The Florida Probate Code, Analyzed and Explained

My name is Jim Martin. I am a Florida real estate, corporation, and probate lawyer. I started in practice 51 years ago. I have my own law practice, James W. Martin, P.A. I am also an adjunct professor of law at Stetson University College of Law. I like to analyze and explain things. Today I am going to analyze and explain the Florida Probate Code.

What is the Florida Probate Code? The Florida Probate Code is part of the Florida Statutes. In fact, it is Chapters 731 through 735 of the Code.

What are the Florida Statutes? The Florida Statutes are the set of almost all current laws adopted by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. Every year the Legislature adopts a new set of Florida Statutes. You can read them here. We refer to them by the year in which they were adopted. The Florida Statutes are updated every year by adding new laws, deleting repealed laws, and updating amended laws. However, lawyers know we need to always keep in mind that the Florida Statutes do not contain all of the laws of Florida because there is another body of law called case law.

What are the Florida Statutes? The Florida Statutes is the set of almost all current laws adopted by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. Every year the Legislature adopts a new set of Florida Statutes. You can read them here. We refer to them by the year in which they were adopted. The Florida Statutes are updated every year by adding new laws, deleting repealed laws, and updating amended laws. However, lawyers know we need to always keep in mind that the Florida Statutes do not contain all of the laws of Florida because there is another body of law called case law.

What is Florida case law? Florida case law is comprised of all of the opinions written by the Florida courts in deciding individual lawsuits. We call this body of law “precedent” because the courts apply their rulings in earlier cases to the facts in current cases. This is important because Florida law is based on the common law of England, which is centuries old and is also based on precedent. In fact, this is codified at the beginning of the Florida Statutes where it says:

“Section 2.01 Common law and certain statutes declared in force.—The common and statute laws of England which are of a general and not a local nature, with the exception hereinafter mentioned, down to the 4th day of July, 1776, are declared to be of force in this state; provided, the said statutes and common law be not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and the acts of the Legislature of this state.”

Florida Statutes Section 2.01 (2024)

What are the two kinds of Florida probate law? We start with the basic thought that the Florida Probate Code is half of the Florida law governing probate cases. The other half are all of the court opinions written about Florida probate cases. It would take years to read all of the Florida probate court opinions, but you can read the Florida Probate Code is just one day. If you want to learn Florida probate law, then the Florida Probate Code is a good place to start.

This analysis and explanation of the Florida Probate Code is set forth section by section on the following pages: