A probate can be reopened after it has been closed and the personal representative has been discharged for several reasons. You generally can't reopen a closed estate unless you meet certain requirements. One of the requirements is to demonstrate that additional assets have been discovered after the estate was closed. The process of reopening an estate is called the post-management process.
Florida Probate Rule 5.460 sets out how you can ask a Florida court to reopen a closed estate after hidden assets are discovered. In certain circumstances, it is possible to reopen an estate whose administration has already been closed. Read on to find out when and how you can reopen a closed probate estate in Florida. When a deceased person's estate is formally administered in Florida, closing the estate requires the personal representative to file a Petition for Cancellation, Distribution Plan, and Final Accounting.
An interested person can object to a request for release. In such cases, the court will hold a hearing before finally issuing the Discharge Order to close the estate. As a result, the court may agree to modify the motion for annulment or the distribution plan before closing the estate completely. In many cases, the probate court may administratively close an estate subject to probate.
Therefore, even if the personal representative is not discharged, the administration of the estate remains suspended until a new court order determines otherwise. Administrative closure of an estate occurs in situations where the estate is not closed within the time limit initially set by the court. In most cases, the deadline is twelve months from the date of issuance of the letters of administration. It is also possible in situations where a personal representative dies, becomes mentally or physically unable to execute the inheritance, or simply loses interest in fulfilling the role.
It is crucial to note that these provisions apply to successions executed under formal administration. Under Florida summary administration, estate subject to probate is not opened or closed, as no personal representative is appointed. In summary administration, by duly notifying all interested persons, one of the persons concerned may request the court to issue a summary administration order. In this way, the court will direct the ownership of the decedent's assets in state custody to their rightful beneficiaries and heirs.
Pursuant to Florida Statute Section 733.903, “The final liquidation of an estate and the removal of the personal representative shall not prevent further administration. The discharge order cannot be revoked based on the discovery of a will or a later will. Florida Probate Rule 5,460 specifies that “if, after an estate is closed, additional property of the decedent is discovered or if additional administration of the estate is required for any other reason, any interested person may file a petition for further administration of the estate. It is crucial to note that “unless necessary, the court does not need to revoke the release order, reissue letters, or demand bail, only entering such orders as appropriate.
Any interested person can ask the court to issue a summary administration order. Therefore, it is possible to transfer title to assets subject to legalization and redirect them to their respective heirs or beneficiaries. Anyone interested in the Florida will, or the Florida estate, can file a petition to reopen the estate. How do you do this? Trust attorneys know that a petition must be filed with the probate court explaining why the estate should be reopened.
When an estate is administratively closed, the probate court generally withdraws, revokes, or rescinds “letters of administration,” which gave authority to the personal representative to manage the estate. Most likely, the court, in addition to revoking the letters of administration, will withdraw any order appointing the personal representative. Therefore, if you are reopening a Florida estate that has been administratively closed, your request should be directed to who will serve as your personal representative. Once the court grants your petition to reopen the estate, and once the court appoints a personal representative to manage Florida's estate, the Florida probate process can continue.
The first step in reopening an estate once a court discovers additional assets is to request further management. Any interested party can file this petition, and the party must file it in the original administration's probate file. Typically, an interested person is someone with a financial interest in the estate. This is usually a creditor or an heir.
The court does not consider a family member without a financial interest in the estate as an interested person. Probate is the process by which a court verifies the validity of a deceased person's will and decides how their estate should be distributed. In fact, the record amply demonstrates that the appellant repeatedly, but unintentionally, raised his own objections and claims of maladministration against the PR throughout the probate process. In this type of probate procedure, the estate of the deceased is not opened or closed, since there is no appointment of a personal representative.
In any case, the guidance of an experienced attorney is crucial in identifying legally acceptable reasons for reopening a closed estate subject to summary administration. Once the request for additional administration is filed, the court will review the petition to consider whether or not to reopen the closed estate. To better understand your rights when additional assets are found, call the probate attorneys at Comiter, Singer, Baseman %26 Braun, LLP at (56) 626-2101 or toll-free (800) 226-1484 for a free consultation about your potential bankruptcy, trust, or estate. It is important to note that an estate cannot be reopened based solely on the discovery of a new will or a will supposedly executed after the will that was administered.
Just because a court has closed a probate in Florida doesn't mean it can't be reopened. In this regard, if a relative of a deceased liquidated an estate, and this relative had reason to know that there were other members of the family (such as cousins, children, siblings, etc.) who should also be considered heirs to the estate in question, and the relative knowingly liquidated the estate without notifying or including these persons, those people could ask a court to reopen the estate. During the succession, one of the duties of the personal representative is to locate all the heirs mentioned in the will. Clearly, reopening an estate that has already been closed can be a complex task, requiring the guidance of an experienced Florida probate attorney.
Upon discovering a later will or codicil, any interested person can request the revocation of the legalization of the previous will or the legalization of the later will or codicil. . .
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