Florida Statute 733.105
“Determination of beneficiaries”
What it means
When property passes by intestacy, or a will is unclear, and there is doubt about who is entitled to property or what shares and amounts each person takes, §733.105 lets any interested person petition the court to determine the beneficiaries and their shares.
A personal representative who distributes under the court's order is fully protected — the risk of guessing wrong moves from the representative to the court. If no estate is being administered, the same question can be decided in a separate civil action.
- Applies when property passes by intestate succession or the will is unclear.
- Any interested person may petition — not only the personal representative.
- The court determines both who takes and the shares and amounts each person receives.
- A personal representative acting under the order is fully protected.
- With no administration pending, a separate civil action can determine beneficiaries.
How it plays out
We reach for §733.105 when the family tree is uncertain — an heir nobody can locate, a rumored child from an earlier relationship, a will that says "my nieces and nephews" without saying whose. The petition, paired with Probate Rule 5.385, has the court fix who takes before anything is distributed. That order is the personal representative's protection: distributing on an assumption is personal risk; distributing on a court determination is not.
Questions people ask
