Owner died abroad: ancillary probate in Florida

Florida law decides what happens to a Florida property

The validity and effect of a disposition of real property in Florida, whether intestate or testate, is determined by Florida law (Florida Statutes § 731.1055).

Any will, other than a holographic or nuncupative will, executed by a nonresident of Florida is valid as a will in Florida if it is valid under the laws of the state or country where it was executed (Florida Statutes § 732.502).

If the decedent had no domicile in Florida, venue is any county where the decedent's property is located (Florida Statutes § 733.101).

Ancillary administration: who the court appoints

If a nonresident of Florida dies leaving assets in the state, credits due from residents of the state, or liens on property in the state, a personal representative specifically designated in the will to administer the Florida property is entitled to have ancillary letters issued, if qualified to act in Florida. Otherwise the foreign personal representative of the estate is entitled to them, if qualified to act in Florida; if that person is not qualified and the will names an alternate or successor who is, the alternate or successor is entitled to them (Florida Statutes § 734.102).

Failing those, the people entitled to a majority interest of the Florida property may have letters issued to a qualified personal representative they select. If the decedent died intestate and the foreign personal representative is not qualified to act in Florida, the order of preference for appointment prescribed in the Probate Code applies; and if ancillary letters are applied for by someone other than the domiciliary personal representative, prior notice is given to any domiciliary personal representative (Florida Statutes § 734.102).

Subject to the limitations in that part of the Probate Code, any person who is sui juris and is a resident of Florida at the time of the death is qualified to act as personal representative in Florida (Florida Statutes § 733.302). A person who is not domiciled in Florida cannot qualify as personal representative unless he or she is a legally adopted child or adoptive parent of the decedent, is related to the decedent by lineal consanguinity, is a spouse, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of the decedent or someone related by lineal consanguinity to one of them, or is the spouse of a person otherwise qualified (Florida Statutes § 733.304).

Every personal representative, unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person, must be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in Florida; a personal representative who is an attorney admitted to practice in Florida may represent himself or herself (Florida Probate Rule 5.030). Before letters are issued, a personal representative must file a designation of resident agent for service of process or notice, and the acceptance by the resident agent; the designation is not required if the personal representative is a corporate fiduciary having an office in Florida, or a Florida Bar member who is a resident of and has an office in Florida (Florida Probate Rule 5.110).

The ancillary personal representative gives bond as personal representatives generally do, and all proceedings for appointment and administration of the estate are to be as similar to those in original administrations as possible; unless creditors' claims are otherwise barred by section 733.710, the ancillary personal representative causes a notice to creditors to be served and published according to the requirements of chapter 733; and after the payment of all expenses of administration and claims against the estate the court may order the remaining property transferred to the foreign personal representative or distributed to the beneficiaries (Florida Statutes § 734.102).

The papers from home: authenticated, and in English

For a testate estate, the petition for ancillary letters includes an authenticated copy of so much of the domiciliary proceedings as will show the will, the petition for administration, the order admitting the will to probate, and the authority of the personal representative to act; for an intestate estate, the petition for administration and that authority (Florida Probate Rule 5.470). On filing the authenticated copy of a will, the court must determine whether the will complies with Florida law, and if it does, must admit it to probate (Florida Probate Rule 5.470).

The Probate Code defines the word. Authenticated, for copies of documents or judicial proceedings filed with the court, means a certified copy or a copy authenticated according to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Florida Statutes § 731.201). Under those federal rules a foreign official record that is otherwise admissible is evidenced by an official publication of the record, or by the record, or a copy, that is attested by an authorized person and is accompanied either by a final certification of genuineness, which may be made by a secretary of a United States embassy or legation, by a consul general, vice consul or consular agent of the United States, or by a diplomatic or consular official of the foreign country assigned or accredited to the United States, or by a certification under a treaty or convention to which the United States and the country where the record is located are parties; and if all parties have had a reasonable opportunity to investigate a foreign record's authenticity and accuracy, the court may, for good cause, admit an attested copy without final certification or permit the record to be evidenced by an attested summary (Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44(a)(2)).

The Hague Apostille Convention of 5 October 1961 is a convention on the certification of public documents, and the Hague Conference's status table lists the United States among its contracting parties. Under it, the only formality that may be required to certify the authenticity of a signature, the capacity in which the signer acted and the identity of a seal or stamp is the certificate the Convention describes, issued by the competent authority of the State from which the document emanates, and even that formality cannot be required where the laws, regulations or practice in force in the State where the document is produced, or an agreement between Contracting States, have abolished or simplified it or exempt the document from legalisation; the Convention applies to public documents executed in the territory of one Contracting State which have to be produced in the territory of another, among them documents emanating from an authority or official connected with the courts and notarial acts, and it does not apply to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents or to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations (Apostille Convention, Articles 1 and 3). The Hague Conference's status table for the Convention, last updated June 30, 2026, lists the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador among its contracting parties. This guide does not say that an apostille meets the federal rule above for any given document, nor that it is all a Florida court asks of one.

No will written in a foreign language is admitted to probate unless it is accompanied by a true and complete English translation (Florida Statutes § 733.204). In the order admitting it, the court establishes the correct English translation, and at any time during administration any interested person may have the correctness of the translation redetermined, after formal notice to all other interested persons (Florida Probate Rule 5.216).

A copy of a notarial will in the possession of a notary entitled to its custody in a foreign state or country whose laws require that the will remain in the custody of the notary, duly authenticated by the notary, may be admitted to probate if the original could have been admitted to probate in Florida, when the notary's official position, signature and seal of office are further authenticated by an American consul, vice consul or other American consular officer within whose jurisdiction the notary is a resident, or have been authenticated according to the requirements of the Hague Convention of 1961 (Florida Statutes § 733.205).

Two shorter routes, each with its conditions

The short form. When a nonresident decedent dies testate and leaves property subject to administration in Florida whose gross value does not exceed $50,000 at the date of death, the foreign personal representative may, before the expiration of 2 years after the death, file in the circuit court of the county where any property is located an authenticated transcript of so much of the foreign proceedings as will show the will and the beneficiaries of the estate, as provided in the Florida Probate Rules; the court admits the will and any codicils to probate if they comply with section 732.502(1), (2) or (3), the rules on the execution of wills (Florida Statutes § 734.1025). The foreign personal representative may cause a notice to creditors to be served and published according to the relevant requirements of chapter 733; claims not filed in accordance with that chapter are barred as section 733.702 provides; and if any claim is filed, a personal representative is appointed (Florida Statutes § 734.1025).

A foreign will admitted to record. An authenticated copy of the will of a nonresident that devises real property in Florida may be admitted to record in any county where the property is located at any time after 2 years from the death, or at any time after the domiciliary personal representative has been discharged, if there has been no proceeding to administer the estate in Florida, provided the will was executed as chapter 732 requires and has been admitted to probate in the proper court of another state, territory or country (Florida Statutes § 734.104). The petition may be filed by any person and is accompanied by authenticated copies of the foreign will, the petition for probate and the order admitting the will to probate, except that where no petition is required as a prerequisite to probate in the jurisdiction where the will was probated, an authenticated copy of the will may be admitted to record without one, upon proof by affidavit or certificate that no petition is required; when admitted to record, the foreign will is as valid and effectual to pass title to real property as if it had been admitted to probate in Florida (Florida Statutes § 734.104).

If the property is held through a Florida LLC

All property originally contributed to a Florida limited liability company or subsequently acquired by it is limited liability company property, and a member has no interest in any specific limited liability company property (Florida Statutes § 605.0110). A transferable interest is personal property (Florida Statutes § 605.0501).

If a member who is an individual dies, the member's legal representative may exercise all of the member's rights for the purpose of settling the member's estate or administering the member's property, including any power the member had to give a transferee the right to become a member (Florida Statutes § 605.0504). A transfer of a transferable interest in violation of a restriction on transfer contained in the operating agreement is ineffective as to a person who has knowledge or notice of the restriction at the time of transfer (Florida Statutes § 605.0502).

None of these sections says that a company makes a court proceeding unnecessary, and this guide does not say it either.

Taxes: the state's answer and the federal one

Florida's Department of Revenue states that a federal change eliminated Florida's estate tax on people who died after December 31, 2004.

The IRS says that certain deceased nonresidents who were not citizens of the United States are subject to U.S. estate taxation with respect to their U.S.-situated assets, and that those assets include, for example, real estate located in the U.S. An executor for a nonresident who was not a U.S. citizen must file Form 706-NA if the fair market value at death of the decedent's U.S.-situated assets exceeds $60,000. The IRS adds that estate tax treaties between the U.S. and other countries often provide more favorable tax treatment to nonresidents, and that it may collect any unpaid estate tax from any person receiving a distribution of the decedent's property under transferee liability provisions of the tax code.

Selling or keeping the property afterwards

Ancillary personal representatives have the same rights, powers and authority as other personal representatives in Florida to manage and settle estates and to sell, lease or mortgage local property, and no property may be sold, leased or mortgaged to pay a debt or claim that is barred by any statute of limitation or of nonclaim of Florida (Florida Statutes § 734.102). When the estate is intestate, or the testator has not conferred a power of sale, or has granted one that is so limited by the will or by operation of law that it cannot be conveniently exercised, and the personal representative considers that it is for the best interest of the estate and of those interested in it that real property be sold, the personal representative may sell it at public or private sale, and no title passes until the court authorizes or confirms the sale (Florida Statutes § 733.613). When the will confers specific power to sell or mortgage real property, or a general power to sell any asset of the estate, the personal representative may sell without authorization or confirmation of court (Florida Statutes § 733.613).