Fla. Prob. R. 5.235 · Part II. — PROBATE
ISSUANCE OF LETTERS, BOND
Text — October 1, 2026 edition
(a) Appointment of Personal Representative. After the petition for administration is filed and the will, if any, is admitted to probate:
(1) the court shall appoint the person entitled and qualified to be personal representative;
(2) the court shall determine the amount of any bond required. The clerk may approve the bond in the amount determined by the court; and
(3) any required oath or designation of, and acceptance by, a resident agent shall be filed.
(b) Issuance of Letters. Upon compliance with all of the foregoing, letters shall be issued to the personal representative.
(c) Bond. On petition by any interested person or on the court’s own motion, the court may waive the requirement of filing a bond, require a personal representative or curator to give bond, increase or decrease the bond, or require additional surety.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
Committee Notes
This rule represents a rule implementation of the procedure formerly found in sections 733.401 and 733.403(2), Florida Statutes, both of which were repealed in 2001. It is not intended to change the effect of the statutes from which it was derived but has been reformatted to conform with the structure of these rules. It is not intended to create a new procedure or modify an existing procedure.
Rule History
1988 Revision: New rule.
1992 Revision: Editorial changes. Committee notes revised. Citation form changes in committee notes.
1996 Revision: Mandate in subdivision (a)(2) prohibiting charge of service fee by clerk deleted. Statutory references added.
2003 Revision: Committee notes revised.
2010 Revision: Committee notes revised. Statutory References § 28.24(19), Fla. Stat. Service charges by clerk of the circuit court. § 28.2401, Fla. Stat. Service charges in probate matters. § 733.402, Fla. Stat. Bond of fiduciary; when required; form. § 733.403, Fla. Stat. Amount of bond. § 733.405, Fla. Stat. Release of surety. § 733.501, Fla. Stat. Curators. Rule References Fla. Prob. R. 5.110 Address designation for personal representative or guardian; designation of resident agent and acceptance. Fla. Prob. R. 5.122 Curators. Fla. Prob. R. 5.320 Oath of personal representative.
Source of truth
- Edition
- October 1, 2026 edition
- Official file
- https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2026/10/Probate-Rules-10-01-26.pdf (PDF pages 93–95)
- Text hash
- sha256 62f740cbb4a6f80283a2a357012cb93a6d85474f2eafc2b377e6ec767bfd3ba4
- Composed by
- compose_book.py 2026-10-03: pypdfium2 primary, PyMuPDF check, PDF bookmarks as the inventory
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.