IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA PROBATE RULES – 2024 LEGISLATION. (2024)

The Florida Bar's Probate Rules Committee has filed a report proposing amendments to Florida Probate Rules 5.240 (Notice of Administration), 5.241 (Notice to Creditors), 5.550 (Petition to Determine Incapacity), 5.649 (Guardian Advocate), and 5.681 (Restoration of Rights of Person with Developmental Disability) and Form 5.905 (Form for Petition; Notice; and Order for Appointment of Guardian Advocate of the Person) in response to recent legislation.¹ See chs. 2024-238, 2024-242, Laws of Fla.

The Florida Bar's Board of Governors’ Executive Committee unanimously approved the proposal.

Having considered the Committee's proposal and the relevant legislation, we amend the Florida Probate Rules as proposed by the Committee, with minor revisions. The more significant amendments are discussed below.

We amend rules 5.240 and 5.241 to require that notices of administration and notices to creditors provide notice that the personal representative or curator has no duty to discover whether the Florida Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act applies to the subject property unless a timely written demand is made.

Next, we amend rules 5.550 and 5.649 to require that petitions to determine incapacity or for the appointment of a guardian advocate identify existing supported decisionmaking agreements or other types of assistance already in place and state why they are inappropriate or insufficient. Rule 5.649 is further amended to require that orders appointing guardian advocates provide whether the person can exercise rights with assistance and the rights for which the person lacks decisionmaking ability.

Rule 5.681 is amended to require that a suggestion of restoration of rights state, among other things, whether another form of assistance is an alternative to the continued appointment of a guardian advocate.

Finally, form 5.905 is amended to add a requirement that the petitioner note whether a decisionmaking agreement, advanced directive, or power of attorney has been executed and, if so, whether it is insufficient to meet the needs of the respondent.

Accordingly, the Florida Probate Rules are amended as reflected in the appendix to this opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are indicated by struck-through type. The amendments shall become effective immediately. Because the amendments were not published for comment prior to their adoption, interested persons shall have 75 days from the date of this opinion in which to file comments with the Court.²

It is so ordered.

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES

1.   We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; see also Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(e).

2.   All comments must be filed with the Court on or before November 19, 2024, with a certificate of service verifying that a copy has been served on Committee Co-Chairs, Erin Farrington Finlen, 3365 Galt Ocean Drive, Fort-Lauderdale, FL 33308, erin@estatelaw.com, and Zackary T. Zuroweste, 2555 Enterprise Road, Suite 15, Clearwater, FL 33763, zz@persantelaw.com, and on the Bar Staff Liaison to the Committee, Heather Telfer, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300, rules@floridabar.org, as well as a separate request for oral argument if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral argument, which may be scheduled in this case. The Committee Co-Chairs have until December 10, 2024, to file a response to any comments filed with the Court. If filed by an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal). If filed by a nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to practice in Florida, the comment may be, but is not required to be, filed via the Portal. Any person unable to submit a comment electronically must mail or hand-deliver the originally signed comment to the Florida Supreme Court, Office of the Clerk, 500 South Duval Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1927.

PER CURIAM.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.