Florida Probate Exempt Property: What's Excluded From the $150,000 Threshold

Most people vastly overestimate the size of their probate estate — which means they unnecessarily pay for expensive formal administration when they qualify for the fast-track alternative. The key is understanding what Florida law excludes from the calculation entirely.

Effective July 1, 2026, CS/HB 1337 doubled Florida's summary administration threshold from $75,000 to $150,000 in non-exempt assets. That phrase — "non-exempt assets" — is doing enormous work. If you miscalculate and include exempt property in the total, you might conclude the estate requires formal administration when it actually qualifies for a process that takes 4–8 weeks instead of 6–12 months.

The Two-Step Calculation

Determining whether an estate qualifies for summary administration requires answering two questions in sequence:

Step 1: Does the estate include any homestead real property?

If the decedent's primary residence qualifies as Florida homestead (which most do), that property is completely excluded from the summary administration calculation. It doesn't matter if the house is worth $100,000 or $1 million — it is simply not in the count.

This is because Florida homestead property is governed by Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution and passes to the surviving spouse or heirs automatically, outside of probate. It's treated as a separate legal category, not a probate asset for threshold purposes.

Step 2: For remaining assets, apply the F.S. §732.402 exemptions.

After removing homestead, Florida Statute §732.402 defines additional categories of "exempt property" that are excluded from the estate's gross value for threshold calculation purposes.

What F.S. §732.402 Exempts

The statute gives the surviving spouse (and if no surviving spouse, then the decedent's children) the right to claim the following as exempt property:

Household furnishings and appliances: Up to $20,000 in value of furniture, appliances, and household goods located in the decedent's primary residence. This covers most typical household contents — couch, refrigerator, beds, televisions, kitchen equipment.

Two motor vehicles: Any two automobiles, trucks, or other motor vehicles that were titled solely or jointly in the decedent's name and used by the decedent or members of the household, provided each vehicle weighs less than 15,000 pounds. Note: the vehicles must have been actually used by the household, not investment vehicles or fleet vehicles.

Educational savings plans: Florida Prepaid College Plans and Section 529 college savings plans owned by the decedent are entirely excluded. There is no dollar cap on this exemption, which can matter significantly for parents or grandparents who maintained large 529 accounts.

Qualified tuition programs: Similarly excluded under the statute.

The key practical point: these exemptions are not automatic. The surviving spouse must petition the court to formally claim them. In a summary administration, this is done within the petition itself. In a formal administration, a separate petition for exempt property is filed. Failing to affirmatively claim exempt property means forfeiting its protection.

A Worked Example

Say the decedent owned:

• A home worth $380,000 (Florida homestead)
• A joint bank account of $45,000 (joint accounts typically pass outside probate entirely)
• A sole-ownership checking account: $22,000
• A 401(k) with a named beneficiary: $180,000 (passes outside probate)
• Two cars worth $28,000 total (eligible for the motor vehicle exemption)
• Furniture and appliances worth $15,000 (eligible for the household furnishings exemption)
• Cash in a safe: $8,000

Step 1: Remove homestead ($380,000) — not in calculation. Step 2: Remove joint account ($45,000) — not a probate asset. Step 3: Remove 401(k) ($180,000) — not a probate asset (passes to beneficiary). Step 4: Remove two vehicles ($28,000) — exempt property under §732.402. Step 5: Remove household furnishings ($15,000) — exempt property under §732.402.

What's left for the threshold calculation: $22,000 (checking account) + $8,000 (cash in safe) = $30,000 in non-exempt probate assets.

This estate qualifies for summary administration under the new $150,000 threshold — even though the total gross estate value might appear well over $650,000 to someone who didn't know the exemptions.

The Two-Year Alternative

There is a second path to summary administration that has nothing to do with the dollar threshold. Under F.S. §733.710, if the decedent has been dead for more than two years, all unsecured creditor claims are absolutely barred by statute. This means the estate qualifies for summary administration regardless of its total asset value.

This two-year rule is particularly useful for estates that were informally managed — no formal probate was initiated, some assets were distributed to family members, and now the family needs to formally clear title on remaining property. If the two-year anniversary has passed, file for summary administration based on the absolute creditor bar rather than trying to re-value everything under the threshold calculation.

Why This Matters for Attorneys' Fees

Florida's statutory attorney fee schedule under F.S. §733.6171 is based on the gross value of the probate estate. For a $300,000 formal administration, the "presumed reasonable" attorney fee is approximately $9,000. For a $1 million estate, it's $30,000. These fees are negotiable, but they set the baseline expectation.

By correctly identifying exempt property and homestead, you may eliminate formal administration entirely — saving not just the attorney fee but also the 6–12 month timeline, the publication costs ($150–$300 for Notice to Creditors), and the court filing fees ($399–$401 for formal administration vs. approximately $345 for summary administration).

What Summary Administration Does Not Cover

Even if an estate qualifies for the simplified process, summary administration has limits:

• It does not appoint a Personal Representative with authority to manage ongoing business affairs
• It is not appropriate when there are disputed creditor claims requiring judicial resolution
• It does not work when real estate needs to be sold before distributions (since no PR is appointed with authority to execute a deed)
• Complex blended family situations with contested inheritances often require formal administration regardless of asset value

If the estate includes an active business, investment real estate, or unresolved disputes among beneficiaries, consult a Florida probate attorney before assuming summary administration will work.

The Florida Survivor Benefits Navigator includes a threshold calculator worksheet that guides you through this exact analysis — inputting total assets, subtracting each category of exempt property and non-probate transfers, and arriving at the net figure for the summary administration test. It also covers what to do once you know which track applies, including county-specific filing checklists for the major Florida circuits.

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