Probate, heirs, and a house nobody asked for.
Florida statutes and Duval County procedures verified September 2026.
Day 0
Mortgage, taxes, insurance and HOA keep running in the owner's name. Nothing pauses.
Weeks 1 to 4
Summary (estate under $150K or death over 2 years ago): about 1 to 3 months. Formal: about 6 to 12 months. Duval filing fee $236 to $401.
The 3-month window
Creditors have 3 months after it's published to file a claim. Two years after death, everything unfiled is barred (§733.702, §733.710).
The unlock
The homestead passed to the heirs on the day of death. The court order proves it. You can sign a contract before it. You close after it (§733.608).
Closing
Mortgage, back taxes, liens and the attorney are paid from the proceeds at the table. The heirs split what's left.
Everyone who phones you already did this. Now you can too.
Read the full guideIt lags the market and ignores condition. Use it for the parcel number and the homestead status, not the price. (Duval: paopropertysearch.coj.net)
Zillow, Redfin or Realtor.com. Filter Sold, last 6 months, within half a mile, same bed and bath range, similar age and size. Write down 3 to 5. Ignore active listings; asking isn't selling. Renovated versus dated. Your house sells in the group it looks like today, not the group it could join after $40,000 of work. The dated group is your "as it sits" value.
After-repair value, minus repairs, minus the buyer's costs and profit, equals the offer. That's why it sits below the renovated comps. The question isn't "is it lower." It's whether the gap buys enough speed, certainty and carried work (What we carry) to be worth it. Now you can answer that with numbers instead of a feeling.
The mortgage defaults in the late owner's name, the taxes go delinquent on April 1, and the house sells at a courthouse auction. The equity goes with it.
Deed before closing
Some of these are deeds or powers of attorney.
What to do: Nothing gets signed before closing except the purchase contract. Read the top line of every page.
The easy yes
A buyer who agrees to your price without comps, a walkthrough or a repair number isn't buying. He's locking you up to renegotiate later or to shop the contract. Real offers come with the math (Know what it's worth).
What to do: "What's that number based on?" If the answer is "you," it isn't an offer.
The planned re-trade
First, the honest part: every serious buyer keeps the right to adjust after inspection. Sellers don't always disclose, and walls hide things. A real adjustment names the defect, comes with the inspection report or a contractor's estimate, and prices the fix. The tactic is the other version: it follows the easy yes, cites "the market" or "my buyers" instead of a defect, and lands the week before closing when you have no time to start over.
What to do: "Send me the report and the estimate." If they exist, negotiate. If they don't, the price stands or you're free.
The endless extension
A buyer needing an inspection window is normal; nobody buys what they haven't seen. Extending it again and again while nothing goes hard means there's no buyer yet.
What to do: One extension, with the deposit going nonrefundable. A second means you're free.
Old path
Three weekends, a dumpster rental, and an argument about the couch.
Fresh path
Take the photo albums and whatever matters. Leave the rest: furniture, garage, attic, shed. Gone by the time we close, on our dime.
Old path
You chase payoff letters from the county, the HOA, the code office, a lender that won't call back.
Fresh path
We order every payoff; the title company pays each one from the proceeds at closing; you sign once. Nothing out of pocket.
Old path
Summary or formal? Who's the personal representative? Can you even sell yet?
Fresh path
We've closed estate sales at every stage. We work with your probate attorney, or introduce you to one, and time the closing to the court, not the other way around.
Old path
A missing heir, a 1998 judgment, a deed with a misspelled name, and a buyer who walks.
Fresh path
That's our title company's job. We pay to run it down; you don't.
Old path
Fly in for the walkthrough, fly in for closing, find someone to check on the house in between.
Fresh path
A mobile notary comes to you wherever you are; we handle the lockbox, the utilities and the lawn in Jacksonville.
On every sale, if you need the money before you can move, you close first, get paid, and stay in your house while you figure out the next step, under a written post-closing agreement.
Heir hunters
It's in the clerk's public probate file. State-held funds: claimyourcashfl.gov, free; finder fees there are capped at 30%.
What to do: Search first, sign nothing.
The fractional-share buyer
An investor buys one heir's share cheap, then sues to force a sale of the whole house. Florida's heirs-property law (§64.201 to .214) lets the family buy that share at appraised value within 45 days and forces an open-market listing instead of a courthouse auction, but only if you answer the lawsuit.
What to do: Don't ignore the summons.
Your empty house, on someone else's Facebook
Vacant inherited and pre-foreclosure homes get "rented" by strangers, or occupied outright.
What to do: Change the locks, post it, check weekly. Florida's 2024 law lets the owner have the sheriff remove unauthorized occupants (§82.036).
Reality: Heirs can sign a contract during probate. The closing waits for the homestead order, usually weeks, not years.
Reality: An agent's buyer, yes. Not us.
Reality: Florida's Medicaid estate recovery can't reach a homestead that passes to heirs (§409.9101). It can reach a bank account.
Reality: For a Florida homestead, the constitution decides first. If a spouse or a minor child survives, the house passes by law no matter what the will says (Art. X §4(c), §732.401). The will controls only when there's neither.
Reality: Not the homestead. Protected homestead isn't part of the estate; the heirs sign, after the court's homestead order (§733.608). Anyone who says the PR can sign alone is about to record a deed that doesn't work.
Reality: No statute requires it. The estate can sell during administration and hold back what's needed for claims. The title company decides what it needs to insure the sale.
Reality: Most homeowner policies limit or drop coverage once the house has been empty for a set period, often 30 to 60 days. Call the insurer and ask for a vacancy endorsement, or a vacant-home policy.
This guide explains Florida procedure in plain language. It isn't legal advice. For your situation, talk to a lawyer; free options are listed above.
We'll tell you what it's worth to us, with the math. A written offer within 24 hours: the sold comps we used, our price, what gets paid off, what you walk away with. Take it to anyone you trust. No obligation, no expiring offers.
Rather talk? Call or text (904) 822-7050.
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