How to Sell Inherited Land in Florida

You can sell land you inherited in Florida without moving here, and often without months of full probate. What you cannot do is skip the court entirely.

Florida has no shortcut that lets a family sign an affidavit and sell a dead owner’s land. Unless the deed already named a survivor, someone needs authority from a Florida court before the land can change hands. The good news is that for most vacant lots, the court step is the short version. Here is how it works, with the Florida law behind each step.

Step 1: Check how the land was titled

If the deed named a survivor, for example a married couple holding the lot as tenants by the entirety, or co-owners with a right of survivorship, the land passed to the survivor at death and is not part of the estate.

If the lot was in the owner’s name alone, it is part of their Florida estate. Your right to it as an heir vests at the moment of death (Fla. Stat. 732.101(2)), but the land is still an estate asset that can be used to pay the estate’s claims and expenses (Fla. Stat. 733.608). That is why a court has to be involved before you can sell.

Is a vacant lot homestead?

Usually not. Florida’s homestead protection attaches to the owner’s residence (Fla. Const. Art. X, sec. 4). A lot in Lehigh Acres owned by someone who lived in Ohio was never their home, so it goes through the estate like any other asset. A lot next door to the owner’s own Florida house is a different question, and one for an estate attorney.

Step 2: Pick the probate route

Summary administration, the short route

Most inherited vacant lots qualify for Florida’s simplified process. It is available when the Florida estate, less exempt property, is worth $150,000 or less, or when the owner died more than two years ago, whatever the estate is worth (Fla. Stat. 735.201). It works whether the owner lived in Florida or not.

The limit was $75,000 until a 2026 law doubled it, effective July 1, 2026 (Laws of Florida, ch. 2026-57). Plenty of websites, including some official guides, still quote the old number. If someone told you the family lot was too valuable for the short route, it is worth asking again.

Summary administration does not appoint a personal representative. Instead the court signs an order that assigns the land to the named heirs, and a buyer from them takes good title (Fla. Stat. 735.206(4)). The petition is signed by the surviving spouse, if any, and the beneficiaries (Fla. Stat. 735.203), and whoever files has to search for the owner’s creditors and provide for them first (Fla. Stat. 735.206(2)).

Formal administration, the long route

Larger or contested estates go through full probate. The court appoints a personal representative, who publishes a notice to creditors once a week for two weeks (Fla. Stat. 733.2121). Creditors then have three months from the first publication to file claims (Fla. Stat. 733.702). The Florida Bar says a simple probate estate can reasonably be expected to take about five or six months, longer if property has to be sold or someone objects.

Can the personal representative sell the lot?

It depends on the will:

• The will gives a power of sale. If it grants a specific power to sell real property, or a general power to sell any estate asset, the personal representative can sell the land without asking the court (Fla. Stat. 733.613(2)).
• No will, or no power of sale. The personal representative can still agree a sale, but no title passes until the court authorizes or confirms it (Fla. Stat. 733.613(1)). The general power to sell estate assets specifically leaves out real property (Fla. Stat. 733.612(5)).

If the owner lived in another state

This is the most common situation we see. When the owner lived elsewhere, their home state handles the main estate, and the Florida lot needs its own Florida proceeding, called ancillary administration (Fla. Stat. 734.102), filed in the county where the lot sits (Fla. Stat. 733.101). For a single vacant lot, Florida’s summary administration is often the simpler path, because it is open to nonresidents too (Fla. Stat. 735.201). Either way, you do not need to come to Florida to sell: heirs in other states sign with a local notary and the title company records the deed.

Step 3: Work out who actually owns the land

If there was no will

Florida’s intestacy rules decide. A surviving spouse takes everything if all of the owner’s children are also the spouse’s and the spouse has no other children. If either of them had children from outside the marriage, the spouse takes half and the owner’s descendants share the other half (Fla. Stat. 732.102). With no spouse, the children inherit, then the parents, then brothers and sisters and their descendants (Fla. Stat. 732.103).

Heirs own it together, as tenants in common

When land passes to several people, Florida treats them as tenants in common unless survivorship was expressly created (Fla. Stat. 689.15). Each of you owns a fractional share of the whole lot. You can generally sell your own share, but the buyer simply steps into your place as a co-owner. Selling the whole lot takes every owner’s signature.

What if the heirs disagree about selling?

Any co-owner can ask a court to partition the land (Fla. Stat. 64.031). When the co-owners are relatives who inherited, Florida’s version of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act has applied to cases filed since July 1, 2020 (Fla. Stat. 64.201 to 64.214). It sets the order things happen in:

1. The court sets a value first, normally with a disinterested licensed appraiser (Fla. Stat. 64.206).
2. The others can buy out the seller. Co-owners who did not ask for a sale have 45 days to elect to buy the share of those who did, at the appraised value times their fraction (Fla. Stat. 64.207).
3. Dividing the land is preferred over selling it, unless splitting it would hurt the owners as a group (Fla. Stat. 64.208).
4. A sale goes to the open market, by default through a licensed broker at no less than the appraised value (Fla. Stat. 64.210).

On a platted lot, the appraisal and legal fees can eat much of the value. Agreeing on one sale, or on a buyout price, is almost always the cheaper way out.

Want to know what the family’s lot would sell for before you start the paperwork? Send us the county and the parcel for a written cash offer, with no obligation to accept it.

Or call us at 240-245-2466

Taxes on inherited Florida land

• Estate and inheritance tax. Florida has had no estate tax on deaths after December 31, 2004 (Florida Department of Revenue), and its constitution limits any estate or inheritance tax to the old federal credit (Fla. Const. Art. VII, sec. 5). Heirs pay no Florida inheritance tax.
• Capital gains. For federal income tax, your basis in inherited property is generally its fair market value on the date of death (Internal Revenue Code, sec. 1014), not what the owner paid for the lot decades ago. Sell for close to that value and there is little or no gain. Ask your tax preparer.
• Property taxes keep running. The bill often keeps going to the address of someone who has died, and nobody notices until a tax certificate has been sold. Our guide to selling Florida land with back taxes walks through the county clock and how unpaid taxes are paid off at closing.

The owner died years ago and nobody opened probate

That is common with Florida lots that have sat in a family for decades, and it is often easier than it sounds. Once two years have passed since the death, summary administration is open whatever the estate is worth (Fla. Stat. 735.201), and claims against the owner are generally barred, apart from recorded mortgages and liens (Fla. Stat. 733.710).

When selling to a cash buyer is the wrong move

We buy land for a living, so weigh this accordingly.

If someone in the family wants to keep it, a buyout at a fair value keeps the lot in the family and costs nobody a discount. If the lot is buildable and you have time, list it: a lot on a paved road with water and sewer at the street, in an area where builders are active, will usually do better on the open market than with any cash buyer, including us. If the will is being challenged, you need a lawyer, not a buyer.

A direct sale wins on the lot that will not sell any other way: a 1960s platted lot on a street that was never built, a lot with no water or sewer, a lot carrying association dues nobody wants to keep paying, or a lot owned by heirs in four states who just want it handled. Those are the ones we buy.

Where we buy in Florida

We buy in eleven Florida counties: Lee, Charlotte, Marion, Citrus, Polk, Putnam, Flagler, Highlands, Volusia, Hernando, and Duval, with guides for Lehigh Acres and Poinciana. The full picture is on our sell your Florida land page. If the family land is in Maryland, read how to sell inherited land in Maryland instead.

Common questions

Can I sell inherited land in Florida without probate?

Only if the deed named a survivor, such as a married couple holding it as tenants by the entirety. Land in the owner’s name alone needs a Florida court order or a court-appointed personal representative before it can be sold.

What is the summary administration limit in Florida?

Since July 1, 2026, $150,000 for the Florida estate less exempt property. It is also available at any value once the owner has been dead more than two years.

Do all the heirs have to agree to sell?

Once the land is in the heirs’ names, every owner signs. If one will not, any co-owner can ask a court for partition, where the others first get the chance to buy out the share.

The owner lived in another state. Where does probate happen?

In Florida, in the county where the lot is. That can be ancillary administration alongside the home-state estate, or summary administration, which is open to nonresidents.

We are land buyers, not lawyers, and this is general information about Florida law, not legal or tax advice. Statutes cited are from the 2026 Florida Statutes, the Florida Constitution, and the Internal Revenue Code. A Florida probate attorney can tell you exactly which route fits your family’s estate.