Summary Administration in Escambia County, Florida

Summary administration is Florida’s short-form probate under Chapter 735, Florida Statutes. The court enters an order sending each asset to the person entitled to it, and no personal representative is appointed. The law is the same in every county. What changes from county to county is where the case is filed, which circuit’s judges review it, what that circuit requires before an order is signed, and what the clerk charges. This page covers those specifics for Escambia County, so a family in Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, and Century knows what to expect before anything is filed.

Where a Escambia County Summary Administration Is Filed

Venue for a Florida probate is the county where the decedent was domiciled (Fla. Stat. § 733.101). A Escambia County resident’s estate is filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Escambia County, part of the First Judicial Circuit, which also covers Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, and Walton counties. The county seat is Pensacola. The petition and its attachments are e-filed through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, so nobody has to appear at the courthouse in the ordinary uncontested case. Two things cannot be e-filed: the original will, which the custodian must deposit with the clerk within 10 days of learning of the death (Fla. Stat. § 732.901), and the certified death certificate. Those go to the clerk by mail or by hand.

What the First Judicial Circuit Requires Before It Signs

The First Circuit publishes its probate checklists as fillable PDFs and expects them to be filed through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal along with the petition.

The checklist culture is the practical reason a summary administration takes weeks in one family’s hands and months in another’s. A petition that is missing one of the twelve elements Probate Rule 5.530 requires, or an order that names an account without its number, comes back. We draft the proposed Order of Summary Administration asset by asset and distributee by distributee, because the order is the document the bank, the motor vehicle office, and the title company will actually read. Current circuit forms and orders: First Judicial Circuit.

Court Costs in Escambia County

Florida sets the clerk’s fee for a summary administration by statute (Fla. Stat. § 28.2401), so the base charge in Escambia County is the same as in every other county. What varies is any local surcharge the clerk adds and the number of certified copies the family needs.

Charge	Amount	Basis
Filing fee, estate valued at $1,000 or more	$340 + $4 service charge	Fla. Stat. § 28.2401(1)(e), (3)
Filing fee, estate valued under $1,000	$230 + $4 service charge	Fla. Stat. § 28.2401(1)(f), (3)
Disposition without administration (if that applies instead)	$230	Fla. Stat. § 28.2401(1)(d)
Certified copies of the orders	A few dollars each; one per bank or asset holder	Clerk schedule
Recording orders affecting real property	Per page, in the county where the property sits	Escambia County official records

Every one of these is a government charge, billed to you at cost. The attorney fee is separate and flat.

Does the Estate Qualify?

A Escambia County estate qualifies for summary administration through either of two doors (Fla. Stat. § 735.201). The first is value: the probate estate, after taking out exempt property and protected homestead, is worth $150,000 or less. That figure doubled from $75,000 on July 1, 2026, and applies to deaths on or after that date. The second door is time: the person died more than two years ago, at which point every creditor claim is barred (Fla. Stat. § 733.710) and the value of the estate no longer matters. If there is a will, it must not direct formal administration under Chapter 733. Assets that already have a named beneficiary, a joint owner with survivorship, or a payable-on-death designation pass outside probate and do not count.

A House in Escambia County

A Escambia County home the decedent lived in is usually protected homestead. It generally does not count toward the $150,000, but the title still has to be cleared, which is done with a petition to determine homestead status filed alongside the summary administration petition. The court’s order determining homestead and the order of summary administration are then recorded in the official records of Escambia County. That recording is the act that lets the heirs sell, refinance, or insure the property. If the property sits in a different county, the orders are recorded there as well. This is the work covered by our $2,495 tier.

How Long It Takes in the First Circuit

Once the First Circuit has a complete file, an uncontested summary administration is decided on the papers. Most are done in a matter of weeks rather than the six to twelve months a formal administration takes, because there is no personal representative to appoint, no letters of administration, and, when the two-year door applies, no creditor period. Delays come from incomplete files: a missing joinder from a beneficiary, an asset schedule without account numbers or a legal description, or a checklist the circuit requires that was not filed. We build the file to the circuit’s checklist before it is submitted.

What Truestead Charges for a Escambia County Summary Administration

Court costs at cost. Statewide, flat fees for the same petition commonly run $1,500 to $3,500, and some firms charge $4,500. Start online, or book a free 20-minute call first.

Cities in Escambia County

We handle Escambia County summary administrations from our Ormond Beach office by phone, email, and e-filing, for families in:

• Pensacola
• Pensacola Beach
• Century
• Gonzalez
• Ferry Pass
• Brent
• Bellview
• West Pensacola
• Ensley
• Myrtle Grove
• Warrington

Probate pages for Pensacola, and the county overview at Escambia County estate planning & probate.

Read the Full Guide Series

• Florida Summary Administration: The Complete Guide
• What It Costs · How Long It Takes · Forms and the Rule 5.530 Checklist
• With a House · The Two-Year Rule · The New $150,000 Limit
• Summary administration in every Florida county

Attorney advertising. Flat fees cover an uncontested summary administration under Chapter 735, Florida Statutes, with cooperative, locatable beneficiaries and the services listed; court filing fees, recording, and publication are government charges billed at cost. Matters that become contested, involve unknown heirs, exceed the statutory threshold, or require formal administration are quoted separately before any additional work. Purchasing initiates an engagement completed by intake, conflict check, and our engagement terms; if the estate does not qualify, the fee is refunded less any qualification-review time actually incurred, as stated in the engagement letter. Circuit procedures summarized here were taken from the circuit court’s published materials as of 2026-09-22 and can change; we confirm current requirements before every filing. Responsible attorney: Arthur Simpson, Esq., Florida Bar #529265, Ormond Beach.