How can we find potential heirs for an intestate estate in Florida?

Full question:

A friend in Florida recently died and had a substantial estate. No one knows if she had any children or other heirs. How do we find out if there are any heirs and what potential heirs should we look for in this situation. She did not have a Will.

• Category: Wills and Estates
• Subcategory: Intestacy
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Florida

Answer:

To start, a creditor or interested party should open the estate. The court will then appoint a personal representative. To locate potential heirs, consider hiring a tracing company that specializes in finding heirs.

According to Florida law, intestate estates are distributed as follows:

• If there is a surviving spouse, they inherit the entire estate if there are no descendants.
• If there are descendants, the spouse may inherit half or the entire estate, depending on the relationship of the descendants to the spouse.
• If there is no surviving spouse, the estate goes to the decedent's descendants.
• If there are no descendants, the estate is divided between the decedent's parents, siblings, or their descendants.
• If no relatives exist, the estate goes to the state.

For more details, refer to Florida Probate Code sections 732.102 to 732.107. You may need to look for any relatives, including parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and their descendants. If no relatives can be found, the estate will escheat to the state.