Florida Statute 731.201
“General definitions”
What it means
Chapter by chapter, the Probate Code leans on this glossary of 40 defined terms. The ones that decide real disputes: an interested person is anyone who may reasonably be expected to be affected by the outcome of the particular proceeding — the key to standing and notice. A beneficiary is an heir at law in an intestate estate or a devisee in a testate one, and stops being one once the interest is satisfied.
Protected homestead is the Article X, §4(a)(1) homestead whose exemption inures to the surviving spouse or heirs. A claim is a liability of the decedent plus funeral expense. Devise covers testamentary gifts of real or personal property; exempt property is the §732.402 list; formal notice means service under Probate Rule 5.040(a).
- Interested person: anyone who may reasonably be expected to be affected by the outcome of the particular proceeding — it controls notice and standing.
- Beneficiary: heir at law (intestate) or devisee (testate); the label drops once the person's interest is satisfied.
- Protected homestead: property under Art. X, §4(a)(1) of the Florida Constitution whose exemption inures to the surviving spouse or heirs.
- Claim: a liability of the decedent — contract, tort, or otherwise — plus funeral expense.
- Personal representative is Florida's single term for executor, administrator, and their variants.
- Formal notice and informal notice are defined by reference to Florida Probate Rule 5.040.
How it plays out
Half the procedural fights we see reduce to a definition in this section. Whether a disinherited child gets notice, whether a paid-off devisee can still object, whether a creditor counts as interested before filing a claim — all of it starts at §731.201. When we brief standing for a will contest or an accounting objection, we quote the definition first and the argument for applying it second, because judges do the same.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 731.201 does real work:
Questions people ask
