Does Florida have a small estate affidavit?

No. Florida has no small estate affidavit you can hand to a bank. It uses two court procedures instead: summary administration and disposition without administration. Sites selling a Florida small estate affidavit form are misleading.

What is the summary administration limit in Florida?

As of July 1, 2026, summary administration covers estates with probate assets of $150,000 or less, raised from the previous $75,000. It is also available for any size estate if the person died more than two years ago.

What is disposition without administration?

It is a route for very small estates where the only assets are exempt property plus non-exempt personal property not exceeding funeral and last-illness medical costs. It reimburses whoever paid those bills.

What is the two-year rule?

If more than two years have passed since the death, creditor claims are barred, so summary administration becomes available regardless of the estate's size.

Do these require going to court?

Yes. Both summary administration and disposition without administration are petitions filed with the circuit court in the county where the person lived, not forms handed to a bank.

Florida "Small Estate Affidavit": What Actually Works

General information, not legal advice. Florida probate thresholds changed in 2026 and court practices vary by county. Confirm the current rules with the circuit court where the person lived, or a Florida probate attorney.

Read this first: Florida does not have a small estate affidavit. If a website is selling you a "Florida small estate affidavit" PDF, walk away, because the state settles small estates through two court procedures instead. The one most families use is summary administration, and its limit jumped to $150,000 on July 1, 2026. The tiny-estate alternative is disposition without administration.

Find your Florida path ↓

Florida has no small estate affidavit

Start by unlearning the term. In most states, "small estate affidavit" names a specific document, and people arrive expecting Florida to have one they can sign and take to the bank. It does not. Florida law never created that instrument, so the honest answer to "where is the Florida small estate affidavit form" is that there isn't one, and the vendors packaging generic national forms as Florida-specific are selling something that will not work here. What Florida offers instead are two abbreviated probate procedures under Chapter 735, both handled by the circuit court, that accomplish the same goal of settling a modest estate without full formal administration.

Summary administration: the $150,000 path

Summary administration is the workhorse, and it recently got more useful. As of July 1, 2026, it covers estates whose probate assets total $150,000 or less, up from the old $75,000 ceiling, a meaningful increase that pulls many more Florida estates into the simpler track. It is available in two situations: when the probate estate is within that dollar limit, or, separately, when the person has been dead for more than two years regardless of size. You file a petition with the circuit court, and rather than appointing a personal representative to run a months-long administration, the court can enter an order distributing the assets directly to those entitled to them.

Disposition without administration: the tiny-estate path

For the smallest estates, Florida offers something even lighter. Disposition without administration applies when the only assets are exempt property plus non-exempt personal property worth no more than the final funeral bill and the last 60 days of medical expenses. In practice it exists to reimburse the person who paid for the funeral or the final hospital stay, letting them recover those costs from the deceased's modest accounts without any real probate case. There is no personal representative and the filing fee is low. It is narrow by design, so it fits a specific situation, an estate with barely enough to cover the last expenses, rather than a general small estate.

The two-year shortcut

One Florida rule quietly solves a lot of stuck estates. Once more than two years have passed since the death, creditor claims are cut off entirely, and with the creditor problem gone, summary administration opens up no matter how large the estate is. This matters for the common scenario where a house or accounts sat untouched for years after a parent died because no one dealt with probate at the time. Instead of a full administration, the family may be able to use summary administration purely on the strength of that two-year mark. It is worth checking the date of death before assuming a long-delayed estate now requires the full formal process.

Florida small estate questions

Does Florida have a small estate affidavit?: No. It uses two court procedures instead: summary administration and disposition without administration. Sites selling a Florida small estate affidavit form are misleading.
What is the summary administration limit?: As of July 1, 2026, $150,000 or less in probate assets, raised from $75,000. It is also available for any size if the person died more than two years ago.
What is disposition without administration?: A route for very small estates where the only assets are exempt property plus personal property not exceeding funeral and last-illness costs. It reimburses whoever paid those bills.
What is the two-year rule?: After two years, creditor claims are barred, so summary administration becomes available regardless of size.
Do these require court?: Yes. Both are petitions filed with the circuit court where the person lived, not forms handed to a bank.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on Florida Statutes Chapter 735 and the 2026 threshold change. Confirm current rules with the circuit court or a Florida probate attorney.