A New York will, a New Jersey executor, and a Wilton Manors condo in one partner's name are three different machines. The third one is a Florida problem. Real property in this state does not change owners because a court in another state said so. Florida opens a second file -- ancillary administration -- to deal with the assets that sit here. The unmarried partner who is on the ground in Broward is not, by that fact, the person Florida will appoint to do it.

Venue is geography. If the decedent had no domicile in Florida, probate of wills and granting of letters is in any county where the decedent's property is located (section 733.101(1)(b)). A seasonal resident who was still domiciled in another state, and who died owning a Fort Lauderdale or Wilton Manors unit in that person's sole name, is the (1)(b) case.

Chapter 734 is the ancillary chapter. Section 734.102(1) starts from a nonresident who dies leaving assets in this state, credits due from residents, or liens on property here. Who is entitled to ancillary letters is a preference list of its own. First: a personal representative specifically designated in the decedent's will to administer the Florida property, if qualified to act in Florida. Otherwise: the foreign personal representative of the decedent's estate, if qualified to act in Florida. If the foreign personal representative is not qualified and the will names an alternate or successor who is qualified in Florida, that alternate or successor is entitled. Otherwise, those entitled to a majority interest of the Florida property may have letters issued to a personal representative they select who is qualified to act in Florida. If the decedent dies intestate and the foreign personal representative is not qualified to act in Florida, the order of preference in this code -- section 733.301 -- applies. If someone other than the domiciliary personal representative applies, prior notice shall be given to any domiciliary personal representative.

"Qualified to act in Florida" is the same qualification problem as a resident estate. Section 733.302 requires a natural person to be sui juris and a Florida resident at the decedent's death, unless section 733.304 lets a nonresident in. Section 733.304's nonresident list is adopted children and parents, lineal consanguinity, a spouse or listed collaterals, and the spouse of a qualified person. An unmarried partner is not on it. A foreign executor who is the surviving spouse of a lawful marriage may fit. A foreign executor who is the unmarried partner, living in the Florida unit but still domiciled in New York, generally does not. The partner on the ground is useful as a witness, a caretaker of the keys, and, if the will names them and they are a Florida resident, as a possible ancillary personal representative. Occupancy is not the statutory preference.

If the will and codicils are executed as the Florida Probate Code requires, they are admitted to probate (section 734.102(3)). Unless creditors' claims are already barred by the two-year statute of repose in section 733.710, the ancillary personal representative must cause a notice to creditors to be served and published as chapter 733 requires; claims not filed in accordance with chapter 733 are barred as provided in section 733.702 (section 734.102(5)). After expenses and claims are paid, the court may order the remaining property transferred to the foreign personal representative or distributed to the beneficiaries (section 734.102(6)). Ancillary personal representatives have the same rights as other Florida personal representatives to manage and settle estates and to sell, lease, or mortgage local property; they may not sell, lease, or mortgage to pay a debt or claim that is barred by a Florida statute of limitation or of nonclaim (section 734.102(7)).

There is a smaller testate shortcut. When a nonresident dies testate and leaves property subject to administration in Florida the gross value of which does not exceed $50,000 at the date of death, the foreign personal representative may, before two years after death, file in the circuit court of a county where any of the property sits an authenticated transcript of so much of the foreign proceedings as will show the will and the beneficiaries (section 734.1025(1)). The court admits the will and codicils if they comply with section 732.502(1), (2), or (3). The foreign personal representative may publish and serve a notice to creditors; if any claim is filed, a personal representative shall be appointed as the Probate Rules provide (section 734.1025(2)). Chapter 2026-57 raised the resident summary-administration cap to $150,000. It did not amend section 734.1025. The ancillary small-estate figure remains $50,000 of Florida property, and only for testate nonresidents, and only inside two years.

After two years -- or after the domiciliary personal representative has been discharged -- if there has been no Florida administration, an authenticated copy of a nonresident's will that devises Florida real property may be admitted to record in a county where the property sits (section 734.104). The will must have been executed as chapter 732 requires and admitted to probate in the proper court of another state, territory, or country. Any person may file the petition, with authenticated copies of the foreign will, the petition for probate, and the order admitting it -- or, if the foreign court did not require a petition, proof of that fact. When admitted to record, the foreign will is as valid and effectual to pass title as if it had been admitted to probate here (section 734.104(4)). That is a title-clearing statute for devises. It is not an intestacy statute, and it is not a partner statute. If the nonresident died without a will, section 734.104 does not apply. Florida real property then follows Florida descent, including homestead rules, and an unmarried partner still is not an heir under sections 732.102 and 732.103.

Foreign personal representatives have a limited ability to act without opening ancillary. They may maintain actions in Florida courts on authenticated copies of probated wills or letters (section 734.101(1)). They may be sued here about Florida property (section 734.101(2)). Florida debtors, and persons holding personal property of the estate, who have received no written demand from a Florida-appointed personal representative or curator may, after 90 days from the foreign appointment, pay or deliver to the foreign personal representative (section 734.101(3)-(4), with a safe-deposit exception in section 655.936). That 90-day personal-property path is not a deed of the condo.

Intestacy still skips the partner. Homestead still follows Article X, section 4 and sections 732.401 and 732.4015. A local domestic-partnership card does not make the person on the ground the ancillary personal representative, and it does not pass title. What actually moves a Florida unit owned in one nonresident's name is a Florida proceeding, a person qualified under chapter 733, and a will or a funded trust that actually devises or holds the property. Having the keys is none of those.

This article is general information, not advice about a particular estate. The Law Office of Shawn C. Newman, P.A. offers a free consultation in person or by Zoom. Call (954) 563-9160 or visit www.shawnnewman.com. The office is at 710 NE 26th Street, Wilton Manors, Florida 33305, and serves Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade Counties.