Most people who call us about a probate property didn’t plan on becoming their family’s real estate problem. A parent or relative passed away, they’re named in the will (or they’re not, and now the state has an opinion about who gets what), and somewhere in the middle of grieving, they’re also supposed to figure out probate court, a house full of someone else’s belongings, and maybe a tenant who’s still paying rent to a landlord who’s no longer alive to cash the check.
Here’s what’s specific to doing this in Broward County, and how we handle it.
How Florida probate works, briefly
If the property was titled in the deceased person’s name alone, it has to pass through Florida probate before it can be sold. Florida offers a fast-track version, summary administration, when the estate’s non-exempt assets are worth $75,000 or less, or the person has been deceased more than two years; that can wrap up in weeks. Everything else goes through formal administration, where a personal representative is appointed, creditors get a claims window, and the estate is settled before real estate can be sold. For the full breakdown of how that process works statewide, see our probate selling guide. What follows here is specific to Broward.
Broward’s Probate Division sits within the 17th Judicial Circuit, at the courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Formal administration here typically runs six months to a year, sometimes longer if there’s a will contest, a missing heir, or a title issue. Whether the personal representative can sell the house without going back to the judge depends on the will: if it grants “power of sale,” they can move forward directly; if the will is silent, or there’s no will, they generally need to petition the court first. For the appraisal and court-petition steps in detail, see our probate sale steps guide.
If there’s no will
Dying without a will (intestate) doesn’t skip probate. It just means Florida’s intestate succession statute decides who inherits instead of a document the deceased wrote. The court still appoints a personal representative, usually the closest relative who petitions for the role, and that person still needs either the heirs’ agreement or court approval to sell real estate. Practically, intestate estates often take a little longer up front, simply because sorting out exactly who counts as an heir takes time the court has to work through before anything else can move.
What it actually costs
Florida law sets a presumptive “reasonable fee” scale for the attorney handling a formal probate, commonly around 3% of the estate’s value for typical-sized estates, though many attorneys work on a flat or hourly basis instead, especially for simpler cases. On top of that, expect a few hundred dollars in court filing fees, plus whatever it costs to maintain the property (insurance, utilities, HOA dues) while probate runs its course. None of that comes out of your pocket if you sell to us. Those are only relevant if you’re weighing probate costs against what a sale nets you.
What most heirs are actually dealing with
The legal process is only half of it. A house that’s sat empty for months, mail piling up, nobody mowing the lawn. A garage or closets full of decades of someone’s life that now needs sorting, by someone who may live three states away and can’t take two weeks off to do it. A tenant who was paying rent to the deceased and doesn’t know who to pay now. Or, in some of the larger estates we see, three or four properties to deal with at once, not just one house.
None of that shows up in a probate statute. It’s usually the actual bottleneck.
Quick answers
How long does probate take in Florida?
Summary administration (small or old estates) can close in weeks. Formal administration, the more common path, usually runs six months to a year in Broward County.
Can you sell a house during probate, or do you have to wait for it to close?
You can sell during probate once the personal representative has authority to do so, either through the will’s power-of-sale clause or court approval. You don’t have to wait for the entire estate to be settled first.
How is a probate sale different from a regular sale?
The seller is the estate, not an individual, so the personal representative signs, and depending on the will and county, the sale may need court confirmation before closing. Timelines are also less predictable, since they depend on the court’s schedule, not just the buyer’s.
What if the heirs don’t agree on selling?
Florida law generally requires the personal representative to get the beneficiaries’ consent, or a court order, before the sale can go through. That’s its own conversation. We’re glad to have it directly with everyone involved rather than guess at where things stand.
How we handle probate sales differently
We buy single-family homes only, not condos or apartments. If that’s what you’re dealing with, we’ll tell you upfront rather than waste your time.
For everything else:
You don’t have to fly down. Most of the heirs we work with live out of state and never set foot in the house before closing. We handle the property, the paperwork, and the closing remotely.
If you do come down and want to grab a few things (photos, furniture, whatever matters to your family), take it. Whatever’s left is ours to deal with. You’re not responsible for cleaning out the house or hauling anything away. That’s on us.
If the property has a tenant still living there, we’ll take over as landlord. You don’t need to evict anyone or wait for a lease to end before you can sell.
And if the estate includes more than one property in our service area, we’ll buy the whole portfolio, not a separate sale for each one.
Where we buy in Broward County
Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Southwest Ranches, Davie, Weston, Plantation, Sunrise, Hollywood, West Park, Pembroke Park, and Fort Lauderdale.
If you’re not sure where to start
You don’t need probate to be finished, and you don’t need every answer, to call us. A lot of the families we talk to are still early (sometimes still waiting on the personal representative to be appointed) and just want to understand their options once the legal side clears. We’ll walk through where things stand, what the timeline realistically looks like, and what a cash offer would mean, no obligation either way.
Call or text (786) 400-2628. We speak English and Spanish, and if it’s easier, we’re happy to work directly with your attorney or personal representative instead of you.