Florida Statute 733.207
“Establishment and probate of lost or destroyed will”
What it means
A will nobody can produce can still be probated. §733.207 lets any interested person establish the full and precise terms of a lost or destroyed will and offer it for probate.
The proof requirement is exact: the will's specific content must be proved by the testimony of two disinterested witnesses — or, if a correct copy is provided, by one disinterested witness. Without the copy or the witnesses, the terms cannot be established, and the estate passes under a prior will or by intestacy.
- Any interested person may petition to establish a lost or destroyed will.
- The petition must establish the will's full and precise terms.
- Content is proved by two disinterested witnesses — or a correct copy plus one disinterested witness.
- If the proof fails, the estate passes under a prior will or intestacy.
How it plays out
Most §733.207 petitions we see start with a photocopy in a drawer and no original. The copy usually satisfies the correct-copy half; the work is the disinterested witness — often the drafting attorney or an office witness — and overcoming the presumption that the testator destroyed the missing original on purpose. Evidence of where the original was kept, who had access to it, and what the decedent said about the will near the end tends to decide these cases.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 733.207 does real work:
Questions people ask
