Guide · Updated September 19, 2026
Can You Sell or Refinance a House During Probate in Florida?
Short answer: often yes, but "often" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Whether a Florida house can be sold or refinanced while an estate is in probate depends on the will, the personal representative's authority, whether the property is homestead, and what the new lender requires. Here's how each piece actually works, and where financing can fit while the estate is still open.
I hear a version of this question from almost every family dealing with an inherited Florida property: the house is sitting there, the mortgage payment is still due, and nobody's sure what they're actually allowed to do with it while probate works its way through the court. The honest answer is that it depends on a few specific things — and getting them wrong, or assuming too much either way, is how families lose time they didn't need to lose.
How long does Florida probate actually take?
Set your expectations here first, because everything else depends on it. Florida law requires even the simplest estate to stay open for at least a three-month creditor claim period, and a personal representative's final accounting is generally due within 12 months of Letters of Administration being issued. The Florida Bar's own consumer guide to probate puts a straightforward, uncontested estate at roughly five to six months in practice. Add a will contest, a disputed heir, a hard-to-value asset, or a house that needs to sell before the estate can close, and it's common to run well past a year.
Florida also has a faster track — summary administration — available when the estate's non-exempt assets fall under a dollar threshold, or when the person has been gone more than two years regardless of value. That dollar threshold is set by statute and has been revised in recent years, so don't assume a figure you've heard elsewhere still applies — confirm the current number with your attorney before assuming which process fits your estate.
Can the house be sold while probate is open?
Often, yes — but it runs through the personal representative, not through the heirs directly. If the will gives the personal representative the power of sale, real property can sometimes be sold without going back to the court for separate approval. Without that language, or when there's no will at all, selling generally requires the court's sign-off first. Either way, the title company and the probate attorney are the ones confirming exactly what's required before a closing gets scheduled — a real estate agent listing the property doesn't establish legal authority to sell it.
None of this is something to guess your way through. The Florida Bar's probate guide is a good starting point for understanding the roles involved, but it's general information, not a substitute for your attorney reviewing your specific estate.
Can the house be refinanced while probate is open?
This is where people conflate two different things, so let's separate them.
The existing mortgage doesn't have to be paid off just because the owner died. Federal law — the Garn-St. Germain Act — generally stops a lender from calling the loan due solely because the property passed to a relative through inheritance. As a "successor in interest," an heir can typically get information on the loan and keep making payments under the original terms while the estate is settled. The CFPB explains how this works. That protection is not a payment holiday — the loan can still go into default if it isn't paid.
A refinance is a different, voluntary transaction — a brand-new loan, reviewed fresh by a lender against its own underwriting rules. A refinance can be an exit strategy if ownership, title, and the borrower meet the new lender's requirements at that time. It is not guaranteed by closing probate. The estate's authority to borrow, whose name goes on the new loan, and whether title is clean enough to close all get reviewed before a refinance can move forward — separately from whatever program or timeline applies to a probate bridge loan.
Florida's homestead rules make this different from other states
If the inherited home was the deceased owner's primary residence, Florida's constitution gives it special protection that most other states don't have. When homestead property passes to a spouse or heir, it generally passes free of the deceased owner's general creditors — medical bills, credit cards, and most unsecured debt can't force a sale of it. That protection has real limits, though: it does not shield the property from the mortgage already on it, property tax obligations, or debt tied to its purchase or improvement. The mortgage still has to be paid regardless of homestead status.
In practice, heirs often need the property's homestead status formally confirmed before they can sell it, refinance it, or get title insurance on it — one more reason a house can sit in limbo longer than families expect. Homestead determinations are fact-specific, so this is squarely attorney territory, not something to assume from a general guide like this one.
What if you need money before the house sells or the estate settles?
This is the gap an equity-based probate or estate bridge loan is built for — not to replace the sale or the refinance, but to cover the space in between. I review these against the property, available equity, title, and who has the legal authority to borrow, coordinating directly with your probate attorney and title team. Credit is not part of qualification for these equity-based programs. Terms run up to 36 months in most cases, with no pre-payment penalty; a future refinance is one possible way out if you qualify, but it isn't guaranteed just because probate closes.
Common reasons families call at this stage: the existing mortgage has fallen behind while the estate works its way through court, property taxes or insurance are coming due and nobody wants to let the homestead exemption lapse, or one heir wants to buy out the others before the house ever goes to market. If a sibling buyout is specifically what you're navigating, I've written about how that works separately — the equity-split questions there are different from the timeline questions here.
If the inherited home is also behind on payments and facing a foreclosure filing, timing changes everything. See what needs review when an inherited home faces foreclosure — a financing application doesn't pause a scheduled sale, and that clock runs independently of the probate court's calendar.
A note for families navigating this in Spanish
Si heredó una propiedad en la Florida, es posible venderla o refinanciarla mientras el proceso de sucesión (probate) sigue abierto, pero depende del testamento, de quién tiene autoridad para actuar y de si la propiedad tiene protección de homestead. El crédito no forma parte de la calificación para los programas basados en la plusvalía descritos aquí. Su abogado y el equipo de título deben confirmar la autoridad y la estructura de la propiedad antes de avanzar. Llame al (305) 492-2404 para una consulta en español.
What to do next
Start with where the estate actually stands: is there a will, has a personal representative been appointed, is the property homestead, and is the mortgage current? Those four answers determine almost everything else about your timeline and options. From there, we can look at whether an equity-based probate loan, a straightforward refinance, or simply waiting for the sale fits your family's situation.
Visit reinierloans.com/probate-loans for more on how the financing side works, or call me directly at (305) 492-2404. I work with families through this in English and Spanish, and I'd rather give you a straight answer about the timeline now than have you find out the hard way later.