Proposed Order Determining Exempt Property (surviving spouse) – Orange County, FL

The Proposed Order Determining Exempt Property (surviving spouse) is a Florida probate court form: an order that finds a named person is the decedent's surviving spouse and entitled to listed property as exempt property under Section 732.402 of the Florida Probate Code.

The form is captioned for the Circuit Court, Probate Division, with blanks for the county, the estate ("IN RE: ESTATE OF"), the file number and the division. It is headed "ORDER DETERMINING EXEMPT PROPERTY (surviving spouse)". Its text recites that the order is made on a petition for an order determining exempt property and that the court finds four things:

• all interested persons have been served proper notice of the petition and hearing, or have waived notice;
• the material allegations of the petition are true;
• the decedent was domiciled in Florida at the time of death;
• the named person is the surviving spouse and is entitled to the property listed under the columns ITEM and VALUE.

The order then adjudges the surviving spouse entitled to that property as exempt property, subject to any perfected security interests in it. It directs the personal representative of the estate to surrender the exempt property to the surviving spouse and, upon compliance, releases the personal representative from further responsibility for that property. It closes with an "ORDERED on" date and a line for the Circuit Judge.

The form says nothing about property tax. It belongs to probate proceedings in a Florida circuit court, and the Orange County Clerk of Courts publishes it among its forms.

The form is used in a Florida circuit court probate case where a petition for an order determining exempt property has been made for a decedent's surviving spouse. The text prints blanks for the petitioner ("On the petition of") and, separately, for the surviving spouse, and asks you to list each item of property with its value.

Conditions printed in the order itself:

• The decedent was domiciled in Florida at the time of death.
• The person named is the decedent's surviving spouse. This version is written only for a surviving spouse.
• All interested persons have been served proper notice of the petition and hearing, or have waived notice.

Other people named in the order:

• The personal representative of the estate is directed to surrender the exempt property to the surviving spouse and is released from further responsibility for it once the order is followed.
• The Circuit Judge dates and signs the order; the person preparing the proposed order does not.

Do not use this version if the person named is not the decedent's surviving spouse, because the order adjudges that status. The form does not describe who may prepare or present a proposed order; that is a question for the court or the Clerk of Courts.

The form is used after a petition for an order determining exempt property has been made in the estate case, because the order recites that petition and a hearing. It also recites that all interested persons were served proper notice of the petition and hearing or waived notice, so that finding should be true before the court acts on the order. The order is dated at the line "ORDERED on", which the judge completes when the order is made. No separate deadline is printed on the form; timing follows the probate case and the court.

The form prints no submission channel, address, portal or fee. It is a proposed order for a circuit judge's signature in a Florida probate case, headed "IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR ___ COUNTY, FLORIDA, PROBATE DIVISION", and it ends with the "ORDERED on" date and the Circuit Judge line. The order takes effect only when the judge signs it.

The Orange County Clerk of Courts publishes the PDF at the address given as the official source for this page. For how and where a proposed order is presented in your case, contact the court or the Clerk of Courts. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the court's own channels.