Glossary · Probate Administration
Personal Representative
Florida’s name for the executor: the person the court appoints to administer an estate.
The personal representative is the individual or institution appointed by the probate court to manage a decedent’s estate. Other states call this role the executor or administrator. The personal representative gathers assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what is left.
Florida law limits who can serve. A personal representative must be a Florida resident, or, if a nonresident, a close relative such as a spouse, child, parent, or sibling. Most people who are neither Florida residents nor close family cannot serve.
The role carries a fiduciary duty, meaning the personal representative must act in the best interests of the estate and its beneficiaries, and can be held personally responsible for mishandling it.
In Florida
Florida restricts who may serve as personal representative. A nonresident can serve only if related to the decedent by blood, marriage, or adoption, for example a spouse, child, parent, or sibling. A nonresident friend or unrelated business partner generally cannot serve.
Common questions
Can someone out of state be a personal representative in Florida?
Only if they are a close relative of the decedent. Nonresidents who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption generally cannot serve.
Is a personal representative the same as an executor?
Yes. Personal representative is simply Florida’s term for what many states call an executor or administrator.
Paul Kogan
Fort Lauderdale Litigation Attorney, The Kogan Firm, P.A.
- 17+ years
- Florida Bar
- Martindale Peer Rated
Estate Planning and Probate
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This page is general information about Personal Representative under Florida law and does not constitute legal advice. Every family and estate is different.