If you are heading down to Tampa probate court – or if you have to head down there and have been putting it off, here is everything you need to know to make your trip go as smoothly as possible.
Tampa Probate Court: Information You Need to Know
Tampa is covered by the Hillsborough County Probate Court. This court deals with probate issues for all cities within Hillsborough county – this includes Tampa, Westchase, Bloomingdale, Citrus Park, Valrico, and Keystone.
You will find the Hillsborough County probate court at 800 E Twiggs St, Tampa, FL 33602 and if you need to give them a call, you can call them at (813) 276-8100. The Clerk of Court can also be contacted via their online contact form.
The Tampa Probate Court is usually open from 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, but hours are currently a little strange due to COVID-19. If you’re looking for current information on which offices are closed and the hours are for open offices, you can find this information available on the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court website. (For probate concerns, you need to scroll down to “Guardianship and Probate” section.) Clicking this link will also provide you with information on how many people are in line for specific services at the courthouse and how long your estimated wait time is in realtime. During COVID-19, this is a very useful tool that allows you to minimize your exposure to others during your court visit.
Navigating The Probate Court Website
The Tampa probate website gives you all of the information you need to know for your probate concerns – although, it can be difficult to navigate, so we pulled out some important key points for you:
Looking For a List of Probate Cases
If you are looking for a list of all probate cases that have been filed in the last 30 days, you can find that on the “Daily Filings” page. Once you get to that page, you can download the list in CSV format which you can open using Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program. A TextPad program will work in a pinch, but you may have to decode some of the information since it won’t be formatted correctly.
Getting Access to Probate Documents Online
The Hillsborough County Clerk of the Circuit Court, 13th Judicial Circuit is permitted by the Florida Supreme Court to allow users to electronically view many court records and document images. To view documents, you need to go to the HillsClerk website. Now you can search for a case here by clicking the “Case Search” selection at the top of the page. This will let you search by case number, ticket, citation number, uniform case number, individual name, business name, date range, court type, or case type.
You may find it helpful to search this database to find out whether probate has already been opened for the person you are there for before attempting to open a case yourself.
What Petitions Can You File in the Probate Department?
The probate department of the Hillsborough County Court can help you to file various petitions. These include:
- Formal administration
- Summary administration
- Petition to admit a foreign will
- Ancillary administration
- Caveat
- Conservatorship
- Curatorship
- Notice of Trust
- Trust
- Guardianships
- Vulnerable Adult
Probate Fees
The probate fees that you can expect to pay for Tampa probate court are as follows:
| Summary Administration: Estate valued at less than $1,000.00 | $235.00 |
| Summary Administration: Estate valued at $1,000.00 or more | $345.00 |
| Formal Administration | $400.00 |
| Ancillary Administration | $400.00 |
| Opening of any estate of guardianship of one document or more, but not toinclude issuance of letters or orders of summary | $231.00 |
| Petitions to admit foreign wills, authenticated or exemplified copies oftranscripts or records | $231.00 |
| Caveat | $41.00 |
| Disposition of personal property, without administration | $231.00 |
| V.A. Guardianship | $235.00 |
| Guardianship of persons only | $235.00 |
| Guardianship of property only | $400.00 |
| Guardianship or person and property | $400.00 |
| Curatorship and Conservatorship | $400.00 |
| Petition to determine incapacity | $231.00 |
| Trusts | $400.00 |
| Notice of Trust | $41.00 |
| Guardianship accounting audit fee: Assets of $25,000 or less | $20.00 |
| Guardianship accounting audit fee: Assets over $25,000 to $100,000 | $85.00 |
| Assets over $100,000 to $500,000 | $170.00 |
| Guardianship accounting audit fee: Assets over $500,000 | $250.00 |
| Filing of Guardianship Inventories for all assets exceeding $25,000 | $85.00 |
Seeking Probate Court Representation?
If you are looking for an attorney who specializes in probate court, Weidner Law can help! To find out more about how we can help you, give us a call today at 727-954-8752 to set up an appointment at a time that is convenient for you!
