What Is an Advancement Against a Florida Intestate Share?

When a person dies intestate, Florida distributes the estate according to the intestate succession statutes. Lifetime gifts to an heir are sometimes claimed to have been early payments of that heir's inheritance. Florida treats such a gift as an advancement against the heir's intestate share only when the decedent made a contemporaneous written declaration, or the heir acknowledged the advancement in writing.

The advanced property is valued at the earlier of the time the heir took possession or enjoyment, or the decedent's death. If the recipient does not survive the decedent, the property is not counted against shares going to the recipient's descendants unless the declaration or acknowledgment says otherwise.

These rules do not turn devises under a will into advancements and apply when the decedent dies intestate. The order of relatives who inherit without a will is covered in the order relatives inherit when a Florida resident dies without a will. How wills change that picture is summarized in how wills work in Florida.