Also known as: decedent’s estate · decedents’ estates · decedent estate · decedent estates · probate estate · estate of decedent
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Assets owned by a person at death or acquired by the estate thereafter that are subject to administration under probate law. The probate estate is liable for allowed claims, taxes, and allowances, with the net amount passing to heirs by intestacy or devisees by will.
Diane Dawson created a revocable trust holding investment accounts and directed that trust property pay her debts after death. At her passing the probate estate held only personal effects insufficient to cover funeral costs and a large unsecured loan. The trustee must release trust assets to satisfy the shortfall under the governing statute.
Diego Duarte's will left his entire probate estate to his children from a prior marriage. His surviving spouse elects the statutory share. The personal representative must first apply nonprobate transfers and then probate assets other than those already passing to the spouse to meet the unsatisfied elective amount.
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Deborah Dunn owned rental property that generated rent due at the end of the month she died. The estate collects that rent and later receives a posthumous performance bonus from her former employer. Both sums enter the probate estate and become available to pay administration expenses before distribution to heirs.
Demetrius Douglas died without a will owning only a bank account and household goods. After payment of funeral expenses and a small creditor claim the personal representative distributes the remaining probate assets to Douglas's sole surviving child under the state's intestacy statute.
Darrell Duncan and his spouse held their home as tenants by the entirety. A judgment creditor of Duncan alone seeks to levy on the residence after his death. The probate estate cannot reach the property because the creditor never obtained a joint lien during the marriage.
Danielle Dixon died leaving an estate with a known hospital bill. The personal representative published notice but did not mail a copy to the hospital. The hospital's late claim is not barred because due process required direct notice to a creditor the representative knew or reasonably should have known.
Property the decedent owned at death or that the estate acquires afterward, such as post-death income or posthumous bonuses, is included. Assets transferred by nonprobate means like revocable trusts or joint tenancy with right of survivorship are excluded.
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After the settlor's death, property in a trust that was revocable at death is subject to the settlor's creditors and estate administration expenses to the extent the probate estate is inadequate.
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If the elective-share amount remains unsatisfied after applying certain augmented-estate components, the personal representative applies amounts from the net probate estate and specified nonprobate transfers in proportion to the recipients' interests.
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…challenged conduct. [^maj-31]: See also, e.g., Woods v. Nova Companies Belize Ltd. , 739 So. 2d 617, 620–621 (Fla. App. 1999) (estate of decedent killed in an overseas plane crash permitted to sue responsible Belizean corporate defendant in Florida courts, rather than Belizean courts, based on defendant’s continuous and systematic…