Monroe County, FL Probate Information

Before you file anything in Monroe County, know exactly what is in the estate. Which Florida path fits depends on whether there is a will and on the value and type of the assets: formal administration under F.S. Chapter 733, summary administration under F.S. 735.201 for a smaller estate, or disposition of personal property without administration under F.S. 735.301 for a limited class of estates with no real property. The dollar thresholds that separate these paths are statewide and are explained on the Florida state page; identify the estate first so you and your attorney file the right petition once.

Identify every bank and credit-union account, retirement plan, brokerage holding, life-insurance policy, vehicle, and parcel of real property, along with every debt, before you go to the Clerk. Whether the decedent's home in Key West, Marathon, Islamorada, Key Largo, or elsewhere in the Keys was homestead property matters, because Florida homestead often passes outside the probate estate and is not counted toward the summary-administration limit. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

The Sixteenth Judicial Circuit is unusual in Florida: it serves Monroe County and no other county. Monroe covers the entire Florida Keys, from Key West and Stock Island in the Lower Keys, through Big Pine Key, Marathon, and Key Colony Beach in the Middle Keys, up to Islamorada, Layton, Tavernier, and Key Largo in the Upper Keys, along with a large, mostly uninhabited mainland area inside Everglades National Park. Because the county stretches more than 100 miles, the Clerk of the Circuit Court keeps offices in Key West (500 Whitehead Street), Marathon (3117 Overseas Highway), and on Plantation Key (88770 Overseas Highway, Suite 2, Tavernier), and the Sixteenth Circuit holds court at the Freeman Justice Center in Key West, the Marathon Courthouse, and the Plantation Key Government Center in Tavernier. Probate is filed with the Clerk; confirm with the specific office which counter will take a probate filing in person before you travel.

Venue for a decedent's estate is governed by F.S. 733.101. Administration is proper first in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, then, if the decedent had no Florida domicile, in a county where the decedent's property is located, and, if the decedent had neither domicile nor property in Florida, in the county where any debtor of the decedent resides. In practice, file in Monroe County for a decedent who lived in the Keys. There is no separate probate department; probate is heard on the Circuit Court's docket in the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.

One circuit, one county, three offices along the Keys. The Sixteenth Judicial Circuit serves Monroe County and no other county, and because the Keys run more than 100 miles the Clerk of the Circuit Court keeps offices in Key West (500 Whitehead Street), Marathon (3117 Overseas Highway), and on Plantation Key (88770 Overseas Highway, Suite 2, Tavernier). In Key West the Clerk's court office is a separate building from the Freeman Justice Center at 302 Fleming Street where the court sits; in Marathon and at the Plantation Key Government Center the Clerk's office and the courtrooms share the same building. Confirm with the specific office which counter will take a probate filing before traveling.

Hearings can be held by Zoom on advance permission. The Sixteenth Circuit's judges maintain hybrid virtual courtrooms, but a remote appearance requires advance permission from the court. A party asks by motion under the assigned judge's posted procedures, generally 5 to 10 days before the hearing depending on the judge; once approved, the court issues an order with the Zoom link, meeting ID, and passcode, and remote participants join 10 to 15 minutes early, per the judge's procedures, with the camera on. This can matter in a county where the courthouses are spread across the island chain.

Case search runs through the Clerk's own portal. Monroe County does not use the statewide CiviTek case-search system. Court records are searched through Clerk Online Services at cr.monroe-clerk.com, reached from the Court Records menu on monroe-clerk.com. Probate dockets are searchable by the public, with docket information from roughly 1990 forward, but remote access to images of records in probate cases is restricted under F.S. 28.2221(5)(a); copies are available from the Clerk's offices. To confirm a filing, you can also call the Clerk's probate department at (305) 292-3458.

Florida makes counsel the norm in probate. Under Fla. Prob. R. 5.030, the personal representative must be represented by a Florida-licensed attorney unless the personal representative remains the sole interested person, or is the only beneficiary with no other interested persons, or is a Florida-licensed attorney. Because most Monroe County estates have more than one interested person, most formal and summary administrations here are handled through counsel, who also e-files through the statewide portal. Consider an attorney early when the estate holds Keys real property that must be sold, when a will contest or heir dispute is likely, when the estate is insolvent or creditors are pressing, or when the estate includes a business interest or out-of-state property. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Florida probate attorney serving Monroe County and the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit-union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Monroe County real estate, and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value and which Florida path fits before you file.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the petition and supporting paperwork for your estate settlement path, ready to file with the Clerk of the Circuit Court through the statewide e-filing portal or on paper at the Key West, Marathon, or Plantation Key office.

Find a local probate attorney. Because Fla. Prob. R. 5.030 requires a Florida-licensed attorney in most administrations, Sunset connects families to a vetted Florida probate attorney serving Monroe County and the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.

Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).