How to Find Probate Properties in Florida

To find probate properties in Florida, you search the probate division docket of the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, which is a public record kept by the clerk of court. Every open estate is a court case, and the filings name the decedent, the personal representative, the attorney of record, and the path the property will take to market. Here is where the cases sit, how to read them, who can legally sign a deed, and when to make contact.

What is probate, and when does a Florida house go through it?

Probate is the court process that pays a dead person's debts and moves their assets to the people who inherit. In Florida it runs on the Florida Probate Code, chapters 731 through 735: chapter 732 controls intestate succession and homestead descent, chapter 733 governs the administration of estates, and chapter 735 provides the simplified paths for small estates.

Probate is required for the decedent's individually owned interest in property, including an undivided interest held as a tenant in common. Property passes outside probate when it is held with a right of survivorship (including tenancy by the entirety), was deeded into a trust under chapter 736, or was conveyed by an enhanced life estate (Lady Bird) or life estate deed with a named remainder. In those situations there is no estate case on the docket at all, and title moves at death by operation of law.

That makes the docket your first filter, not your lead source. A vacant house with a dead owner is only a probate lead if title still sits in the decedent's name alone, which you confirm in the clerk's official records, where the deeds are actually recorded; the county property appraiser's roll is a tax record that lags recording and does not show survivorship language or unrecorded interests, so use it to find candidates, not to confirm title.

Where are probate cases filed in Florida?

Probate cases belong to the circuit court's probate division, and the clerk of the circuit court keeps the docket, the case file, and the indexes. Each county runs its own online records search; the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court and Comptroller is one example of what they look like. Docket entries are public, though some clerks require a free account and some charge for document images.

Venue follows the decedent. A Florida resident's estate is probated in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, and a nonresident who left Florida real estate can be probated in any county where that property is located (section 733.101, Florida Statutes).

Cases are captioned Estate of the decedent and filed under a probate case type. The custodian of an original will must deposit it with the clerk within 10 days after learning of the death (section 732.901(1), Florida Statutes), which is often before any petition is filed; a deposited will is a public court record from that point, whether or not it has been admitted to probate. Rule 5.200(j) requires the petition to state that the original is already with the court or accompanies the petition. Dockets also carry guardianships and trust disputes, so filter to estate cases. For background on how these cases work from the court's own materials, Florida Courts Help publishes a plain-language probate overview.

How do you search probate dockets for free?

Work the clerk's records search in this order:

• Open the court records section of the clerk's site, not the official records section. Court records hold the probate docket; official records hold deeds, liens, and notices.
• Filter by case type, usually Probate and then Estate, or search the party field for the decedent's surname.
• Pull filings by date range. Petitions filed in the last 30 days are live leads with a motivated family behind them; a dump of every open estate in the county is a graveyard.
• Note the key filings on each docket: the petition for administration, the order admitting the will if there is one, the order appointing the personal representative, the letters of administration, and the notice of administration. Because s. 28.2221(5)(a) keeps probate images off public websites, expect to obtain the documents themselves as a registered or authorized user where the clerk allows it, by records request, or at the clerk's office, usually for a per-page fee.

The e-filing portal

Florida attorneys file probate documents through the statewide e-filing portal at myflcourtaccess.com. You do not need a portal account to search: everything filed through the portal shows up on the clerk's public docket. A Portal account will not help you track cases. Remote access to a case file through the Portal is limited to counsel of record; to follow cases that are not your own, use the clerk's court records search in the county where the case sits, and use that clerk's docket alerts or e-notification service where one is offered.

What the public file does not show

The personal representative must file a verified inventory of estate assets within 60 days after letters issue (Florida Probate Rule 5.340(a)), but inventories filed with the clerk are confidential under section 733.604(1)(b), Florida Statutes, and are released only to the personal representative, the personal representative's attorney, an interested person as defined in section 731.201, or anyone the court authorizes on a showing of good cause. Death certificate images are likewise kept off publicly available clerk websites by s. 28.2221(5)(a), and the cause-of-death portion is confidential, but anyone may obtain a certified copy with that portion redacted from the Bureau of Vital Statistics (s. 382.025(2)(a)). So in a formal administration the docket will not hand you the estate's asset list. Summary administration is the exception: Florida Probate Rule 5.530(a)(8) requires the petition to describe every asset and its estimated value, with any protected homestead and exempt property described separately, and that petition is a public filing. You build it yourself by searching the county property appraiser's ownership records for parcels in the decedent's name; the Department of Revenue publishes a directory of every property appraiser.

How do you read the petition and the letters of administration?

Any interested person may open an estate by filing a petition for administration (section 733.202, Florida Statutes). The petition is the most information-dense page in the file. Pull these facts out of it:

• the decedent's name, date of death, and county of domicile
• whether the decedent died testate or intestate
• the surviving spouse, heirs or devisees, their relationship to the decedent, and their addresses, which Florida Probate Rule 5.200(c) requires the petition to state so far as they are known
• the nominee for personal representative, usually a family member or the estate attorney
• the approximate value and nature of the assets, which Florida Probate Rule 5.200(g) requires; treat it as a weak signal only, because protected homestead and other exempt property are excluded from the estate subject to administration, so a file reporting a small number can still hold a high-value house
• whether bond is requested or waived, which matters because fiduciary bonds run in sections 733.402 through 733.406, Florida Statutes

Shortly after the petition you should find the order admitting the will to probate and appointing the personal representative, followed by the letters of administration. The letters are the personal representative's credential; they prove the appointment, and any title company will want certified copies at closing. Who gets the job follows a preference list (section 733.301, Florida Statutes): the will's nominee in a testate estate, and the surviving spouse first in an intestate estate, then the choice of a majority in interest of the heirs, then the nearest heir. Letters issued over someone with preference who never got formal notice can be revoked, so confirm the letters are still current before you rely on them.

Who has the authority to sell you a probate property?

The personal representative, but real estate is a special case. The statute listing a representative's default powers, section 733.612, covers selling personal property, settling claims, and running the estate, and it leaves real property out: the general power to dispose of assets excludes real estate, and estate real estate cannot even secure borrowed money. The authority to sell the house comes from section 733.613, Florida Statutes:

• If the will gives the personal representative a power of sale, specific or general, the representative may sell estate real estate without court authorization or confirmation, for cash or credit, with no showing of necessity (s. 733.613(2)).
• If the decedent died intestate, or the will grants no usable power of sale, the representative may still sell in the best interest of the estate, but no title passes until the court authorizes or confirms the sale (s. 733.613(1)).
• A purchaser or lender who buys under a SPECIFIC power to sell or mortgage real property, or under a court order authorizing or confirming the sale, takes title free of claims of estate creditors and entitlements of estate beneficiaries, except that existing mortgages and other liens against the real property are not affected (s. 733.613(3)). A sale made only under a general power to sell any asset of the estate does not get that statutory protection, so on a general-power sale ask the title underwriter whether it will insure without a court order.

Before you write an offer, ask to see certified letters of administration, the order appointing the representative, and either the will's power of sale clause or the entered order authorizing the sale. The conveyance will be a personal representative's deed. Be careful with deeds signed only by heirs while the estate is open. Title to Florida real property vests in the heirs or devisees at death, but it stays subject to administration: the personal representative has the right to take possession or control of estate property (s. 733.607(1), which excludes protected homestead), and estate creditors can still reach it. An heirs-only deed conveys whatever interest those heirs hold, subject to those rights, which is why most title underwriters will want a personal representative's deed under s. 733.613, or joinder by every person who takes title, before they will insure.

How does Florida homestead change the deal?

Florida puts one large obstacle in front of inherited houses. Under article X, section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution, a homestead cannot be devised by an owner survived by a spouse or a minor child, except that it may be devised to the owner's spouse if there is no minor child. A spouse can waive that protection, though, by a written marital agreement or waiver signed before two subscribing witnesses (section 732.702, Florida Statutes) or by the deed waiver language in section 732.7025, so check the file for a waiver before assuming a devise failed; a minor child's interest cannot be waived this way. It is also protected from most of the decedent's creditors. When those restrictions apply and the homestead is not validly devised, it descends by statute (section 732.401, Florida Statutes):

• Survived by a spouse and lineal descendants: the spouse takes a life estate with a vested remainder to the descendants per stirpes. The spouse may instead elect an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common. The election must be made within 6 months after death and during the spouse's lifetime, and once made it is irrevocable. That deadline is not extendable except when an attorney in fact or guardian is electing on the spouse's behalf: if that agent or guardian files a petition for court approval within the same 6-month window, the deadline for completing the election extends to at least 30 days after the court's order (s. 732.401(2)(b)-(c)).
• Survived by descendants but no spouse: the descendants take per stirpes, following the general intestate succession rules that section 732.401(1) directs homestead to follow (section 732.103, Florida Statutes).
• Survived by a spouse but no descendants: the spouse takes it, under that same general intestate succession rule (section 732.103, Florida Statutes).

For you as a buyer this cuts three ways. Title can be split among several owners, and every one of them must join the conveyance. A minor's or incapacitated owner's interest can be conveyed only by a guardian who has first obtained a court order authorizing the sale under section 744.441(12), Florida Statutes, which adds a separate petition, notice, and hearing to your timeline. Protected homestead that descends under s. 732.401 is not an estate asset the personal representative can sell under s. 733.613 - a power of sale in the will does not reach it (s. 733.607(1) excludes protected homestead from the PR's possession or control, and s. 733.608 gives the PR only limited custodial authority to preserve and insure the property, secured by a lien for those expenses; s. 733.608(12) lets an interested party petition to shift that lien onto the proceeds so a sale by the title holders can close, but it does not give any court power to order the homestead sold.). To buy descended homestead, every person who took title must join the deed. If an owner is a minor or is incapacitated, that interest can be conveyed only with guardianship court approval under s. 744.441(12); if a co-owner refuses, the remaining route is a partition action under chapter 64, which is available only where the holdouts are true co-tenants; under Florida case law (not chapter 64's text), partition generally is not available against a surviving spouse's life estate under s. 732.401(1) unless the spouse has elected the undivided one-half tenancy in common under s. 732.401(2); confirm the current case law with a Florida real estate attorney before relying on it. There is no probate order that conveys descended protected homestead. The court can, however, enter an order determining that the property is protected homestead and identifying who took title under s. 732.401, on petition under Florida Probate Rule 5.405, and Florida title underwriters routinely want that recorded order in hand before they will insure the sale. And on the upside, homestead descending under section 732.401 passes free of the decedent's other debts, so the equity is often cleaner than in a non-homestead estate. Property held as tenants by the entirety or with right of survivorship sits outside this statute entirely (s. 732.401(5)).

Summary or formal administration: which one is your lead?

Chapter 735 provides summary administration for smaller estates. It is available when the will does not require formal administration and either the value of the Florida estate, excluding property exempt from creditors, does not exceed $150,000 (raised from $75,000 by chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, effective July 1, 2026; the act sets no date-of-death cutoff, so the cap that applies to a decedent who died before that date is an open question), or the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years (section 735.201, Florida Statutes). There is no personal representative in summary administration and no letters issue. The order of summary administration itself assigns title to the beneficiaries, and those people sign the deed as owners. Creditors are not automatically cut off here. Publishing a notice to creditors is optional in summary administration, and when it is published it bars only the claims of creditors who are not known or reasonably ascertainable, 3 months after first publication (s. 735.2063). Everyone who receives property under the order stays personally liable for a pro rata share of lawful claims, up to the value each received (s. 735.206(4)(e)), and the outside bar is 2 years after death (s. 735.206(4)(f); s. 733.710), which is why underwriters look hard at summary administration files opened inside that 2-year window. For truly tiny estates, disposition without administration (ss. 735.301 through 735.304) moves personal property only and does not convey real estate.

	Formal administration	Summary administration
When it is used	Estate exceeds the summary thresholds, or the will requires it	Florida estate excluding exempt property is $150,000 or less (raised from $75,000 effective July 1, 2026 by ch. 2026-57, which sets no date-of-death cutoff), or decedent dead more than 2 years (s. 735.201)
Who controls the property	Personal representative holding letters	No representative; the beneficiaries named in the order
How the house sells	Personal representative's deed, under a will power of sale or a court order (s. 733.613)	All beneficiaries who take title join the deed
Documents to verify	Letters, order appointing the PR, will, sale order if required	Order of summary administration
Who you contact	The PR and the attorney of record	The beneficiaries listed in the order, plus the filing attorney

How do you build a probate lead list and reach the right person?

The weekly routine

• Pick two or three counties that match your farm area and learn each clerk's records search.
• Pull new probate estate filings every week. Log the case number, decedent, personal representative nominee, attorney of record, and filing date.
• Cross-reference the property appraiser for parcels still titled to the decedent. Flag homestead status, assessed value, and whether a different mailing address suggests an out-of-area heir.
• Drop the estates with no Florida real estate. They are a large share of any probate docket.
• Track the cases that survive: letters issued, notice to creditors published, petition to sell or order authorizing sale, and any lis pendens if a fight breaks out.

Making contact

The docket hands you two targets: the personal representative and the attorney of record. The attorney signs nearly every filing, and you can pull current contact information from the Florida Bar member directory. Beneficiary addresses are required content of the petition under Florida Probate Rule 5.200(c), but because probate images are not posted publicly you will usually have to pull the petition from the clerk to get them. A short letter through the attorney of record is still the dependable first move, with a follow-up call to the attorney's office. Lead with what the estate actually wants: a defensible as-is price, proof of funds, and a buyer who will close on the representative's authority under the letters, following whichever path section 733.613 requires, without waiting for the estate to close. Heirs cannot bind the estate, but they often surface first and can introduce you to the representative.

Timing drives response rates more than script. The statutory clocks give you a map:

Milestone	What the law does	Why it matters to you
Petition filed (s. 733.202)	Estate case opens, docket goes live	Earliest you can see the lead
Order and letters issued	PR's authority begins	You can contract now, subject to the s. 733.613 path
Notice of administration served (s. 733.212)	Will and jurisdiction objections barred 3 months after service, or earlier of discharge or 1 year	Will-contest risk shrinks on a schedule
Notice to creditors published	Claims barred by the later of 3 months after first publication or 30 days after service (s. 733.702)	The estate's debt picture firms up while you negotiate
Sale under power of sale or court order (s. 733.613)	PR conveys by personal representative's deed	Your closing
Distribution and discharge	Estate closes	Too late; you wanted this file months ago

The best window is after letters issue and before a listing agreement or sale petition appears on the docket. The family has an authorized seller, the creditor clock is running, and nobody is marketing the house yet.

What to do next

Pick your counties, pull the last 30 days of probate estate filings, and work the verification chain on each one: property appraiser ownership, petition, letters, and the section 733.613 path the sale will need. If you would rather not assemble the pipeline by hand, estate.partners Pro pulls these county records daily and ranks them, so the newest, most contactable estates surface first (see the plans). Nothing here is legal advice; confirm authority and homestead questions on a specific deal with a Florida real estate attorney or the title company closing your purchase.