wills & Probate

[whitejm]

my father just past away and the only item of his estsate that was not trasfered into my name was his home. the home is located in fla and has an out standing mortagage of $35k, i was told by the lending company that it would have to go through probate before it could be transfered. can you provide me the fla rules/laws for probate and what needs to be processed by me. my dad had a will that was just updated this past january and identifies me as the recepitent. i do have one brother and sister and the this assit is to be shared equally. can you help mike

 

[loku]

Florida property

The lending company was probably correct. There is an ancillary probate preceding in Florida, in which the will is admitted and the title to the property is given to the heirs. If the value of the property is less than $25,000, then there is a shorter procedure. The following link is the pertinent part of the Florida code:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0734/part01.htm&StatuteYear=2000&Title=->2000->Chapter 734->Part I