Rules of Procedure Update:

On September 2, 2010 the Supreme Court of Florida provided amendments to the Florida Probate Rules to include that the Inventory for an estate does not need to be served on the Department of Revenue and does not need to be served on non-residuary beneficiaries. However, a non-residuary beneficiary can request a copy of the Inventory. Rule 5.340 of the Florida Probate Rules. What is the significance of the change? First off, a non-residuary beneficiary (one who receives a specific item or money from a specific fund in the estate but not a share of what is left over in the estate) now will not be informed as a matter of course about all of the assets in the estate. Without knowledge regarding the value of assets in the estate that beneficiary cannot make decisions about his or her inheritance until it is actually received (or possibly even thereafter until the estate is closed if the beneficiary receives the inheritance prior to the closing of the estate). There may be creditors of the estate for which the personal representative of the estate could have to expend all of the residue of the estate and then require the specifically gifted item(s) from the non-residuary beneficiary to pay the remainder of the debt owed. If the beneficiary does not know of the estate's liquidity to pay all the debts, the beneficiary may make significant expenditures with the expectation of receiving a significant inheritance only to discover that the residuary of the estate was not sufficient to pay the creditors of the estate so the beneficiary has to surrender the inheritance to the creditor. Also, a beneficiary who does not receive the Inventory may have an expectation of receiving a certain percentage of the estate and may be duped into believing that his share is extensive when actually the beneficiary may have been disinherited significantly. If the disinheritance was from undue influence or while the deceased was incapacitated, the beneficiary may have lost an opportunity to challenge a will and get a greater share from the estate. The aforementioned revision to the Florida Probate Rules should make it even more apparent to beneficiaries that they should be represented in estate matters to get the knowledge that they need to make proper decisions and to assure their inheritance.