What it means
Rule 5.171 says what proves a death; Rule 5.205 says when the proof must be in the court file. In a formal administration — domiciliary or ancillary — a copy of the official record of death is due within 3 months after the first publication of the notice to creditors. Probate can open before the certificate arrives.
Faster proceedings need it sooner: before the order of summary administration, before an order admitting a will to probate without administration, before final judgment determining beneficiaries or protected homestead, and with the application for disposition without administration. On a verified petition the court may waive the requirement — and it may order the filing at any time, no hearing needed.
- Formal and ancillary administrations: the official record of death is due within 3 months after first publication of the notice to creditors.
- Summary administration: file it before the order of summary administration is entered.
- Disposition without administration: file it with the application.
- Determinations of beneficiaries or protected homestead: file it before final judgment; a will admitted without administration: before the admitting order.
- The court may waive the requirement on a verified petition — or require the filing at any time — without notice or hearing.
- The committee notes call for the short form certificate, the one that omits the cause of death.
How it plays out
The 3-month window exists because Florida lets probate start before the death certificate exists — the petition opens the estate while the vital-records office catches up. We calendar the certificate like any other deadline and file the short form, keeping the cause of death out of the public record. In summary administrations the sequence flips: the judge cannot enter the order until the record of death is in the file, so we hold the proposed order for it. Foreign deaths are the usual stragglers, and where the waiver provision earns its keep.
Questions people ask
