Florida Probate Rule 5.025
“Adversary Proceedings”
What it means
Most probate work moves by petition, notice, and hearing. Rule 5.025 marks off the real fights: contesting a will's validity, revoking probate, removing or surcharging a personal representative or guardian, determining beneficiaries, construing or reforming a will, and the rest of a 14-item list are adversary proceedings unless the court orders otherwise.
Any other matter can be made adversary by serving a separate declaration, or by court order at any time. Once adversary, the dispute runs like a civil lawsuit — formal notice, written defenses, defaults — and the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure govern, except rule 1.525.
- Fourteen listed proceedings — will contests, revocation of probate, removal or surcharge of a fiduciary, beneficiary determinations, elective share disputes, and more — are adversary unless the court orders otherwise.
- Other proceedings become adversary by serving a separate written declaration — the petitioner serves it with the petition; a respondent within 20 days of service or before the hearing.
- The court may declare any proceeding adversary at any time.
- In an adversary proceeding the petitioner serves formal notice, and the matter proceeds like a civil suit, including entry of defaults.
- The Florida Rules of Civil Procedure govern after service, except rule 1.525; the court may enter orders to avoid undue delay in the main administration.
- Declared adversary mid-stream? Written defenses are due within 20 days of the order, and the petition need not be re-served unless the court orders it.
How it plays out
Rule 5.025 is the fork in the road. An uncontested administration stays on the fast, paper-driven track; the moment a will contest or removal petition lands, that dispute becomes civil litigation — answers, discovery, case management, trial. We tell clients which track they are on before anyone spends money, because the cost and the calendar change completely when the adversary rules attach. Serving the declaration — or provoking the other side into serving one — is often the first strategic decision in a contested estate.
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