Power of Attorney After Death in Florida. It Ends. Now What?

Does POA end at death in Florida? Yes, even a durable one, the moment the principal dies. Here is who has authority next and the $150,000 summary cap.

Transcript

Mom’s funeral was Tuesday. Today you’re standing at the bank with the power of attorney she signed three years ago, trying to move money to cover the funeral home invoice, and the teller is asking a question you didn’t expect. Whether that document still works.

It doesn’t. The moment your mother died, the power of attorney ended, and no wording in it and no version of it changes that.

Here’s what this episode settles. Whether a power of attorney survives death in Florida, what happens if you use one anyway, and who actually has authority now that it’s gone. Three questions, in that order, because the third one is what you need answered by Friday.

Start with the word “durable,” because that’s the word tripping people up. A durable power of attorney survives the principal’s incapacity. If your mother had developed dementia, you could have kept acting for her under that same document. That’s the entire purpose of durability. It has never meant the document survives death. Under section 709.2109(1)(a) of the Florida statutes, every power of attorney terminates the instant the principal dies, durable or not, and the breadth of the powers it granted makes no difference.

So the transaction at the bank. If the teller doesn’t know about the death yet and processes it, the transaction goes through, and it’s still invalid. The money you moved belongs to the estate, not to you, and not to the funeral home account you thought you were funding correctly. The estate can demand it back, and if the withdrawal happened to benefit you, even by accident, it can look like self-dealing when someone reviews it later.

There’s one narrow exception, and it’s fair. Section 709.2109(4) protects an agent who acts in good faith without knowledge that the principal has died. A son in New York who pays his mother’s assisted-living invoice the morning she died in Sarasota, before anyone reached him, is protected. That payment stands. Nothing protects the agent who keeps using the document after the funeral, knowing the principal is gone, especially to pay themselves or steer assets their way. That crosses into exploitation, with civil liability under section 709.2117 and potential criminal exposure.

While you held that power of attorney, section 709.2114 required you to keep a record of every receipt, disbursement, and transaction you made on the principal’s behalf. That duty has teeth now. Under section 709.2116, the personal representative appointed to the estate can petition a court and demand a full accounting of what you did with the money while your mother was alive. For the honest agent, and that’s most agents, this is not something to fear. It’s a reason to gather statements and receipts this week, before anyone asks.

So who has authority now. Nobody, until the probate court appoints a personal representative and issues letters of administration, the document banks and title companies actually honor. The will may nominate someone, often the same person who held the power of attorney, but the nomination by itself grants nothing. That gap feels uncomfortable, and Florida built it that way on purpose, so the person taking over answers to a court.

Which path the estate takes depends on its size. An estate of $150,000 or less, not counting the homestead, a cap raised from $75,000 on July 1, 2026, qualifies for summary administration, the fast track, with a flat fee from $2,500. A death that happened more than two years ago qualifies at any size, because Florida bars creditor claims after two years. Above that, formal administration is the standard route, with a flat fee from $3,500, and it typically runs six to twelve months against a summary case that can close in weeks.

Some assets skip this process entirely. A joint account with a right of survivorship, a beneficiary designation on a retirement account or life insurance policy, a home held under a lady bird deed, all of those pass to the person named without a court filing. Anything titled solely in your mother’s name, with no beneficiary named, is a probate asset, and the power of attorney will not move it, no matter how cooperative the bank was last month.

If you’re holding a power of attorney for someone who died this week, stop using it today, and don’t spend anything except from your own funds, since the estate can reimburse you once it’s open. Call a probate attorney about opening the estate, whether that’s a summary filing or a formal one, so a personal representative gets appointed and the accounts unlock the right way instead of the hard way. That’s the work we do at the firm, and it starts with figuring out which of those two paths your mother’s estate actually needs.

Read the full guide at stepuplaw.com/power-of-attorney-after-death-florida

Related reading and listening at StepUpLaw

• Florida Summary Administration: Do You Qualify? (2026)
• Florida Letters of Administration, and How to Get Them
• How Long Does a Power of Attorney Last in Florida?
• Episode 23, How Long Does Probate Take in Florida? (2026)
• Episode 27, Can You Sell a House in Probate in Florida
• Episode 15, Does Your Florida Estate Qualify for Summary Administration

Related guides

• Florida Summary Administration: Do You Qualify? (2026)
• Florida Letters of Administration, and How to Get Them
• How Long Does a Power of Attorney Last in Florida?

Stepping Up is hosted by Kevin D. Klagge, Esq., Fla. Bar No. 99502. Attorney Kevin Klagge represents families, businesses, and international clients in estate and tax planning, business structuring, and international law, with a focus on Florida legal tools. He litigates estate and business issues in court. Episodes are general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and listening does not create an attorney-client relationship.