Florida Probate Due Diligence Requirements

Florida probate requires you to find creditors. Then notify them. Newspaper publication alone won't protect you.

Florida law divides creditors into two groups: known and unknown. Known creditors need direct notice. Unknown creditors get notice through newspaper publication.

You must show "reasonable due diligence." The claims period doesn't shield you if you didn't try hard enough to find creditors.

Miss this? Personal representatives face personal liability. Attorneys face malpractice exposure.

The Law: F.S. 733.2121

Florida Statutes Section 733.2121 sets the rules. For full details, see our Florida Probate Compliance Guide. The statute requires three things:

1. Publish a Notice to Creditors in a local newspaper
2. Send direct notice to creditors who are "known or reasonably ascertainable"
3. Use reasonable due diligence to find those creditors

"Reasonably ascertainable" is the key term. It means creditors you could find through a thorough investigation. Not just obvious creditors.

The Tulsa Standard

Florida follows Tulsa Professional Collection Services, Inc. v. Pope (1988). The Supreme Court ruled that known creditors deserve direct notice. Newspaper publication doesn't satisfy due process for creditors you could identify.

Florida codified this in F.S. 733.2121. You cannot just publish and wait. You must actively search.

What Due Diligence Requires

Florida courts look at your effort, not just your results. A thorough search that misses someone may still protect you. A weak search that misses someone won't.

Here's what a thorough search looks like:

Document Review

Start with the decedent's records:

• Bank statements: Find recurring payments and payees
• Credit card statements: Check recent charges and card issuers
• Checkbook registers: Identify regular payees
• Mail: Collect and review bills and notices
• Email accounts: Search for bills and account statements
• Tax returns: Find mortgages, property taxes, recurring obligations

Record Searches

Check public and quasi-public records:

• Property records: Find mortgages, liens, assessments
• Court records: Search for judgments and lawsuits
• UCC filings: Identify secured creditors
• Healthcare providers: Contact known doctors and facilities

Interviews

Talk to people who knew the decedent:

• Spouse and family members
• Business partners
• Caregivers and household staff
• Accountants, advisors, attorneys

Digital Searches

Modern practice includes online searches:

• Obituary monitoring: Death notices reveal employers and organizations
• Social media: Shows business relationships
• Online accounts: Check saved passwords and accounts

Florida-Specific Issues

Several factors make due diligence extra important in Florida:

Retirees and Snowbirds

Florida has many retirees. Many moved from other states. Their creditors may be out-of-state: doctors, banks, service providers.

A Florida-only search won't find them. Nationwide monitoring catches deaths regardless of where the notice appears.

Healthcare Claims

Florida has special rules for healthcare and Medicaid recovery. Find and notify:

• Hospitals and physicians
• Long-term care facilities
• Home health agencies
• Medicare and Medicaid (AHCA)
• Insurers with subrogation rights

Homestead Issues

Florida homestead usually passes outside the estate. But related obligations may be claims:

• HOAs and condo associations
• Property tax authorities
• Mortgage servicers
• Property insurers

Documenting Your Efforts

Documentation matters as much as the search. If a creditor challenges you later, you must prove what you did and when.

Best practices:

• Document as you go: Record searches in real time
• Be specific: Note what you reviewed, what you searched, what you found
• Record negatives: Document searches with no results
• Show timeline: Prove you started promptly and continued throughout
• Get third-party proof: Monitoring reports and database results add credibility

Digital Audit Logs

Monitoring services create strong documentation. A good audit log shows:

• Start date of monitoring
• Search parameters used
• Number and types of sources checked
• Frequency of checks
• Matches found and how you investigated them
• End date of monitoring

This creates timestamped, third-party evidence. Hard to challenge. Learn more about court-ready compliance documentation.

Common Mistakes

Avoid these due diligence failures:

Newspaper-Only Notice

The most common mistake. Newspaper notice covers unknown creditors only. You still need to find and directly notify known creditors.

Starting Late

Waiting weeks to start lets claims pile up. Records get harder to find. Evidence disappears. Start searching immediately.

Incomplete Review

Checking the checkbook but skipping email, auto-payments, or stored bills? That's incomplete. A full review covers all sources.

Ignoring Out-of-State

If the decedent moved to Florida, their old-state creditors are still ascertainable. You knew they relocated. Search both states.

Poor Documentation

Did a thorough search but didn't document it? Courts can't credit what they can't see. Write it down.

Using Digital Monitoring

Digital obituary monitoring helps Florida probate in three ways:

Find Deaths Faster

If you represent potential heirs or creditors, you need prompt notice. The 3-month claims period starts with publication. Find the death early, act early.

Find Creditor Clues

Obituaries often mention:

• Employers (current and former)
• Professional associations
• Churches and community groups
• Healthcare facilities (in lieu-of-flowers requests)
• Veterans status (VA benefits issues)

Prove Due Diligence

Monitoring logs show ongoing search efforts. They supplement your other documentation.

See our Florida Probate Compliance Guide for F.S. 733.2121 details. Or check county guides for Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.

The Bottom Line

Florida's due diligence requirement is real. It has real consequences.

Meeting the standard means:

• Systematic review of the decedent's affairs
• Active search for potential creditors
• Thorough documentation of everything you did

Death notices now appear across fragmented digital platforms. Decedents often have creditors in multiple states. Traditional methods aren't enough anymore.

Practitioners who add digital monitoring meet Florida's requirements better. They document better. They protect against liability better.