Homestead Litigation

Subscribe to Homestead Litigation via RSS

Collinson v. Miller, 2005 WL 840188 (Fla. 2 DCA April 13, 2005) (TRIAL COURT REVERSED) This case should be kept in your files and shared with clients who would rather skip any type of formalized planning for what is in all likelihood their single largest asset – their homestead property – and opt instead for some sort of unwritten “trust me” estate plan. In terms of technical guidance, you may also want to keep this one on the shelf and refer back to it the next time you need to wade into the legal thicket surrounding exactly what “constructive trusts” are, when they are used, and when they don’t apply. This case involved a second marriage where both spouses had children from previous marriages (this fact alone should instantly trigger alarm bells). “Husband” purchased waterfront property and built a home on the property. The idea was that if “Wife” survived Husband, she would be able to use the home for the rest of her, but at her death the house (which was valued at over $2.2 million in Wife’s estate) would go to Husband’s children.
Continue Reading Why “Trust Me” Estate Planning Can Be Disastrous When it Comes to Homestead Property

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.
Continue Reading Adult Step-Son Entitled to Inherit Protected Homestead Property