Florida Probate Rule 5.385
“Determination of Beneficiaries and Shares”
What it means
When there is real doubt about who inherits — a missing heir, a gap in the family tree, uncertainty over shares — Rule 5.385 lets the personal representative or any interested person petition the court to determine the beneficiaries. It is the procedural half of §733.105, which supplies the remedy and protects distributions made under the resulting order.
The petition must name everyone who may have an interest — creditors excepted — with residences and addresses found by diligent search and inquiry, describe each person's interest, flag minors and incapacitated persons, and state whether unknown claimants may exist. After formal notice and a hearing, the court enters an order fixing the beneficiaries, their shares and amounts, or both.
- Available when a personal representative or interested person is in doubt about who takes from an estate, or in what shares.
- The petition lists all possible interest-holders — except creditors — known or ascertainable by diligent search and inquiry, with residences and addresses.
- It must designate anyone believed to be a minor or incapacitated and say whether they are under guardianship in Florida.
- It must state whether unknown persons may hold claims or interests as beneficiaries.
- Service is by formal notice; the order comes only after notice and hearing.
- A proceeding to determine beneficiaries is an adversary proceeding under rule 5.025, and §733.105 protects a personal representative who distributes under the order.
How it plays out
This is the closing move in every missing-heir file we handle. The search, the publication, and the guardian ad litem get the absent person properly before the court; the 5.385 petition converts all of it into one order saying who takes and how much. We file it whenever the family tree rests on affidavits instead of certainty, because §733.105 protects a personal representative who distributes under the order — and nothing else does. It is the step most often skipped, and skipping it leaves the representative exposed if a closer heir surfaces later.
Questions people ask
