Florida's 2026 Estates Law: Small Estates, Bigger Thresholds, and a Fee Shift With Teeth
By Steven C. Fraser, Esq. | FL Bar No. 625825 | DC Bar No. 460026
Florida's 2026 estates bill is now law. CS/HB 1337 was approved by the Governor on April 29, 2026, assigned Chapter 2026-57 on April 30, 2026, and takes effect July 1, 2026.
The headline is easy: Florida raised several small-estate thresholds. The more interesting story is procedural. The Legislature also gave personal representatives clearer authority to ask the probate court to enforce their statutory powers, and it created a fee-shifting rule for prevailing personal representatives in those enforcement proceedings.
That combination matters because probate disputes are often not about grand legal theory. They are about boxes, bank accounts, passwords, access, delay, family distrust, and the person with possession of something deciding that the court-appointed fiduciary can wait.
The new law is aimed at that friction.
What Changed
Chapter 2026-57 makes several practical changes to the Florida Probate Code and related financial-institution statutes:
| Issue | Prior threshold or rule | New rule effective July 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Summary administration | Estate subject to administration did not exceed $75,000, excluding exempt property, or decedent dead more than 2 years | Threshold increases to $150,000 |
| Federal tax refunds payable without administration | Up to $2,500 | Up to $5,000 |
| Bank funds payable to family without court proceeding | Up to $1,000 in qualified accounts | Up to $2,000 |
| Disposition without administration for certain intestate personal property | Nonexempt personal property up to $10,000, plus qualifying expenses | Threshold increases to $20,000 |
| Safe-deposit boxes | Access and lease termination rules were narrower | Florida-appointed personal representative, and the PR's attorney in certain respects, receive clearer access/payment/termination treatment |
| Personal representative authority | PR could generally proceed without court order | PR may expressly invoke court jurisdiction to resolve estate-administration questions or enforce PR authority |
| Enforcement fees | No new stand-alone enforcement-fee section | New section 733.6125 requires taxable costs, including attorney fees, for a prevailing PR in an authority-enforcement proceeding |
The Florida Senate bill page summarizes the same package: safe-deposit box changes, personal-representative enforcement authority, attorney-fee treatment, and increased small-estate amounts. The enrolled law confirms the effective date and statutory text.
Sources: Florida Senate CS/HB 1337 bill page, Chapter 2026-57, Laws of Florida, and the House post-meeting bill analysis posted April 30, 2026.
The Fee-Shift Is the Sharpest Tool
The unspoken truth: the small-estate thresholds will get the attention, but the fee-shifting rule may change behavior faster.
New section 733.6125 says that in a proceeding to enforce a personal representative's authority under the Probate Code, the court must award taxable costs, including attorney fees, to a prevailing personal representative. The court may direct payment from the person whose action or inaction made the enforcement proceeding necessary, or from a person with an interest in the estate, and may enter a judgment that can be satisfied from other property.
That is not just housekeeping. It changes the risk calculation for the person who refuses to cooperate with a lawful personal representative. A bank, heir, beneficiary, occupant, custodian, business partner, or relative who forces unnecessary motion practice may now face a more direct economic consequence.
It also gives the personal representative a clearer answer when the estate is being drained by obstruction: enforce the authority, and ask the court to place the cost where the obstruction came from.
Bigger Thresholds Do Not Eliminate Judgment
Raising the summary administration threshold from $75,000 to $150,000 is sensible. The old number had become too small for ordinary modern asset values. A modest bank account, vehicle, refund, and personal property can push a family into a procedural lane that feels too heavy for the actual estate.
But this is where people will overread the change.
Summary administration is not a magic wand. The threshold is calculated against the estate subject to administration in Florida, less exempt property. It does not erase creditor issues, title problems, homestead questions, beneficiary disputes, tax issues, or uncertainty about whether a will is valid. It also does not turn every estate below $150,000 into a do-it-yourself project.
The statute creates eligibility. It does not create wisdom.
Why Safe-Deposit Boxes Still Matter
Safe-deposit boxes feel old-fashioned until the original will, deed, stock certificate, jewelry inventory, coin collection, life-insurance policy, or handwritten note is inside one.
Chapter 2026-57 tightens the access rules for fiduciaries and clarifies that a Florida-appointed personal representative must be granted access to the decedent's safe-deposit box and may remove contents. It also allows the personal representative or the personal representative's attorney to pay accumulated charges and terminate the lease.
That matters in the real world because delay around a box can delay the entire administration. If the original will is in the box, the estate may not even know which document controls. If property is in the box, the inventory may be incomplete. If the lease keeps running, costs accumulate for no good reason.
The Policy Direction
The statute points in a coherent direction:
- reduce unnecessary formal probate for smaller estates;
- make low-value transfers easier for families;
- clarify fiduciary access to property and records;
- give personal representatives a more direct enforcement path;
- punish needless resistance when it forces court intervention.
That is the compromise. Florida is not abolishing probate formality. It is widening the lanes where formality should be lighter and strengthening the hand of the fiduciary when formality is needed because someone is blocking the road.
The Practical Takeaway
For families, the change means some estates that previously felt too large for summary administration may now fit. For lawyers, it means intake questions need to be updated immediately for the July 1, 2026 effective date.
For personal representatives, the important question is no longer simply, "Do I have authority?" It is, "If someone forces me to enforce that authority, who should bear the cost?"
That is a healthier question. Probate should not reward the person who makes administration slower, more expensive, and less honest than it needs to be.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Probate outcomes depend on the will, asset title, creditor posture, homestead status, family facts, and court orders in the specific case.