In Florida an encumbered property shall be entitled to have the encumbrance on the property paid at the expense of the residue of the estate only when the will shows that intent. A general direction in a will to pay the debts does not show that intent Florida Probate Code…
Invalid transfer of Florida Homestead with do it yourself deed leads to unintended consequences! Man wants his second wife to have a life estate in his homestead after his death with the remainder to go to his children and not his second wife’s children. His mistake, he used a preprinted…
A federal curt found that Marilyn Monroe was a New Yorker when she died in 1962. This means her estate which has earned more than 30 million dollars licensing her image can not control the licensing. Product makers may be free to use her image without paying licensing fees to…
Arthur v. Milstein. et al, 949 So.2d 1163 (Fla. 4th DCA February 28, 2007) In this dispute regarding who controlled the disposition of the body of Anna Nicole Smith, the trial court ruled that the guardian ad litem for her minor daughter Dannielynn had priority over Anna Nicole Smith’s mother…
City of Key West v. Knowles, 948 So.2d 58 (Fla. 3 DCA January 10, 2007) A surviving spouse sued the city of Key West, Florida claiming she was deprived of her property interest in her husband’s buried remains without due process in violation of 42 U.S.C. 1983. The Court found…
Phillips v. Hirshon, 963 So. 2d 227 (Fla. 2007). The supreme court agreed to hear a case which will determine if Florida’s revisions to the homestead laws allow for a cooperative apartment to be considered homestead property for descent purposes. We should have an answer on this question by the…
Qarcia v. Morrow, 954 So.2d 656 (Fla. 3rd DCA April 4,2007) This case involves competing petitions for appointment as personal representative filed by a decedent’s grandson with statutory priority to be appointed as personal representative and the former wife of the decedent’s son. After his mother’s death, and while in…
Glover v. Miller. 947 So.2d 1254 (Fla. 4th DCA January 31, 2007) After a 16-year-old child was killed by a police officer, two separate men claimed they were his father and asserted the right to be appointed personal representative of the child’s estate for purposes of pursuing a wrongful death…
Hemandez v. Hernandez, 946 So.2d 124 (Fla. 5th DCA January 19, 2007) A trial court refused to appoint the decedent’s son as personal representative, despite the fact the decedent had nominated a son in his last will, instead appointing an unrelated attorney. The only basis for the courts ruling was…
Magee v. Magee, 32 Fla. L. Weekly 02307 (Fla. 2d DCA September 26, 2007) In a challenge to the constitutionality of Florida’s elective share statutes, the Second District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that the statute is constitutional. The Court applied a test of whether there is…