What Happens to Debts and Taxes in Florida Probate

In Florida probate, the deceased person’s debts and taxes are paid out of the estate’s assets before anything passes to the heirs — not out of the heirs’ own pockets. The personal representative gives creditors a window to file claims, then pays valid debts in a strict statutory order set by Florida law, and finally distributes whatever is left. Florida imposes no state estate or inheritance tax, so for most modest estates the only real tax concerns are the decedent’s final income tax return and, rarely, federal estate tax.

That short answer covers the rule. The reality, especially in the kind of small and summary-administration cases we handle for Boca Raton families, is where people get tripped up. Below is how it actually works.

Who Pays the Debts of a Person Who Died in Florida?

The single most common fear I hear from clients in Palm Beach County is some version of: “Am I going to inherit Mom’s credit card balance?” The answer is almost always no. Debts belong to the estate, not to you personally. As a beneficiary, you do not become liable for the decedent’s obligations simply because you stand to inherit.

There are narrow exceptions. If you co-signed a loan or were a joint account holder, that obligation was always partly yours and survives the death. If you received estate property and creditors were never properly paid, you can sometimes be forced to give that property back to satisfy a valid claim. But the baseline rule holds: the estate pays, the heirs do not.

That is exactly why probate exists. It is the orderly, court-supervised process of collecting the decedent’s assets, notifying and paying legitimate creditors, settling taxes, and distributing the remainder. Skip it, and creditors have no clean way to be paid — and heirs have no clean title to what they receive.

The Creditor Claim Process: Florida’s Notice and Deadlines

Florida runs creditors on a clock, and the clock is unforgiving. This is one of the few areas of probate where missing a date by a single day can extinguish a debt entirely — which often works in the family’s favor.

Under Florida Statute § 733.701, the personal representative must notify creditors. That happens two ways: by publishing a Notice to Creditors in a local newspaper, and by serving direct written notice on any creditor who is “reasonably ascertainable” — meaning a creditor the representative knows about or could find with diligent effort.

How Long Creditors Have to File a Claim

Florida Statute § 733.702 sets the filing deadlines. A creditor generally must file its claim with the court by the later of:

• 3 months after the first publication of the Notice to Creditors, or
• 30 days after the date that creditor was personally served with the notice.

A creditor who blows that deadline is, in the words of the statute, “forever barred” — unless it asks the court for an extension and shows good cause, which is harder than it sounds.

The Absolute Two-Year Bar

Sitting on top of those deadlines is a hard backstop. Florida Statute § 733.710 bars any claim against the estate filed more than two years after the date of death, regardless of whether notice was ever published. This two-year jurisdictional bar is one reason families sometimes find that an old, never-pursued debt simply evaporates. It is also why I tell people not to panic about every statement that arrives in a deceased relative’s mail — many of those “debts” are no longer collectible.

For the small estates that are this firm’s bread and butter, these rules matter enormously. In a summary administration, there may be no formal personal representative serving a long notice period, and the two-year bar under § 733.710 frequently does the heavy lifting of clearing stale claims.

The Order Debts Get Paid in Florida Probate

When an estate does not have enough money to cover everything, the personal representative cannot just pay whoever shouts loudest. Florida Statute § 733.707 dictates a mandatory order of payment, organized into classes. Higher classes are paid in full before lower classes receive anything, and creditors within the same class share proportionally if funds run short.

The priority runs roughly like this:

1. Class 1 — Costs and expenses of administration, including the personal representative’s compensation and attorney’s fees.
2. Class 2 — Reasonable funeral, burial, and grave-marker expenses, capped at $6,000.
3. Class 3 — Debts and taxes with a federal preference, such as certain obligations to the United States.
4. Class 4 — Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the decedent’s last 60 days of illness.
5. Class 5 — Family allowance.
6. Class 6 — Arrearages from court-ordered child support.
7. Class 7 — Debts acquired after death from continuing the decedent’s business, within limits.
8. Class 8 — All other claims, including ordinary credit card debt and judgments entered during the decedent’s lifetime.

Notice where credit card balances land: dead last, in Class 8. In an insolvent estate — one whose debts exceed its assets — general unsecured creditors like card issuers and medical collectors often recover little or nothing, because administration costs, funeral expenses, and last-illness medical bills consume the available money first. A personal representative who gets this order wrong and pays a low-priority creditor while a higher-priority claim goes unpaid can be held personally liable for the shortfall, so this is not a step to improvise.

What Property Is Protected From Creditors

Some of the most valuable assets a Florida family owns never enter the creditor scramble at all. These pass to the heirs around probate or are shielded by statute:

• Homestead. A constitutionally protected Florida homestead passing to a surviving spouse or heirs is generally beyond the reach of the decedent’s general creditors. This is one of Florida’s strongest protections and a frequent reason a Boca Raton estate qualifies for the small, simplified procedures.
• Exempt property under § 732.402. Household furniture and appliances up to $20,000 in value, two motor vehicles, certain education savings, and qualifying death benefits go to the surviving spouse or children free of most creditor claims.
• Non-probate assets. Life insurance with a named beneficiary, retirement accounts, and “payable-on-death” or “transfer-on-death” accounts pass by contract directly to the beneficiary and are typically not available to estate creditors.
• Family allowance. The court can set aside up to $18,000 to support the surviving spouse and dependent children during administration.

Strip those exempt and non-probate assets out of the picture, and a surprising number of estates have little left for creditors to fight over. That is the small-estate reality we see constantly in South Florida.

Taxes in Florida Probate: What the Estate Actually Owes

Here is the good news that surprises out-of-state families: Florida is one of the most tax-friendly states in the country for dying.

No Florida Estate or Inheritance Tax

Florida repealed its state estate tax in 2005, and the state has never imposed an inheritance tax. Your beneficiaries pay nothing to Tallahassee for what they receive. If you inherit from a Florida estate, no state-level death tax applies to you.

Federal Estate Tax: Rarely a Concern for Small Estates

The federal estate tax is the only death tax that can reach a Florida estate, and it only bites the wealthy. For deaths in 2026, the federal exemption is $15 million per person (roughly $30 million for a married couple using portability), indexed for inflation. An estate below that threshold owes no federal estate tax and generally files no IRS Form 706. For the modest Boca Raton estates this firm focuses on, federal estate tax is essentially a non-issue.

One caveat worth knowing: a surviving spouse who wants to preserve a deceased spouse’s unused exemption (called “portability”) must file Form 706 even when no tax is due. That is an estate-planning decision, not a debt of the estate, but it has a deadline — generally nine months after death, with a possible extension.

The Tax Returns That Do Come Due

Even tax-friendly estates usually face a couple of routine filings:

• Final personal income tax return (Form 1040). Someone must file the decedent’s final return covering income earned from January 1 through the date of death.
• Estate income tax return (Form 1041). If the estate itself earns more than $600 of income during administration — say, interest or rent while assets are being collected — a fiduciary income tax return is required.
• Property taxes on real estate the estate continues to hold remain due and are typically handled as an administration expense.

Unpaid taxes do not disappear in probate. Federal tax obligations enjoy a high payment priority, so the personal representative should clear them before distributing assets. Distributing first and discovering a tax bill later is a classic way for a well-meaning relative to end up personally on the hook.

How This Plays Out in a Small or Summary-Administration Estate

Florida offers two streamlined paths that many Boca Raton families qualify for: summary administration (available when the probate estate is under $75,000, or when the decedent has been dead more than two years) and disposition without administration for very small estates. In both, the debt-and-tax analysis is simpler but not optional.

In a summary administration filed more than two years after death, the § 733.710 two-year bar often means creditors have already been cut off by operation of law. In a case filed within two years, the petitioners may need to show that known creditors have been paid or otherwise provided for — and they can take on personal responsibility, up to the value of what they received, if a valid creditor later surfaces. The mechanics differ from formal administration, but the underlying principle is identical: legitimate debts and taxes get satisfied before heirs keep what they receive.

Because the rules reward careful sequencing and punish guesswork, this is an area where a short consultation pays for itself. If you are not sure whether a debt is still collectible, whether an asset is exempt, or whether your relative’s estate qualifies for the small-estate shortcut, talk to a probate attorney before you pay anyone or sign anything. Our team is happy to walk you through it — you can reach out through our contact page or review how Florida probate fits with your broader will and estate plan.

Comparing Notes With Other States

Debt-and-tax rules vary by state, and families with property or relatives outside Florida sometimes face two very different systems at once. New York, for example, runs a distinct probate framework — if any part of your family’s matter touches the Northeast, it helps to understand how work, and how disputes are resolved when heirs and creditors clash through . For Florida-specific guidance on the procedures described above, our colleagues also outline the state’s process on the .

The Bottom Line

In Florida probate, the estate — not the family — answers for the decedent’s debts and taxes. Creditors get a limited window to file under §§ 733.701 and 733.702, an absolute two-year cutoff under § 733.710, and a fixed payment order under § 733.707. Florida adds no estate or inheritance tax of its own, and only the largest estates ever reach the federal threshold. For most Boca Raton families, that means the homestead and exempt property are protected, stale debts are often barred, and the real work is simply doing things in the right order. Get the sequence right, and the heirs receive a clean inheritance with no surprises.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are heirs personally responsible for a deceased person's debts in Florida?

Generally no. Debts are paid from the estate’s assets, not from the heirs’ own money. The exceptions are debts you co-signed or jointly held, and situations where you received estate property before valid creditors were paid — in which case you may have to return property to satisfy a claim.

How long do creditors have to file a claim in Florida probate?

Under Florida Statute 733.702, a creditor generally must file by the later of three months after the first publication of the Notice to Creditors or 30 days after being personally served. Separately, Florida Statute 733.710 bars any claim filed more than two years after the date of death, no matter what.

Does Florida charge an estate tax or inheritance tax?

No. Florida repealed its state estate tax in 2005 and has no inheritance tax. The only death tax that can apply is the federal estate tax, which for 2026 exempts up to $15 million per person — so it affects only very large estates, not typical small or summary-administration cases.

What gets paid first when a Florida estate doesn't have enough money?

Florida Statute 733.707 sets the order: administration costs and attorney’s fees first, then funeral expenses (up to $6,000), federal-preference debts and taxes, last-illness medical bills, family allowance, child-support arrears, post-death business debts, and finally all other claims like credit cards. Lower classes get nothing until higher classes are paid in full.

Which assets are protected from creditors in a Florida estate?

Florida homestead property, exempt property under section 732.402 (household goods up to $20,000, two vehicles, certain education and death benefits), the family allowance, and non-probate assets with named beneficiaries such as life insurance and retirement accounts are generally beyond the reach of the decedent’s general creditors.