Traeger v. Credit First Nat. Ass’n, 864 So.2d 1188 (Fla. 5th DCA Jan. 9, 2004) (TRIAL COURT REVERSED) The decedent was not survived by a spouse or minor children. The decedent’s last will and testament devised her homestead property, a condominium unit in Ponce Inlet, Florida, to her adult step son and her adult natural daughter. The adult step son and her adult natural daughter, as co-personal representatives of the estate, petitioned the court to determine the homestead status of the condominium unit and asserted their belief that the property descended to both of them as protected homestead property. Circuit Court Judge C. McFerrin Smith III ruled that because the decedent’s adult step-son occupied a lower class under 2004->Ch0732->Section%20103#0732.103″>Section 732.103, Florida’s intestacy statute, his one-half share of the condominium property was not entitled homestead protection, while the surviving natural daughter’s share of the condominium was entitled to such protection. Based primarily on the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling in Snyder v. Davis, 699 So.2d 999 (Fla. 1997), the 5th DCA reversed the trial court’s ruling with respect to the step-son’s share of the homestead property holding that any person falling within the 2004->Ch0731->Section%20201#0731.201″>Section 731.201(18) definition of “heirs,” regardless of where that person falls within the hierarchy of Florida’s intestate succession law, may inherit such property fully sheltered by Florida’s homestead protection. With respect to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder v. Davis, the following briefs were filed with the court: 1. Petitioner’s Brief on the Merits 2. Respondent’s Brief on the Merits
