Florida’s New $150,000 Summary Administration Threshold (CS/HB 1337): What Changes July 1, 2026

By Alexis Bucelo Diaz, Esq., Founding Attorney, Bucelo Diaz Law, PLLC. Last reviewed: June 12, 2026.

On July 1, 2026, the value limit for summary administration, Florida’s simplified probate process, doubles from $75,000 to $150,000. The change comes from CS/HB 1337, passed unanimously by the Florida Legislature and signed by the Governor on April 29, 2026 as Chapter No. 2026-57, Laws of Florida. Starting July 1, an estate qualifies for summary administration under F.S. §735.201 if its nonexempt assets total $150,000 or less, or if the decedent has been dead for more than two years. Homestead property does not count toward the limit. Families who would have been forced into months of formal administration can now use a faster, less expensive court process. If you are not sure whether an estate needs probate at all, start with our guide to when probate is required in Florida.

The threshold is one part of a larger system. For how summary and formal administration fit together, see our Complete Guide to Florida Probate.

What Is Summary Administration?

Summary administration is Florida’s shortened probate track, governed by F.S. §§735.201 through 735.2063. Instead of appointing a personal representative, the court reviews a petition filed under F.S. §735.203, confirms the estate qualifies, and enters an order releasing assets directly to the beneficiaries. In many counties the process takes weeks rather than months, and banks, brokerages, and title companies accept the signed order as authority to transfer assets.

For a full walkthrough of the process, see our Florida summary administration service page or our Florida probate lawyer overview.

Why the Old $75,000 Threshold Forced Families Into Formal Administration

The $75,000 cap was set a generation ago and was never indexed for inflation. In today’s Florida, a single retirement rollover or a modest brokerage account can push an estate past $75,000 even when the family would call it small. The result: thousands of estates each year were just over the line and had to go through formal administration instead.

Formal administration means the court appoints a personal representative, issues letters of administration, and supervises the estate until it closes. The personal representative must publish a notice to creditors, which opens a three month claim window under F.S. §733.702, file an inventory, respond to claims, and account to the court. The process commonly runs six months to a year or longer, and attorney compensation is benchmarked by the percentage based fee schedule in F.S. §733.6171. For families inheriting a bank account and little else, that is a heavy procedure for a light estate. Our Florida probate cost guide breaks down what each track involves county by county.

What CS/HB 1337 Changes on July 1, 2026

CS/HB 1337, sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck with Reps. Tom Fabricio and Valdés, carries the recommendations of the Florida Supreme Court’s Workgroup on Uncontested Probate Proceedings, created in 2024 to streamline uncontested probate. The House passed it 110 to 0 on February 17, 2026, the Senate 37 to 0 on February 26 in place of its identical companion, SB 1500, and the Governor approved it on April 29, 2026 as Chapter No. 2026-57. The full history and enrolled text are on the Florida Senate’s bill page for HB 1337.

The headline change amends F.S. §735.201: the value of the estate subject to administration in Florida, less property exempt from creditor claims, may now be up to $150,000 instead of $75,000. The two year alternative path is unchanged. The bill also raises the three smaller no court thresholds listed above, opens safe deposit boxes to personal representatives, and lets them enforce their statutory authority in court with cost and fee recovery.

“This is the most meaningful change to Florida’s small estate procedures in a generation,” says Alexis Bucelo Diaz, Esq., founding attorney of Bucelo Diaz Law, who holds a J.D. and an LL.M. in Estate Planning from the University of Miami School of Law and has practiced Florida estate planning for 15 years. “I have watched families spend months in formal administration because they were a few thousand dollars over the old limit. Doubling the threshold fixes that for a large share of the estates we see.”

Who Newly Qualifies: A Worked Example

Consider a Broward County resident who died in March 2026, leaving:

• A homestead worth $410,000, passing to her two adult children
• The car she drove daily and her household furnishings
• A bank account and a small brokerage account totaling $120,000, in her sole name with no beneficiary designations

Homestead Does Not Count Toward the $150,000

This is the point families most often miss. F.S. §735.201 counts only “the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors.” Under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, a Florida homestead that passes to the surviving spouse or heirs is protected from most creditor claims, so its value is excluded from the calculation. A family whose main inheritance is a $500,000 home plus $90,000 in accounts can still qualify for summary administration after July 1.

Exempt personal property under F.S. §732.402, typically household furnishings up to statutory limits and qualifying motor vehicles, is also excluded. A petition to determine homestead status is often filed alongside the summary administration petition so title to the home is clean, and an attorney can confirm exactly which assets count for your estate.

The Two Year Path Still Exists

The dollar cap is not the only door into summary administration. F.S. §735.201 also qualifies any estate, of any size, where the decedent has been dead for more than two years. F.S. §733.710 bars virtually all creditor claims two years after death, so there is little left for a court supervised process to protect. Families who discover an unprobated asset years after a death routinely use this path, and CS/HB 1337 leaves it untouched.

What Summary Administration Still Does Not Do Well

A higher cap does not make summary administration right for every estate that fits under it. Two structural limits remain:

• Creditor exposure. Under F.S. §735.206, beneficiaries who receive assets through summary administration remain personally liable for valid claims against the estate, up to the value of what they received, until the two year bar of F.S. §733.710 closes claims. Petitioners must make a diligent search for known creditors and provide for payment, and publishing a notice to creditors under F.S. §735.2063 can shorten exposure for unknown creditors to three months. Formal administration, by contrast, runs a structured claim process under F.S. §733.702 that resolves creditor issues before distribution.
• No personal representative. Summary administration appoints no one. No fiduciary holds letters of administration to sign for the estate, sell property, pursue debts owed to the decedent, or deal with the IRS. If the estate needs someone with authority to act, it needs formal administration.

Estates with significant or uncertain debts, pending lawsuits, business interests, or family conflict are usually better served by formal administration even when they fit under $150,000, and summary administration works best when all beneficiaries cooperate, since they generally must join in or be served with the petition.

Death Was Recent and the Estate Is Between $75,000 and $150,000: Should You Wait to File?

This is the practical question the new law creates right now, in June 2026. If your loved one died recently and the countable estate sits between $75,000 and $150,000, filing today means formal administration. Filing on or after July 1 may mean summary administration.

CS/HB 1337 takes effect July 1, 2026, and nothing in the enrolled bill limits the new threshold to deaths occurring after that date. Eligibility under F.S. §735.201 is evaluated when the court considers the petition, so estates of people who died before July 1 are expected to be able to use the new limit for petitions filed on or after that date. An attorney should confirm how the timing applies to your specific facts.

For many families in this band, the math favors a short wait: a few weeks of delay in exchange for a process that is months shorter overall. But waiting is not automatically free, and it is not right for everyone:

• Until a court acts, no one has authority over the assets. Mortgages, property taxes, insurance premiums, and utilities keep coming due.
• Insurance on a vacant home can lapse, putting the largest asset at risk.
• If someone must act quickly, for example to complete a pending sale or respond to a lawsuit, formal administration now may serve the family better than summary administration later.
• If formal administration is already open, converting to summary administration may be possible, but that is a case by case judgment for your attorney.
• The two year creditor bar under F.S. §733.710 runs from the date of death either way, so a short wait does not extend creditor exposure.

“If a death occurred this spring and the estate falls between $75,000 and $150,000, the calendar matters,” says Bucelo Diaz. “In many cases it makes sense to prepare the petition now and file it on or after July 1. But waiting is not free. Bills keep coming due and no one has authority over the assets in the meantime, so this is a decision to make with counsel, not by default.”

How Florida’s New Threshold Compares With Other States

The increase moves Florida from the lower end of simplified probate limits toward the middle of the pack. California’s small estate affidavit reaches $208,850, rising to $239,700 for deaths on or after April 1, 2026, and a separate California procedure lets primary residences worth up to $750,000 bypass full probate. Texas caps its small estate affidavit at $75,000, excluding the homestead and exempt property. New York’s voluntary administration is limited to $50,000 of personal property.

One Florida advantage remains: summary administration ends in a court order signed by a judge, which banks and title companies accept readily, rather than a self executed affidavit that institutions sometimes question.

What This Means for Florida Families

If you are settling an estate anywhere in Florida, from Pensacola to Key West, the July 1 change deserves a look before you file anything. Bucelo Diaz Law handles Florida summary administration for a flat fee of $4,500, serves all 67 counties through our county probate directory, and works with families in English and Spanish from offices in Weston, Ocala, and Naples.

You don’t have to do this alone. Call (954) 399-1910 for a free 30-minute consultation, schedule a phone call, book a Zoom consultation, or contact us online. We respond within 24 hours.

This article is attorney advertising and is provided for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Bucelo Diaz Law, PLLC | Alexis Bucelo Diaz, Responsible Attorney | FL Bar #86918 | Weston, FL.