Start with the recorded deed.
The word “deceased” does not tell you whether a probate order is needed. The way the owner held title changes the path.
Pick the ownership pattern on the file. Each one sends the work somewhere different on day one.
One estate, different signing paths.
The route changes the contract, the deed, and the people who have to be coordinated.
One appointed representative
The court appoints a personal representative. The Letters of Administration evidence the PR’s authority. Review the will, the Letters, the law, and any sale order before you name the signer.
Petition → appointment → Letters → sale authority.
Typical signer: the PR in representative capacity, subject to their authority and to title requirements.
The order vests the property
No PR, no Letters. The order of summary administration distributes the property. Identify the people and interests named in it, then confirm who title requires to execute the deed.
Petition → order → recipients → deed.
Coordinating several recipients often takes longer than coordinating one PR.
Eligibility depends on the statute and the estate facts
Effective July 1, 2026, Florida raised the summary administration value cap from $75,000 to $150,000. The change is chapter 2026-57, § 7 (CS/HB 1337), which amended § 735.201(2); the Governor approved it April 29, 2026.
The act contains no applicability, retroactivity, or date-of-death provision — § 14 states only that it takes effect July 1, 2026, and the act’s title describes the amendment as “revising when summary administration proceedings may commence.” Ask probate counsel how that bears on a death before that date. The calculation still excludes property exempt from creditor claims, and the alternate route more than two years after death is unchanged.
A will directing formal administration, and protected homestead, can both change the analysis. Never apply a cap to the house’s gross market value without a legal review.
The decedent lived out of state
Florida real estate may need a Florida ancillary proceeding. Coordinate with probate counsel on the foreign estate records and the Florida authority.
Disposition without administration
This limited personal-property procedure does not itself transfer title to real estate. If someone offers it as the answer on a house, it is the wrong instrument.
The estate and the sale run on different clocks.
Select a milestone. A closing can happen while the estate is still open, once the authority and the underwriter’s conditions are satisfied.
Section 733.613 generally permits a PR to sell without a separate sale order when the will gives sufficient authority. Check the will, and check for restrictions printed on the Letters.
If the decedent died intestate, or the will does not provide usable sale power, court authorization or confirmation may be needed for title to pass. Escalate to counsel and title early — this is the step that moves closing dates.
Make the first move.
Read the file, choose the best next action, then compare your thinking against the closing path.
Catch the missing document early.
A working checklist. The actual commitment and the underwriter’s written instructions control every file.
Core authority packet
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Send these to counsel and title
With enough runway to resolve them before the closing date.
Can you run the file?
Six decisions. Answer each once; the feedback names the rule behind it.
Answer the six decisions to see your result.
Title coordinators coordinate. Probate counsel answers inheritance, homestead, and legal-authority questions.