Florida Statute 731.011
“Determination of substantive rights; procedures”
What it means
This is the Probate Code's transition provision. The code took effect on January 1, 1976. Substantive rights that vested before that date are determined under the former chapters — 731 through 737 and 744 through 746 — as they stood then, so the law in force at the relevant time keeps governing what people were already entitled to.
Enforcement is different: the procedures for enforcing even those older vested rights follow the Florida Probate Rules. Rights are frozen to their era; the courtroom mechanics are always current.
- The Florida Probate Code became effective January 1, 1976.
- Substantive rights vested before that date are determined under former chapters 731–737 and 744–746.
- Procedure for enforcing any vested right follows the current Florida Probate Rules.
How it plays out
Decades on, this section still gets occasional work in our files — old estates reopened for mineral rights, ancient joint interests, and title chains that run through a death in the 1960s or early 1970s. When the operative death predates 1976, we check the pre-Code chapters before assuming today's rules apply, because the shares and formalities can differ. For everything since, §731.011 is simply the starting line of the modern code.
