How are Safe-Deposit boxes located in Florida handled?

Section 655.936 of Florida Statutes provides the rule for the disposition of the contents of safe-deposit boxes upon death. A personal representative appointed by a Florida court is allowed to access any safe-deposit box held in the decedent's name and permitted to remote the contents so long as the proper procedures are followed for preparing an inventory of the contents of the safe-deposit box.

In the case of a personal representative appointed by a court outside of Florida, he or she may not gain access to the safe-deposit box until after three months from receiving letters of authority from a court in any state other than Florida. Furthermore, subject to the discretion of the lessor of the safe-deposit box, the out of state or foreign personal representative may gain access to the property in the decedent’s safe-deposit box so long as the lessor has not received a Notice of Appointment from a Florida personal representative and also must receive an affidavit showing the decendent lessee was domiciled outside of Florida and that there are no unpaid creditors. The lessee must also receive a certified copy of the foreign or out of state personal representatives letter of authority.