Counts from our own database as of Oct 27, 2026, with the method and the limits spelled out.
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Updated Oct 27, 2026. Data as of Oct 27, 2026; source: public county clerk indexes, collected by Howler Property Group.
As of Oct 27, 2026, Howler Property Group's database holds probate records from 13 public county feeds covering 11 Florida counties (Bay, Escambia, Hillsborough, Manatee, Okaloosa, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns). The largest single feed is Sarasota County with 3,069 rows, followed by Polk County with 1,750. These are rows in our own database, not the clerks' official totals, and the feeds are different kinds of records, so the numbers below are not added together.
| County | What one row is | Rows | Earliest filing date | Latest filing date | Dated Sep 28 to Oct 27 | Rows with a street address |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarasota | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 3,069 | Feb 6, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 | 460 | 538 |
| Polk | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 1,750 | Jul 13, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 440 | 519 |
| Hillsborough | probate case filings from the Clerk's daily filing file | 1,220 | Mar 10, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 168 | 1,192 |
| Manatee | probate case filings from the Clerk's eCourts index | 995 | Jan 2, 2025 | Oct 26, 2026 | 122 | 344 |
| Hillsborough | probate case filings from the Clerk's eCourts index | 949 | May 7, 2025 | Oct 26, 2026 | 113 | 86 |
| Manatee | probate case filings from the Clerk's case portal | 568 | Feb 5, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 79 | 194 |
| Osceola | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 261 | Sep 28, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 261 | 58 |
| Pinellas | probate estate case filings from the Clerk's daily file | 177 | Apr 9, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 37 | 177 |
| Seminole | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 152 | Sep 30, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 | 152 | 38 |
| Okaloosa | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 103 | Oct 8, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 | 103 | 41 |
| Escambia | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 87 | Oct 8, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 87 | 22 |
| Bay | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 82 | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 | 82 | 24 |
| St. Johns | probate documents recorded in the Official Records | 50 | Oct 12, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 | 50 | 9 |
8 of the feeds are Official Records feeds: Bay, Escambia, Okaloosa, Osceola, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns. Each row is a document a clerk recorded, so a single estate can appear once for the will, again for the letters of administration and again for an order. The other 5 feeds (Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas) come from case-filing indexes, where a row is one case.
Sarasota shows the difference most clearly. Its 3,069 rows are split across document types as ORDER-PROBATE (1,807), LETTERS PROBATE (658), WILL-PROBATE (498), PETITION ADMINISTRATION (57), PETITION SUMMARY ADMIN (23). When we read the clerk's description on the order entries, 480 of the 1,807 ORDER-PROBATE rows were described as a discharge, which is the order that ends an estate, so a large share of what the Sarasota Official Records shows is estates closing, not estates opening. Seminole's 152 rows break down as Petition (90), Letters (40), Will (22).
A probate record is useful to a family selling a house only if it can be tied to a property. In the Official Records feeds the clerk's index usually names the decedent and the case but not the property, so only part of each feed resolves to a street address: 519 of 1,750 in Polk (30%), 538 of 3,069 in Sarasota (18%), and 58 of 261 in Osceola (22%). The case-filing feeds that include a property address do better: Hillsborough's clerk file resolves 1,192 of 1,220 (98%) and Pinellas 177 of 177.
Where an address is present, it shows where in the county the estates are. In the Hillsborough clerk file the biggest places are Tampa (620), Riverview (77), Plant City (76), Sun City Center (69), Brandon (67). In Pinellas they are St Petersburg (48), Clearwater (22), Largo (21), Seminole (20), Dunedin (16). In Manatee's case portal, Bradenton (468), Palmetto (25), Sarasota (19), Parrish (10).
Hillsborough and Manatee each appear twice because each county's clerk publishes more than one index. Hillsborough's daily filing file holds 1,220 rows dated Mar 10, 2026 to Oct 26, 2026, and its eCourts index holds 949 rows dated May 7, 2025 to Oct 26, 2026. Manatee's portal holds 568 rows and its eCourts index 995. We keep them separate rather than guess which cases overlap.
Florida's probate rules sit in Chapters 731 through 735 of the Florida Statutes. Chapter 732 covers who inherits when there is no will, and Chapter 733 covers administration, including a personal representative's power to sell estate real property under section 733.612. Small estates can use summary administration under section 735.201. In practice, a house that is part of an open estate is sold by the personal representative named in the letters of administration, and the deed is signed by that person. You can read the general steps on our page about selling a house in probate in Florida.
The counts above are a picture of what is on the public record in these counties. They do not tell you how long your own estate will take. A Florida probate attorney can tell you that.
This page is general information and a count of our own records, not legal or tax advice, and we are not a law firm. For your own deadlines and rights, talk to a Florida attorney.