In Florida we don’t have jury trials in will contests. But if you’re creative and the facts line up just right, your inheritance case could be decided by a jury if it’s framed as a “tortious interference with an expectancy” …
Is a homestead order entered by a probate judge lacking jurisdictional authority binding on third parties?
Sometimes third parties who had no knowledge of a family’s probate proceeding and wouldn’t have had standing to intervene anyway, are nonetheless adversely impacted by legally improper (and usually self serving) orders entered in these proceedings.
In a lot of …
Are Florida’s courtroom doors closed to older claimants seeking to establish paternity in probate proceedings, but wide open for everyone else?
If a man dies intestate, any children he had while married are automatically considered his heirs, and entitled to a share of his estate as determined by F.S. 732.103. Not so for out-of-wedlock children. If those heirs want …
Can “excusable neglect” get you an extension to file a late homestead election?
Samad v. Pla, — So.3d —-, 2019 WL 1212338 (Fla. 2d DCA March 15, 2019)
One of the basic building blocks of Florida probate law is the mandatory life estate in homestead property all surviving spouses are entitled to …
Is a “notarial will” that’s valid in Haiti also valid in Florida?
Rizk v. Rizk, — So.3d —-, 2018 WL 6321228 (Fla. 3d DCA December 4, 2018)
In civil-law jurisdictions (such as Haiti) wills are prepared under the supervision of a notary acting in a quasi-judicial capacity that has no counterpart …
Are the rules for personal jurisdiction different in probate?
Sampson Farm Limited Partnership v. Parmenter, 238 So.3d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA January 17, 2018)
Non-resident parties can’t be pulled into Florida litigation if they don’t have the kind of “minimum contacts” with this state necessary to satisfy our …
Can a Florida probate judge order you to turn over property located in Canada?
Schanck v. Gayhart, — So.3d —- 2018 WL 1999841 (Fla. 1st DCA April 30, 2018)
In contested probate proceedings, if someone’s asserting a jurisdictional defense it’s probably coming up in one of two contexts. Either your judge lacked personal …
Must all probate disclaimers of real estate contain legal descriptions?
Lee v. Lee, 263 So.3d 826 (Fla. 3d DCA January 23, 2019)
A “disclaimer” is essentially a refusal of a gift or bequest, and you typically see them in the context of postmortem estate planning. For example, if …
Is half a signature enough to validly execute a will?
Bitetzakis v. Bitetzakis, — So.3d —-, 2019 WL 405568 (Fla. 2d DCA February 01, 2019)
Will execution formalities are second nature to most of us, but it never hurts to go back to basics.
Under F.S. 732.502, a …
When can you reopen a Florida probate proceeding?
When it comes to probate proceedings, there’s a strong public policy favoring finality, even it means valid claims sometimes get sacrificed. For example, F.S. 733.903 tells us that once a probate proceeding is closed, it won’t be reopened because sometime …