Florida just doubled the estates that qualify for its fastest probate.

What changed

Summary administration is Florida’s abbreviated probate: no personal representative is appointed, the court enters an order distributing assets directly, and the whole process typically runs weeks instead of months. Until now it was limited to estates whose non-exempt assets did not exceed $75,000 (or where the decedent had been gone more than two years), a number set in 2001 and never adjusted for a quarter century of inflation.

CS/HB 1337 (Chapter 2026-57), signed April 29, 2026, amends Fla. Stat. 735.201 to raise that ceiling to $150,000 for deaths on or after July 1, 2026. Deaths before that date remain under the old $75,000 limit, and the two-year rule is unchanged.

Who this affects

A large share of ordinary Florida estates sits between $75,000 and $150,000 in countable assets, especially once the homestead is excluded (a protected Florida homestead generally does not count against the ceiling). Families in that band previously faced formal administration: a personal representative, a creditor-notice period, and commonly 8 to 12 months in the courts. Many of those estates can now close in a fraction of the time.

The math changes too. The Kogan Firm handles summary administration for a flat $3,000, while formal administration starts at $4,500 and is quoted per matter. For a $120,000 estate, the new ceiling is the difference between the flat fee and the longer, costlier process.

What to do

If you are handling a loved one’s estate, the date of death now matters more than it used to. Run the numbers in our probate calculator and cost estimator, both already updated for the new ceiling, or read the full breakdown in What Does Probate Cost in Florida.