Selling a Florida House When the Heirs Do Not Agree

If the heirs can't agree, any one of them can ask the court to divide the property or order it sold through a partition action (Florida Statute 64.031). For inherited property that qualifies as heirs property, Florida law since July 1, 2020 first gives the other heirs 45 days to buy out the heir who wants to sell, at a court-determined value (Florida Statute 64.207). If nobody buys and the house can't be divided, a court-ordered sale is normally an open-market listing with a licensed broker at no less than that value (Florida Statute 64.210). If the will gives the personal representative a power of sale, the house can sometimes be sold without everyone agreeing, but not if it was the owner's protected homestead.

Sources verified: September 27, 2026

This is general information, not legal advice.

This page explains what that scheme is, what it does, and what the realistic options are when agreement is not possible.

First: does anybody have authority to sell without the others?

Sometimes the disagreement is moot because the will already answered the question.

Florida Statute 733.613(2) provides that where "a decedent's will confers specific power to sell or mortgage real property or a general power to sell any asset of the estate," the personal representative may sell "without authorization or confirmation of court," and that such a sale "need not be justified by a showing of necessity."

That means a personal representative acting under a power of sale can sell over a beneficiary's objection. The beneficiary's remedy is about the proceeds and the representative's conduct, not about blocking the deed. Throughout this page, "heirs" and "beneficiaries" are the probate code's terms: Florida Statute 731.201(20) defines "heirs" as "those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent," and 731.201(2) defines a "beneficiary" as an "heir at law in an intestate estate and devisee in a testate estate."

But a power of sale does not reach protected homestead. Florida Statute 733.607(1) gives the personal representative possession or control of the decedent's property "except the protected homestead," and Florida Statute 733.608(1) goes further: "All real and personal property of the decedent, except the protected homestead, within this state ... shall be assets in the hands of the personal representative." A power of sale is a power over estate assets, and a protected homestead is not one. The protection is constitutional — Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution.

Florida Statute 733.608(2) gives the representative one limited role even so: where property that "reasonably appears ... to be protected homestead is not occupied by a person who appears to have an interest in the property," the representative is "authorized, but not required, to take possession of that property for the limited purpose of preserving, insuring, and protecting it ... pending a determination of its homestead status." That is custody, not authority to sell.

Where there is no power of sale, Florida Statute 733.613(1) applies and "no title shall pass until the court authorizes or confirms the sale" — which gives objecting heirs a forum.

If the estate is still open and the beneficiaries hold undivided interests, there is also Florida Statute 733.814: "When two or more beneficiaries are entitled to distribution of undivided interests in any property, the personal representative or any beneficiary may petition the court before the estate is closed to partition the property in the same manner as provided by law for civil actions of partition." The court "may direct the personal representative to sell any property that cannot be partitioned without prejudice to the owners."

Note "or any beneficiary." A single heir can start that process.

Summary administration needs the others to sign

If the plan is to use the shorter probate route, disagreement is a real obstacle.

Florida Statute 735.203(1) provides that a petition for summary administration "must be signed and verified by the surviving spouse, if any, and any beneficiaries," except "a beneficiary who will receive a full distributive share under the proposed distribution." Where a beneficiary does not join, "formal notice of the petition must be served on a beneficiary not joining in the petition."

So a holdout cannot necessarily stop it, but they must be served and they get a chance to be heard.

It is also worth knowing what the resulting order does. Under Florida Statute 735.206(4)(c), "after the entry of the order, bona fide purchasers for value from those to whom property of the decedent may be assigned by the order shall take the property free of all claims of creditors of the decedent and all rights of the surviving spouse and all other beneficiaries." Under 735.206(4)(e), recipients are "personally liable for a pro rata share of all lawful claims against the estate of the decedent, but only to the extent of the value of the estate of the decedent actually received by each recipient."

Partition: the old rule, and why it changed

Once the property is out of the estate and the heirs own it as tenants in common, the tool is a partition action. Any one of them can bring it.

Florida Statute 64.031 — the printed catchline is "Parties" — says the action "may be filed by any one or more of several joint tenants, tenants in common, or coparceners, against their cotenants, coparceners, or others interested in the lands to be divided."

Under the older Part I machinery, Florida Statute 64.071(1) provides that if commissioners report the land "cannot be made without prejudice to the owners," the court "may order the land to be sold at public auction to the highest bidder ... and the money arising from such sale paid into the court to be divided among the parties in proportion to their interest."

A forced auction of a family home frequently produced a poor price and lost the property out of the family altogether. In 2020 Florida adopted a different scheme for inherited property specifically.

The Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act

Florida Statute 64.203(1) says Part II of Chapter 64 "applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020." Florida Statute 64.203(2) is the operative direction: "If the court determines that the property is heirs property, the property must be partitioned under this part unless all of the cotenants otherwise agree in a record." Under 64.203(3), the part "replaces provisions of part I of this chapter that are inconsistent with this part."

So for an inherited house that meets the heirs property definition, this scheme is not optional.

What counts as heirs property. Florida Statute 64.202(6) defines it as real property held in tenancy in common satisfying "all of the following requirements as of the filing of a partition action": that "there is no agreement in a record binding all the cotenants which governs the partition of the property"; that "one or more of the cotenants acquired title from a relative, whether living or deceased"; and that any one of three twenty-percent tests is met — twenty percent or more of the interests held by cotenants who are relatives, or by an individual who acquired title from a relative, or twenty percent or more of the cotenants being relatives.

The first three requirements are cumulative. The three twenty-percent tests are alternatives — meeting any one is enough.

How a valuation happens

The Act front-loads the value question, before the merits.

Florida Statute 64.206(1) directs the court, on determining the property is heirs property, to "determine the fair market value of the property by ordering an appraisal." Under 64.206(2), if all cotenants have agreed a value or a method, "the court shall adopt that value." Under 64.206(4), the court appoints "a disinterested real estate appraiser licensed in this state."

The deadlines are short and worth knowing. Under Florida Statute 64.206(5), "not later than 10 days after the appraisal is filed," the court sends notice stating the appraised value, that the appraisal is available at the clerk's office, and that a party may object "not later than 30 days after the notice is sent." Under 64.206(6), the valuation hearing happens "not sooner than 31 days" after that notice, "whether or not an objection to the appraisal is filed."

Florida Statute 64.206(7) also carries a provision that matters where one heir has been carrying the property. After the valuation hearing, and "before considering the merits of the partition action," the court "shall determine the amount of the equitable accounting upon the request of any cotenant and shall appropriately adjust any price, purchase price, apportioned price, buyout, judgment, or partition granted under this part based on the results of the equitable accounting."

If you have been paying the taxes and insurance alone for years, that is the provision to raise.

The buyout: the heir who wants to keep it goes first

This is the heart of the Act and the part that most changes the outcome.

Florida Statute 64.207(1) provides that where any cotenant requested partition by sale, after the value is determined "the court shall send notice to the parties that any cotenant except a cotenant that requested partition by sale may buy all the interests of the cotenants that requested partition by sale."

Under Florida Statute 64.207(2), an electing cotenant must notify the court "not later than 45 days after the notice is sent." Under 64.207(3), "the purchase price for each of the interests of a cotenant that requested partition by sale is the value of the entire parcel determined under s. 64.206 multiplied by the cotenant's fractional ownership of the entire parcel."

So the price is arithmetic, not negotiation. An heir who wants to keep the house buys out the heirs who want to sell, at a court-determined value times their share. If more than one cotenant elects, Florida Statute 64.207(4) allocates the right between them in proportion to their existing interests.

The practical consequence: filing a partition action to force a sale may instead produce a court-priced buyout of your interest. That is often a perfectly good result — it turns an illiquid share into money — but it is not the same as selling the house.

If nobody buys out, a sale is still not automatic

Florida Statute 64.208(1) reverses the old default. Where a cotenant has requested partition in kind, or the buyout did not clear all the selling cotenants, "the court shall enter a judgment of partition in kind unless the court is satisfied that commissioners appointed pursuant to s. 64.061 have considered the factors listed in s. 64.209 and found that partition in kind will result in prejudice to the cotenants as a group."

Dividing a single-family house physically is usually impracticable, so in practice this often does lead to a sale — but the finding has to be made, and it is the commissioners who make it.

Florida Statute 64.209(1) lists what they weigh, and the list is notably non-financial in part: whether the property "practicably can be divided"; whether dividing it would make the parcels worth "materially less than the value of the property if it were sold as a whole"; "evidence of the collective duration of ownership or possession of the property by a cotenant and one or more predecessors in title ... who are or were relatives"; "a cotenant's sentimental attachment to the property, including any attachment arising because the property has ancestral or other unique or special value"; "the lawful use being made of the property by a cotenant and the degree to which the cotenant would be harmed if the cotenant could not continue the same use"; and the degree to which cotenants "have contributed their pro rata share of the property taxes, insurance, and other expenses."

Under Florida Statute 64.209(2), the commissioners "may not consider any one factor ... to be dispositive without weighing the totality of all relevant factors and circumstances."

And if it is sold, it is an open-market sale, not an auction

Florida Statute 64.210(1) provides that where the court orders a sale of heirs property, "the sale must be an open-market sale unless the court finds that a sale by sealed bids or an auction would be more economically advantageous and in the best interest of the cotenants as a group."

Under Florida Statute 64.210(2), if the parties agree on a licensed Florida real estate broker "not later than 10 days after the entry of the order," the court appoints that broker; otherwise the court appoints a disinterested one. Either way the broker "shall offer the property for sale in a commercially reasonable manner at a price no lower than the determination of value."

That floor price is the reason this matters. Under the old Part I route the property went to auction with no floor. Under Florida Statute 64.210 it is listed like a normal house, at no less than the court-determined value.

A complication that is not about disagreement at all

Sometimes the reason a house cannot be sold is not that the heirs are fighting, but that they do not own what they think they own.

Florida Statute 732.401(1) provides that where homestead was not devised as authorized, it "shall descend in the same manner as other intestate property" — the homestead protection itself coming from Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution — "but if the decedent is survived by a spouse and one or more descendants, the surviving spouse shall take a life estate in the homestead, with a vested remainder to the descendants." Under 732.401(2) the spouse may instead "elect to take an undivided one-half interest in the homestead as a tenant in common," and under 732.401(2)(b) that election "must be made within 6 months after the decedent's death and during the surviving spouse's lifetime." Under 732.401(2)(d), "once made, the election is irrevocable."

A life tenant and remaindermen are not cotenants in the ordinary sense, and the partition route does not work the same way. Establishing exactly who holds what, in what capacity, comes before any argument about selling.

What this means in practice

If everyone can agree, none of the above applies — you sell the house and divide the proceeds, which is faster and cheaper than any court process.

If one heir wants out and the others want to keep it, the buyout in Florida Statute 64.207 is the mechanism designed for that, and it does not require the willing seller to force a sale of the whole property.

If one heir wants to sell and the others will not engage, a partition action is available, but expect it to run through valuation under Florida Statute 64.206 and a buyout window under Florida Statute 64.207 before any sale is considered.

And if an heir simply cannot be located, the Act contemplates that too: Florida Statute 64.208(4) provides that on a partition in kind the court "shall allocate to the cotenants that are unknown, unlocatable, or the subject of a default judgment ... a part of the property representing the combined interests of these cotenants," which "shall remain undivided."

Where we fit

Investor Trustee Services buys Florida houses for cash, including inherited property. We can buy a single heir's partial interest, we have experience with partition actions, and we can wait on a court process where the situation requires it.

Where the property was left behind by a reverse mortgage, that is a particular focus of ours: Investor Trustee Services is an approved bidder in HUD's reverse-mortgage (HECM) loan sales and an active buyer of houses left behind by reverse mortgages.

One thing worth saying plainly: a cash offer is sometimes useful to disagreeing heirs not because anyone accepts it, but because it establishes a real number that everyone can argue about instead of arguing about an imagined one.

Every section named here is free to read at leg.state.fl.us or flsenate.gov, and the probate file is public record at the clerk of court in the county where the case was opened.

Selling a Florida house in this situation? Get a written cash offer — no fees, no repairs, and no obligation.