Seminole County, FL Probate Information

The most common Seminole County misstep is filing before you know what the estate holds and which administration path fits. Florida has three routes: formal administration (F.S. Chapter 733), summary administration (F.S. 735.201), and disposition of personal property without administration (F.S. 735.301). Which one applies depends on the value and type of the assets, whether the decedent left Florida real property, and how long ago the death occurred; the thresholds are statewide and are covered on the Florida state page. Homestead real property often passes outside the probate estate, so a Lake Mary or Oviedo home can transfer to the family while the estate subject to administration stays small; the Seminole Clerk even publishes petition packets to determine homestead status.

Before you file, identify every bank and credit-union account, brokerage and retirement account, life-insurance policy, vehicle, business interest, and parcel of Seminole County real estate, along with every debt, and identify each heir and beneficiary by name. Only then can you pick the right path, calculate the correct filing fee, and decide whether counsel is needed. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit serves Seminole and Brevard counties, and each county keeps its own courthouses, Clerk, and procedures; a Seminole estate is administered in Seminole. Within the county the court covers Sanford (the county seat), Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, Winter Springs, and the unincorporated communities in between. Court services are split across a three-building campus: probate and the probate judges are at the Juvenile Justice Center, 190 Eslinger Way in Sanford; the Criminal Justice Center at 101 Eslinger Way is the primary location for civil, criminal, and traffic services; and the Seminole Civil Courthouse at 301 North Park Avenue houses court administration. The circuit's judicial directory currently assigns Seminole probate, guardianship, and mental health cases to Circuit Judges John D. Galluzzo (Division P) and William S. Orth (Division B) (verified July 2026).

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; if the decedent had no Florida domicile, in any county where the decedent owned property; and otherwise in the county where a debtor of the decedent resides. In practice, the estate of a Seminole County resident, or one holding Seminole real property, is filed here.

Probate is at the Juvenile Justice Center, not the Park Avenue courthouse. Seminole court services are split across a three-building campus in Sanford, and the Clerk's probate office and the probate judges sit at the Juvenile Justice Center, 190 Eslinger Way (verified July 2026). The Criminal Justice Center at 101 Eslinger Way is the primary location for civil, criminal, and traffic counter services, and the Seminole Civil Courthouse at 301 North Park Avenue, the address many older directories still list for probate, houses court administration and civil divisions.

Uncontested probate is decided on the papers. Both Seminole probate divisions publish the same rule in their Judicial Practices and Procedures: no hearing is required on any uncontested probate matter. File the petition, make sure the supporting documents (death certificate, waivers and consents, affidavit of heirs, funeral receipt, original will) are docketed by the Clerk, then submit the proposed order in Word through the e-portal's proposed-order function. Orders submitted before the petition is docketed are rejected.

Homestead petitions need three identifiers. The probate divisions require every petition and order to determine homestead status to include the property address, the full legal description, and the Parcel ID number. The Clerk publishes testate and intestate homestead petition packets, a useful local layer because Florida homestead frequently passes outside the probate estate.

The Clerk's Self Help program covers probate estates. Seminole's Clerk runs a Self Help program for self-represented parties that includes formal and summary administration estates: low-cost attorney consultation appointments held on Microsoft Teams on Wednesdays, free legal-research computers, and the local form packets. Appointments are required, booked online or through [email protected]; income-eligible residents are referred to the Seminole County Bar Association Legal Aid Society or Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida.

Probate dockets are searchable anonymously; images are restricted. Probate case types (formal administration, summary administration, disposition, homestead, caveats, trust probate) are searchable without an account through the Clerk's Civil Cases search at courtrecords.seminoleclerk.org/civil/, with records back to 1985. Images of probate court files are barred from general-public website display by statute (F.S. 28.2221(5)(a)), name searches exclude confidential cases, and the public tier adds a captcha after 20 requests or image retrievals per hour, so plan to request copies of filed documents from the Clerk.

Remote hearings run on Microsoft Teams. Where a hearing is needed, the probate divisions accept remote appearances on Microsoft Teams as a capability, requested by motion with a proposed order listing everyone appearing virtually. Division B's published procedures add that a party giving testimony by phone or Teams must have a notary public physically present to administer the oath, and that remote participants stand by for at least an hour from the scheduled hearing time (division procedures, verified July 2026).

Florida is an attorney-forward probate state. Under Fla. Prob. R. 5.030, the personal representative must be represented by a Florida-licensed attorney unless the personal representative is the sole interested person or is a licensed attorney, so most Seminole formal and summary administrations involve counsel. Beyond the rule, counsel makes practical sense when the estate is contested, when Seminole real property must be sold, when the estate is insolvent or its solvency is in doubt, when a business interest or an out-of-state asset complicates administration, or when heirs are in conflict. Disposition of personal property without administration and sole-interested-person matters can proceed without a lawyer, and the Clerk's Self Help attorneys can answer procedural questions without representing you. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Seminole probate attorney when the situation calls for counsel.

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, Seminole County real estate, business interests, and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value and can choose the right Florida probate path for estate settlement before you file.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the Seminole filing: the petition for administration, the notice of administration and notice to creditors, the inventory, and the supporting documents the probate divisions expect to see docketed, formatted for e-filing through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal or for paper filing with the Clerk.

Find a local probate attorney. Because Fla. Prob. R. 5.030 requires counsel in most administrations, Sunset connects families to a vetted Seminole probate attorney to file and appear.

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).