upload folder is still the version the court uses.

Sources

• Section 735.201 (2026) - The Florida Senate; section 735.201 (2025 edition) - The Florida Senate, read 2026-10-12
• Sections 735.203, 735.2055, 735.206, 735.2063, 735.301, 735.302, 735.303 and 735.304 (2026) - The Florida Senate: 735.203, 735.2055, 735.206, 735.2063, 735.301, 735.302, 735.303, 735.304, read 2026-10-12
• Chapter 735, entire chapter (2026) - The Florida Senate, read 2026-10-12
• Sections 732.402 and 731.201 (2026) - The Florida Senate: 732.402, 731.201, read 2026-10-12
• Florida Constitution, Article X, section 4 - The Florida Senate, read 2026-10-12
• CS/HB 1337 (2026): bill page, enrolled text (PDF), final bill analysis, April 30, 2026 (PDF) - The Florida Senate, read 2026-10-12
• Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida - Laws of Florida, laws.flrules.org (PDF), read 2026-10-12
• Summary Administration Packet, Intestate, Rev. 07/07/2026 - Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Law Library (PDF), read 2026-10-12
• Testate Summary Administration checklist, Flagler County - Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida (Word file), read 2026-10-12
• Information Cover Sheet for Petition for Summary Administration - Orange County Clerk of Courts (PDF), read 2026-10-12
• Summary Administration and Probate pages - Nassau County Clerk: Summary Administration, Probate, read 2026-10-12
• Probate - St. Johns County Clerk, read 2026-10-12
• Checklist for Summary Administration - Clay County Clerk site (PDF), read 2026-10-12

Source links are not affiliate links. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.