Florida Probate Court - Duval County Probate Court
Duval County was formed in 1822 from St. Johns County and is named for William Pope Duval, the territorial Governor of Florida from 1822 to 1834. The County seat is the city of Jacksonville. The population as of the 2000 census was 778,879 and the estimate for 2005 was 826,436. In 1824, Alachua and Nassau counties were created from Duval, which greatly reduced the physical size of the County. At present it covers 918 square miles. Of that, 145 square miles is water, much of it in the Atlantic Ocean. The percentage of water in the county equals 15.74% of the total. In the early 1990's, three beach cities - Atlantic Beach, Baldwin and Neptune Beach considered separating from Duval and forming Ocean County, but the idea was dropped in 1995.
The probate department of the Circuit Court is located in the Duval County Courthouse, 330 E. Bay Street, Room 101, Jacksonville, Florida 32202. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. They can be reached by telephone at (904) 630-2053. The Probate Department manages cases involving the distribution of estates of deceased persons and the administration of guardianships. If you wish to find out if a probate case has been opened or the status of a case, you can mail a written request directly to the probate department. The request must include the decedent's full name and date of death and a self-addressed, stamped envelope must be provided along with a payment of $1.50 for the search fee. The probate department will only accept business checks, cashiers checks, or money orders as payment. It is not possible to obtain case information online or to do search requests over the phone.
Probate (settling an estate) is required when the deceased had assets in his or her name alone. The process can take several months. If the decedent left a Last Will and Testament it is considered a "testate" estate. If there was no will, then it is called an "intestate" estate. The Last Will and Testament (if one exists) should be deposited with the court for safekeeping within ten days of the date of death of the deceased. There is no fee or cost to do so. For most probates it is necessary to hire an Attorney to see that the process is done in a timely, legal manner. The Attorney is not required to be in Duval County but can be from any county in the State of Florida.
The current Clerk of the Circuit Court is Jim Fuller, and he assumed office in 2001. There are four office locations with the main courthouse located in downtown Jacksonville at 330 E. Bay Street. The hours of operation are 8:00 to 5:00. The beaches branch is located at 1543 Atlantic Blvd., Neptune Beach, with hours of operation being 8:00 to 4:30. There is a branch in the Ed Ball Building located at 214 North Hogan St. in downtown Jacksonville with hours of operation from 7:00 to 4:00. The traffic violations branch is at 3470 Beach Blvd., which is in the east corner of Southgate Plaza and is open from 7:30 to 6:00 P.M. Call 1-800-PROBATE ext 5 to learn more about the Duval County Probate Court.
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