Selling a House in Probate
in Seminole County

The Short Answer

Can You Sell a House During Probate in Seminole County?

Yes. Once the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit appoints a personal representative and the clerk issues letters of administration, estate property in Seminole County can be listed and sold during administration rather than after it. If the will grants a specific power of sale, the personal representative may sell without a separate court order (Fla. Stat. 733.613). Protected homestead is the exception that matters most: the decedent's primary residence typically passes straight to the heirs, who sign the listing and sell it themselves. The process is state law. What changes in Seminole County is where you file, what it costs, and how the local docket moves.

Where Your Case Lives

Seminole County Probate Is Not Filed at the Courthouse Most People Drive To

Probate filings in Seminole County go through the Seminole County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, and here is the detail that trips up families every week: the clerk's probate office is not at the Civil Courthouse on Park Avenue. It sits at the Juvenile Justice Center, 190 Eslinger Way, Sanford, FL 32773, reachable at 407-665-4369. That is where estate filings, certified copies, and status questions are handled for every family in Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, Winter Springs, Casselberry, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, and unincorporated Seminole County.

In practice you may never need the address. Attorneys file electronically through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit requires a completed checklist to accompany probate filings so files reach the judge clean, and many routine, uncontested matters are handled without a hearing when the paperwork is in order. Florida law still requires the person holding the original will to deposit it with the clerk within 10 days of learning of the death (Fla. Stat. 732.901). In Seminole County that deposit is free, with a $7 charge only if you want a receipt.

Opening the Estate

What Probate Costs to Open in Seminole County

Clerk filing fees currently run approximately $400 for formal administration and approximately $345 for summary administration, with publication of the notice to creditors adding roughly $150 to $300 depending on the newspaper. Fees change, so confirm the current schedule with the Seminole County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller before filing. Attorney fees are separate and are typically the larger number; Florida sets presumptively reasonable rates by estate value, and your probate attorney will quote them up front.

Worth knowing before any of that: the estate's largest cost is usually not a fee at all. It is the carrying cost of a vacant house, often $2,000 to $3,500 a month for a typical Central Florida estate home, plus the vacant-home insurance restrictions that can void coverage after 30 to 60 days. Our net-to-estate calculator puts numbers on what waiting costs.

New for 2026

Florida Doubled the Summary Administration Limit

Effective July 1, 2026, Florida raised the summary administration threshold under Fla. Stat. 735.201 from $75,000 to $150,000 in non-exempt probate assets. The change applies to decedents who pass away on or after July 1, 2026, and it means more Seminole County estates qualify for the faster track that skips the appointment of a personal representative and resolves by court order. Homestead, retirement accounts, life insurance, and other non-probate assets do not count toward the cap, so an estate can hold a valuable Lake Mary home and still qualify when the home is protected homestead. For deaths before July 2026, the prior $75,000 limit may still control. Which track applies is a legal call your probate attorney makes; what we contribute is the documented property value that petition needs.

The Property Side

Selling Estate Homes in Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, and Sanford

Seminole County estate property is its own market. The county's estate homes concentrate in Heathrow, Alaqua and Alaqua Lakes, the Markham Woods Road corridor, Sweetwater Oaks in Longwood, Tuscawilla in Winter Springs, and the established lakefront pockets around Sanford and Lake Mary. Pricing these correctly is exactly where an estate sale gets contested later, because a beneficiary reviewing the file two years from now will ask one question: what supported the price?

That is the standard we build every file to. A documented, comp-supported valuation, complete marketing records through Premier Sotheby's International Realty's global network, and a written trail from list to close. Sean and Barb have each testified in court as expert witnesses in contested property matters, so the file is prepared as if it will be examined, whether or not it ever is. The six steps of a Florida probate home sale on our main guide cover the path from letters of administration to delivering proceeds to the estate; our office at 1117 International Parkway in Lake Mary puts us minutes from most of the homes involved.

If the home was the decedent's protected homestead, the heirs sell rather than the estate, and our homestead overview explains why that distinction decides who our client is. And if the personal representative lives out of state, as adult children administering a parent's Seminole County estate usually do, we handle the ground work locally: securing the property, coordinating vendors, managing showings, and walking the file to a mail-away or remote-notarization closing.

For Probate Attorneys

A Seminole County Referral You Can Defend

If your practice files in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, you know what a clean file is worth. We work at your direction, keep you copied, keep first-time fiduciaries calm, and deliver pricing documentation built to evidentiary standards. Discretion is the default for high-net-worth families, and our complimentary date-of-death valuation analysis gives your personal representative a defensible starting number for stepped-up basis and the estate accounting, usually the same business day.

Keep Exploring

Next Steps

This is general information, not legal advice. Probate procedure, fees, and pace vary by case and docket, and clerk fee schedules change. Work with a Florida probate attorney; Sean & Barb are real estate advisors and coordinate with counsel at every step.