Who can serve as Personal Representative (Executor) in Florida?

Jill Ginsberg and David Shulman discuss who can serve as a Personal Representative in Florida.

Jill: [00:00:00] You know, David, we get a lot of questions about who the people are who can serve and what their roles are after somebody passes away. We hear a lot about this word executor or personal representative and in Florida, it’s called a personal representative. Can you tell us a little bit about what a personal representative does, and who can serve as personal representative.

David: Right, Jill, as you said, the personal representative is the term used in Florida, what other states call executor, they’re really synonymous, but we use the term personal representative, the personal representative is the person you appoint or nominate after you die, who’s in charge of your estate, they gather they Marshall your assets.
They identify any creditors, people you may owe money to, they get appointed by the court, and they’re in charge of finding, of finding your assets, paying creditors, and then distributing, paying any taxes, and the distributing money to the [00:01:00] beneficiaries. Now there’s some rules about who can serve as personal representative in Florida.
It has to be either a Florida resident or a relative who may or may not live outside Florida. So anyone who lives in Florida, assuming they’re not a felon, felons can’t serve, but anyone who lives in Florida can serve. Plus if your cousin in New York or your brother in Iowa wants to serve, they can serve too.
But if your best friend from back home growing up who still lives in Philadelphia who isn’t related to you, they can’t serve.

Jill: How about an in law, like a brother in law, something like that?

David: They can serve, provided you’re still married at the time of your death. But if you’re no longer married, it gets a little confusing.

Jill: Sounds like a plan. Thanks, David.

David: Thank you.