Florida Statute 733.101
“Venue of probate proceedings”
What it means
Venue decides which Florida county the probate is filed in, and §733.101 answers in order: the county where the decedent was domiciled; if the decedent had no Florida domicile, any county where the decedent's property is located; and if there is no Florida property either, the county where a debtor of the decedent resides.
Filing in the wrong county does not undo anything. The court transfers the case the same way civil courts do, and everything done before the transfer stands.
- Florida-domiciled decedent → probate belongs in the county of domicile.
- No Florida domicile → any county where the decedent's property is located.
- No domicile and no property in Florida → the county where a debtor of the decedent resides.
- A married woman whose husband is an alien or nonresident may establish her own Florida domicile.
- Wrong county → the court transfers the case; actions taken before transfer remain valid.
How it plays out
The venue disputes we see under §733.101 are really domicile disputes — a snowbird with a New York apartment and a Sarasota condo, and two states with a plausible claim. Because domicile decides the county, declarations of domicile, homestead filings, and driver's licenses end up as evidence. For out-of-state decedents who owned Florida property, we file in the county where the property sits — the standard setup for ancillary administration under §734.102.
Questions people ask
