Homesteaded House(?), Summary Admin?

location: florida (well, i’m in new york but the home is in florida

last august (2025) my mother passed away. she had a will and left me pretty much everything including her house, which is paid off. i’m her only living relative (other than my son, who’s a kid). (i don’t know how much of this is relevant info but i figured it was worth including.)

mom had a LOT of medical problems and in 2017 when they got unmanageable, i brought her to my home in new york so i could care for her, and she lived in my home until she died. she still had plenty of personal stuff in her house in florida, was still paying for some of the utilities and the local sewer tax etc, and always planned (delusionally, bc her health was too poor, but nonetheless!) to return. however, for the last five years or so she was renting it to a friend of a friend. the rent is probably well below market value if that matters, but the lawyer i spoke to wasn’t sure if the house would still count as a homestead for protection from forced sale, and therefore we should probably do a full probate instead of a summary administration.

1. anyone feel confident on the homestead of it all? to me it feels like it should still count (it’s not like she owned any other property, she was living in my guest room) but i am told that the law is not generally vibes-based.

2. if the house isn’t a homestead and wouldn’t be protected, at this point would it be easier/quicker to wait until she’s been dead two years (that’ll be august 2027) and then be able to do a summary administration? i’m dying to get this done so i can sell the house before another hurricane comes through and floods it again (happened in georges 1998 and again in irma 2017).

sorry for how dumb i probably sound!! i’ve been putting dealing with this off bc of grief and now i’m just stressed and confused. thank you in advance for any responses!!