Formal Administration Lawyer St. Petersburg
Told the estate needs formal administration? We'll guide your next steps.
Speak Directly With Matt Weidner Today and get a free same-day evaluation with a step-by-step formal administration plan
- Review your estate with Matt Weidner himself, a lawyer for 25+ years
- Confirm whether formal administration is the right path
- Find out what the court needs to issue letters
- Map out the inventory, creditor and accounting steps ahead
- Know which deadlines start once letters are issued
- This guidance is 100% free, no pressure and no obligation
Free reviews are offered at our discretion and are not guaranteed, and a personal review by Matt Weidner, including same-day timing, is subject to case type and availability.
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Highly Rated
Why Choose Us?
Once an estate is headed for formal administration, the shape of what is ahead is fairly clear: a petition to the court, a personal representative appointed by order, letters of administration, and months of duties after that. What you need now is a lawyer who will take you through that process and handle the court filings with you. Matt Weidner has practiced law in Florida for over 25 years, probate is one of his focus areas, and he often works directly with personal representatives.
Serving as personal representative comes with legal duties and firm deadlines: notice to creditors, notice of administration to beneficiaries, a verified inventory, claims to review, and a final accounting before discharge. We help you understand each duty before it comes due and keep the estate moving in a timely way, so you can carry out the job you were trusted with and work toward a clean close for the family.
Request your free evaluation now and get a formal administration action plan before the first filing.
How It Works
1
get your free same-day evaluation and action plan
Submit the form above or give us a call to get started. People find our free evaluations and action plans extremely valuable.
2
discuss your options With Matt so you know exactly how to proceed
Matt will go over all of your options with you so that you know exactly what to do. No more confusion!
3
Get More Formal Administration Help If Needed
Matt brings over 25 years of Florida law practice and can represent you through the whole administration if you want that help. You decide after your evaluation.
Free evaluations and action plans are offered at our discretion, depend on case type and availability, and are not guaranteed, including a personal review by Matt Weidner. Submitting a form or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship or guarantee any outcome.
Meet Matt Weidner and the Weidner Law Team
Matt Weidner has been licensed to practice law in Florida since 1999 and works from Weidner Law’s office at 856 2nd Ave N in St. Petersburg. Probate and estate planning are among the services he provides, and he is admitted to practice in all Florida state courts, where every formal administration is opened, supervised and closed. For a personal representative, that means an experienced Florida lawyer who often talks with clients directly about each filing and deadline.
Associate attorney Jason M. Kral works alongside Matt, with a background in estate planning, real estate litigation and complex civil litigation. That matters when an estate includes Florida real property, or when a creditor claim or a beneficiary’s objection turns into a dispute. When a question comes up about a claim, a deadline or the next filing, you can bring it to a lawyer at the firm who works on probate matters.
Our Formal Administration Services
Formal administration is a sequence of filings and duties that runs from the first petition to the court’s order of discharge. Our services follow that sequence, so you have help at each stage and with the questions that come up in between.
- Petition for administration and letters
- Notice to creditors and claims
- Notice of administration to beneficiaries
- Verified estate inventory
- Estate disputes and objections
- Final accounting and discharge
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Who we Help
Formal administration usually puts one person in a court-supervised role with filings and deadlines ahead. Whether a will names you, the estate has no will, or you live out of state, one of these situations likely fits yours.
- Personal representatives named in a will
- Families settling estates without wills
- Out-of-state relatives serving in Florida
- Estates above summary administration limits
- Estates with creditors or debts
- Estates with Florida real estate
Frequently Asked Questions
In most cases, yes. Florida Probate Rule 5.030 requires a personal representative to be represented by a Florida attorney unless the personal representative is the only interested person in the estate or is a Florida attorney. Your free evaluation with Matt is a simple way to find out where you stand.
Under Florida’s court time standards, an uncontested formal administration with no federal estate tax return is expected to reach final discharge within 12 months after letters are issued, though every estate is different. Creditors generally have 3 months from the first publication of the notice to creditors to file claims. We can map out your likely timeline during your evaluation.
Matt goes over the will if there is one, the assets and any debts you know about, and who will serve as personal representative. You come away with a clearer picture of your duties, the order of the filings, and how we can help if you want representation.
Florida law generally allows reasonable fees for the personal representative’s attorney to be paid from estate assets. Your first evaluation is free, and we explain how fees would work for your estate before you commit to anything. Give us a call or request your free case evaluation to get started.
Reviews
Why Weidner Law Is a Strong Choice for Formal Administration
Weidner Law represents personal representatives in Florida formal administrations, handling the filings, notices and deadlines of a court-supervised case that can run for months. Since most personal representatives need a Florida attorney anyway, the real decision is which lawyer to trust with that responsibility, and at Weidner Law, Matt Weidner often works with personal representatives directly.
Matt Weidner and the attorneys of Weidner Law practice exclusively in the state and federal courts of Florida, and a formal administration runs in Florida circuit court under the Florida Probate Rules. Matt earned his law degree at the Florida State University College of Law and has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1999. Personal representatives start with a free same-day evaluation and action plan, subject to case type and availability, so they understand the order of the filings before the first one is made.
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A St. Petersburg Formal Administration Lawyer Close to the Pinellas Courts
Weidner Law’s office is at 856 2nd Ave N in St. Petersburg, a short distance from the Pinellas County Clerk’s St. Petersburg branch at 545 First Avenue North. Pinellas County estates are handled in Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, and the Clerk’s office notes that in a formal administration the attorney for the personal representative prepares and files the petition and the other required documents. That is the work Matt does for personal representatives across Pinellas County.
When family members live outside Florida, choosing the personal representative takes extra care. Florida law limits which nonresidents may serve as personal representative, generally to certain relatives by blood, adoption or marriage, such as a child, parent, spouse, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew, so we look at who can qualify before the petition is filed. The St. Petersburg office is open weekdays from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, which helps when a personal representative has to fit estate meetings around work.
How Weidner Law Guides Each Stage of a Florida Formal Administration
A formal administration follows a set order, and Weidner Law represents the personal representative through each part of it. After the court appoints you and letters of administration are issued, we serve the notice of administration on the surviving spouse and beneficiaries, which starts their 3-month window to object to the will, venue or jurisdiction. We publish the notice to creditors once a week for 2 consecutive weeks, serve reasonably ascertainable creditors, and prepare the verified inventory, which Florida Probate Rule 5.340 requires within 60 days after letters are issued.
As the estate nears its close, we prepare the final accounting and the petition for discharge with its plan of distribution, which Florida Probate Rule 5.400 generally requires within 12 months after letters in an estate with no federal estate tax return. When a claim or an objection becomes contested, you have a litigator on your side: Matt is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Litigation – Real Estate in St. Petersburg, and the firm handles probate, trust and will disputes.
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