Florida Statute 732.216
“Short title”
What it means
This section is a short title: it names §§732.216–732.228 the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act — the doorway into Florida's one pocket of community-property law.
Florida is a separate-property state, but couples move here from Texas, California, Arizona, and abroad with wealth earned under community-property rules. The act preserves those rights at death: property acquired as — or traceable to — community property keeps that character, and one-half belongs to the surviving spouse outright, never becoming part of the decedent's estate to give away.
- The official short title for §§732.216–732.228, Florida's community-property-at-death act.
- The act covers property acquired while the couple was domiciled in a community-property jurisdiction, and property traceable to it.
- Under the act, one-half of covered property is the surviving spouse's at death and is not subject to the decedent's will.
- Florida remains a separate-property state — the act preserves rights brought in from elsewhere; it doesn't create community property here.
How it plays out
We see this act when a couple built their savings in a community-property state and retired to Florida. The classic mistake is treating a brokerage account titled in the deceased spouse's name as fully devisable — if it's traceable to community earnings, half already belongs to the survivor before the will says a word. Tracing is the fight: statements, acquisition dates, the moves between states. We raise it early because it changes the estate's inventory and the elective-share math alike.
Questions people ask
