Orlando & Central Florida
Probate Real Estate

The Short Answer

Can You Sell a House During Probate in Florida?

Yes. Once the court appoints a personal representative and issues letters of administration, estate real property can be sold during administration rather than after it. If the will confers a specific power of sale, the personal representative may sell without a separate court order; without that language, the sale proceeds with court authorization or confirmation (Fla. Stat. 733.613). The one major exception is protected homestead, which usually passes straight to the heirs, who sell it themselves. Every path runs on documentation: authority, defensible pricing, and a clean file from listing to closing.

For Heirs & Families

Selling an Inherited House in Central Florida

Most families never type the word probate into a search bar. They type: how do I sell the house I inherited. The answer starts with how the property was titled, because not every inherited home in Florida goes through probate at all.

A home owned solely in your loved one's name generally must pass through probate before it can be sold. But three common arrangements pass outside probate entirely: property held in a revocable living trust, where the successor trustee can sell without court involvement; property owned jointly with rights of survivorship, which belongs to the surviving owner automatically; and property covered by a Lady Bird deed, Florida's enhanced life estate deed, which transfers to the named beneficiaries at death. In those cases the new owners can usually list as soon as the death certificate is recorded. A Florida probate attorney or title company confirms which situation you are in by reading the deed, and that one document review is worth doing before anything else.

If probate is required, the path is well marked: the six steps of a Florida probate home sale above cover authority, pricing, and closing. As probate real estate agents working across Orlando, Winter Park, Windermere, and the surrounding Central Florida markets, we handle the property side while your attorney handles the court, and we coordinate with counsel at every step.

A Referral You Can Defend

For Probate Attorneys

Your referral carries your name. Ours is built to protect it.

Court-tested. Sean and Barb have each testified in court as expert witnesses in contested property matters. We understand evidentiary standards, sworn testimony, and what contentious files demand of everyone involved, so we do not create problems in a difficult case.

Litigation-standard file. Courtroom-grade documentation: pricing supported by documented comparable data, complete marketing records, and a written trail from list to close. If a beneficiary ever questions the sale, your personal representative is defensible.

Global reach for estate property. Premier Sotheby's International Realty is the No. 1 Sotheby's International Realty affiliate company in the world, based on 2025 closed sales volume, with the buyer network luxury estate property requires.

Your file, your cadence. We work at your direction, keep you copied, and keep first-time fiduciaries informed and calm. Discretion is the default for high-net-worth families.

For Personal Representatives & Heirs

How a Florida Probate Home Sale Works

Most personal representatives are serving for the first time, often from out of state, often while grieving. Here is the path from appointment to closing:

This is general information, not legal advice. Probate procedure varies by case and county; work with a Florida probate attorney. Sean & Barb are real estate advisors and coordinate with counsel at every step.

What the Estate Actually Receives

Net-to-Estate Calculator

Step six of every administration is delivering proceeds to the estate. This is that number, and the cost of every month it waits. Adjust any figure; everything recalculates as you type.

Estimate only, for planning between the personal representative and counsel. Actual figures depend on the contract, title work, prorations, and the estate's obligations. Not legal, tax, or accounting advice.

The Estate's Largest Asset

Full Value for the Estate: Cash Offers vs. the Open Market

Search for help selling an inherited house in Orlando and the results fill with investors offering fast, as-is cash closings. Sometimes that genuinely fits: severe condition problems, title complications, or heirs who value certainty over price. We will tell you when it does.

But a personal representative is a fiduciary with a duty to the estate and its beneficiaries, and investor offers are priced below market by design, usually by far more than a few months of carrying cost. The calculator above puts real numbers on that comparison. A documented open-market sale, priced from a date-of-death valuation, listed by an experienced probate real estate agent, and sold as-is with full inspection rights, usually nets the estate meaningfully more and gives the PR a defensible record if any beneficiary later asks why the home sold for what it did.

That record is the point. Our pricing files are built to be examined: comparable by comparable, adjustment by adjustment, the same documentation discipline our work is known for.

The Exception That Matters

Florida Homestead: The Rule That Changes Who Sells

Under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, protected homestead, the decedent's primary residence, passes to the surviving spouse or heirs shielded from most creditor claims. It is generally not an asset the personal representative administers: the court typically enters an order determining homestead status, and the heirs, not the estate, sign the listing and sell.

This single rule decides who our client is. On homestead property we represent the heirs directly; on non-homestead estate property we represent the personal representative. A large share of Florida probate real estate is homestead, and handling that distinction correctly from day one keeps the sale, and the administration, clean.

Selling From Out of State

Out-of-State Personal Representatives and Heirs

Florida allows a nonresident to serve as personal representative when closely related to the decedent, such as a spouse, child, parent, or sibling (Fla. Stat. 733.304), so adult children in other states administer Central Florida estates every day.

We handle the ground work: securing the property, coordinating vendors and maintenance, managing showings, and walking the file to a mail-away or remote-notarization closing, with the probate attorney copied throughout. If an heir is instead moving to Florida to keep the home, our state-by-state relocation guides cover taxes, residency, and every market we serve.

Where Your Case Lives

Probate in Orange and Seminole Counties

Probate is a county matter, and our probate work concentrates in the two counties where our market knowledge runs deepest. Orange County estates are administered through the Ninth Judicial Circuit's probate division at the Orange County Courthouse in downtown Orlando. Seminole County estates run through the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford. Florida law requires the person holding the original will to deposit it with the clerk of court in the decedent's home county within 10 days of learning of the death (Fla. Stat. 732.901); that filing is often the first official step an Orlando or Seminole County family takes.

Attorneys file electronically in both circuits, and personal representatives rarely need to appear in person for an uncontested administration, which matters when the PR lives out of state. Docket pace differs by county and by judge; the ranges in the timeline estimator below are typical for both circuits, never promised.

On the property side, we serve estates throughout Orlando, Winter Park, Windermere, Winter Garden, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, and Maitland in Orange County, and Lake Mary, Longwood, and Oviedo in Seminole County, with the same documented pricing standard in every file.

How Long Will This Take?

Florida Probate Timeline Estimator

Four questions shape a Florida probate home sale's path. Answer what you know; the milestones update as you go. Every range here is typical, county and docket dependent, and never a promise.

This is general information, not legal advice, and these ranges are typical outcomes, not promises. Probate procedure and pace vary by case, county, and docket; work with a Florida probate attorney. Sean & Barb are real estate advisors and coordinate with counsel at every step.

General information, not legal advice. Work with a Florida probate attorney; we coordinate with counsel at every step.

Keep Exploring

Next Steps