Velde v. Velde, 867 So.2d 501 (Fla. 4th DCA February 25, 2004) (TRIAL COURT AFFIRMED) At issue in this case was whether simply filing a petition for extension of time to make an elective share election was a “proceeding,” and thus sufficient under old Section 732.212 to toll the then applicable four-month deadline date for making an election. Effective as of October 1, 2001, this statute was substantially revised and renumbered as 2004->Ch0732->Section%202135#0732.2135″>Section 732.2135, which now explicitly states that a “petition for an extension of the time for making the election or for approval to make the election shall toll the time for making the election.” However, because the decedent died on October 9, 2000, the court was required to apply old Section 732.212. Nonetheless, the 4th DCA noted that interpreting the tolling period under old Section 732.212 as only applying to litigation “would not give effect to the legislature’s intent and would yield an absurd result.” Consequently, the court held that the word “proceeding” should be “interpreted broadly enough” to encompass the extension petitions at issue in the case.
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