In Florida probate, a deceased person’s debts and taxes are paid out of the estate’s assets before any inheritance passes to beneficiaries, following a strict statutory order set out in Chapter 733 of the Florida Statutes. Creditors must file claims within tightly defined deadlines or lose the right to collect, and Florida imposes no state estate or inheritance tax, though a federal estate tax can apply to very large estates. Heirs do not personally inherit a loved one’s debts; those obligations are settled from the estate itself, and what remains is what gets distributed.
That short answer covers the headline. The reality, especially when a guardianship has just ended and an estate is opening in its place, is more textured. As a probate attorney serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, I see families assume one of two extremes: either that creditors get nothing, or that the kids are on the hook for every credit card the decedent ever carried. Both are wrong. Below is how it actually works.
Who Pays the Debts in a Florida Probate?
The estate pays. When someone dies owning assets in their individual name, those assets form the probate estate, and the personal representative (Florida’s term for an executor or administrator) is responsible for marshaling them, identifying valid debts, and paying creditors according to law. Beneficiaries receive what is left after that process finishes.
This is one of the most reassuring things I tell grieving families: you generally do not inherit debt. A surviving daughter is not personally liable for her father’s hospital bill or his Visa balance simply because she is his heir. The exceptions are narrow and predictable, such as a debt you personally co-signed or guaranteed, or a joint account where you were already a co-obligor. The debt was yours before death in those cases; probate did not create it.
The personal representative’s job is not to pay every bill that arrives in the mail. It is to evaluate each claim, pay the legitimate ones in the correct order, and object to claims that are untimely, inflated, or simply wrong. Paying a barred or invalid claim can expose the personal representative to personal liability, so this is an area where careful counsel earns its fee many times over.
The Creditor Claim Process and Its Deadlines
Florida runs a formal notice-and-claim system, and the deadlines are unforgiving. They are also where a great deal of money is won or lost.
Notice to Creditors
Under Florida Statutes section 733.2121, the personal representative must publish a Notice to Creditors in a local newspaper once a week for two consecutive weeks. The representative must also conduct a diligent search to find reasonably ascertainable creditors and serve them with the notice directly. That diligent-search duty is real; the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Tulsa Professional Collection Services v. Pope established that known or reasonably ascertainable creditors are entitled to actual notice, not just a buried newspaper ad.
The Claim Deadlines
Once notice goes out, the clock starts. Two key periods govern under Florida Statutes section 733.702:
- Three months from the first publication of the Notice to Creditors for the general body of creditors, or
- Thirty days from the date the creditor was actually served with the notice, if that period ends later.
A creditor who misses these windows is generally barred, unless the court grants an extension for excusable neglect or other limited grounds. The personal representative can also formally object to a claim, which forces the creditor to file an independent lawsuit within a short window or be permanently barred.
The Two-Year Absolute Bar
Layered on top is a hard outer limit. Under Florida Statutes section 733.710, claims against an estate are absolutely barred two years after the decedent’s death, regardless of whether any notice was ever published. This is a statute of repose, not merely a statute of limitations, and Florida courts enforce it strictly. It is also why a creditor who surfaces years later, waving an old invoice, often walks away empty-handed.
These deadlines do real work. I have closed estates where a six-figure claim evaporated because the creditor sat on its rights past the three-month mark. I have also watched personal representatives create needless personal exposure by paying a stale claim out of sympathy. The statute is the statute; sentiment is not a defense.
The Order of Payment: Who Gets Paid First
When an estate has enough assets to pay everyone, the order matters less. When it does not, the order is everything. Florida Statutes section 733.707 establishes the priority classes for paying expenses and obligations, and the personal representative must follow them top to bottom. In simplified terms, the ranking runs:
- Costs and expenses of administration, plus reasonable attorney’s fees and the personal representative’s compensation;
- Reasonable funeral, interment, and grave-marker expenses, up to the statutory cap;
- Debts and taxes with a federal preference, such as certain federal tax obligations;
- Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the decedent’s last sixty days of illness;
- Family allowance provided under Florida law;
- Arrearages from court-ordered child support;
- Debts acquired after death in continuing the decedent’s business, within limits;
- All other claims, including ordinary unsecured debts like credit cards.
Notice where general credit card debt lands: dead last. If the estate runs out of money before reaching that class, those creditors are paid pro rata, or not at all. This is why an insolvent estate is a different animal entirely, and why the personal representative should never start writing checks before understanding the full claims picture.
Florida’s Homestead Protection: A Powerful Shield
One asset stands largely outside this entire scheme: the homestead. Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution protects a decedent’s homestead property from the claims of most creditors, and that protection can pass to the surviving spouse and heirs. In practice, the family home often cannot be reached by general creditors at all, even when the rest of the estate is consumed by debt.
Homestead is also one of the most litigated and misunderstood areas of Florida probate. Whether property qualifies, how it descends, and whether a surviving spouse takes a life estate or an elective share interest are questions that turn on specific facts. If the home is the family’s primary asset, do not guess. Our Florida probate team evaluates homestead status early, because the answer reshapes the entire administration.
What About Taxes in Florida Probate?
Taxes break into two very different buckets, and conflating them causes needless panic.
No Florida Estate or Inheritance Tax
Florida does not impose a state estate tax or a state inheritance tax. The old “pick-up” estate tax tied to the federal credit was phased out years ago, and Florida has not revived it. So a Florida resident’s heirs pay nothing to the State of Florida simply for inheriting. This is one reason so many retirees make Florida their domicile, and it is a genuine planning advantage for South Florida families.
Federal Estate Tax
The federal estate tax is a separate matter, and it applies only to estates that exceed the federal exemption amount, which is in the multimillion-dollar range and indexed annually. The overwhelming majority of estates owe no federal estate tax at all. For estates that do approach the threshold, planning around the exemption, portability between spouses, and the timing of the federal estate tax return (IRS Form 706) becomes critical, and that is a conversation to have well before death whenever possible.
Income Taxes the Estate Still Owes
The quieter tax obligations are the ones that trip people up. The decedent’s final personal income tax return must still be filed for the year of death. If the estate earns income during administration, for example interest, dividends, or rent, the estate itself may need to file a fiduciary income tax return (IRS Form 1041) and obtain its own taxpayer identification number. Federal tax obligations also carry that federal preference in the payment priority discussed above, so they cannot simply be ignored in favor of friendlier creditors.
Apportioning Estate Taxes Among Beneficiaries
When a federal estate tax is owed, Florida Statutes section 733.817 governs how that burden is apportioned among the beneficiaries and recipients of the estate, unless the will directs otherwise. This statute prevents one beneficiary from unfairly bearing the whole tax bill while another inherits tax-free, and it is a frequent source of dispute in larger estates.
When Guardianship Becomes Probate: A Special Wrinkle
Many of the estates we handle begin not with a death out of nowhere, but with the end of a contested guardianship. An incapacitated person who had a court-appointed guardian passes away, and the matter transitions from guardianship to probate. That transition deserves special attention on the debt-and-tax front.
During a guardianship, the guardian was already managing assets, paying bills, and filing annual accountings under court supervision. When the ward dies, those accountings, the guardian’s final report, and the records of what was spent become the starting line for the probate. Claims that were paid, deferred, or disputed during the guardianship can resurface as creditor claims in probate. Where the guardianship was contested, you often inherit not just the assets but the conflict, and disputes over whether the guardian properly spent down funds, paid the right bills, or preserved the homestead frequently bleed into the estate administration.
Getting that handoff right requires reading the guardianship file as carefully as the will. We routinely reconcile a final guardianship accounting against the opening probate inventory before a single creditor check is written, because errors and unresolved disputes from the guardianship phase are exactly where litigation later erupts.
What This Means for Personal Representatives and Heirs
If you are serving as a personal representative, the practical takeaways are concrete. Do not pay claims out of order. Do not pay a claim filed after the deadline without confirming it is still valid. Publish and serve notice correctly, because a sloppy notice can keep the claims window open far longer than you want. And keep the homestead question front and center, because it can determine whether the family keeps the house.
If you are an heir worried about a parent’s debts, breathe. You almost certainly did not inherit them. What you inherited is a process, and that process is designed to settle the debts from the estate and protect what is rightfully yours. Disputes over contested claims, will validity, or a personal representative’s conduct are a different story, and those are exactly the fights where experienced probate litigation counsel matters. Florida’s framework here closely parallels the kind of our affiliated attorneys handle in New York, and the strategic playbook for protecting a beneficiary’s share carries across state lines.
For families navigating the mechanics of opening an estate, understanding the broader from petition to discharge helps set realistic expectations about timelines and cost. If your matter sits in Florida, our can guide you through the entire administration, from creditor notice to final distribution.
Debts and taxes are not the scary part of Florida probate once you understand the rules. The deadlines protect the estate. The priority statute protects fairness. The homestead protects the home. And Florida’s tax posture protects the family from a state estate tax bill altogether. The job of good counsel is to make those protections actually work for you. To talk through your specific estate, reach out to our South Florida probate team, and if you are still in the planning stage, our guidance on wills and estate planning can keep your family out of these disputes entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do my heirs inherit my debts when I die in Florida?
No. In Florida, your debts are paid from your probate estate’s assets, not by your heirs personally. Beneficiaries inherit what remains after valid creditor claims and taxes are settled. The only common exceptions are debts an heir personally co-signed or guaranteed, or joint accounts where they were already an obligor, since those debts belonged to them before death.
How long do creditors have to file a claim in a Florida estate?
Under Florida Statutes section 733.702, creditors generally must file within three months of the first publication of the Notice to Creditors, or 30 days after being served directly if that is later. Florida Statutes section 733.710 also imposes an absolute two-year bar from the date of death, regardless of whether notice was ever published.
Does Florida have an estate tax or inheritance tax?
No. Florida imposes neither a state estate tax nor a state inheritance tax. Heirs pay nothing to the State of Florida for inheriting. A separate federal estate tax can apply, but only to estates exceeding the multimillion-dollar federal exemption, which excludes the vast majority of estates.
What debts get paid first in a Florida probate?
Florida Statutes section 733.707 sets the priority. Administration costs and attorney’s fees come first, followed by funeral expenses, debts with a federal preference, last-illness medical expenses, family allowance, child support arrears, and finally all other claims like credit card debt. In an insolvent estate, lower-priority creditors may be paid only partially or not at all.
Is my Florida home protected from creditors in probate?
Often yes. Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution shields a decedent’s qualifying homestead from most creditor claims, and that protection can pass to a surviving spouse and heirs. Whether property qualifies and how it descends depends on the facts, so homestead status should be evaluated early in the administration.
Have a question about your estate?
Talk it through with Russel Morgan — free 30-minute consult.
For more on our Florida practice, see our overview of Florida probate administration. Morgan Legal Group's affiliated New York office also handles .
