Florida Probate Blog

Deadbeat Dad Can’t Use Last Mom’s Last Minute Will Change to Escape Payment to Ex-Wife: CALIFORNIA COURT USES CONSTRUCTIVE TRUST THEORY TO DEFEAT LAST MINUTE WILL CHANGE BY MOTHER INTENDED TO HELP SON AVOID CHILD SUPPORT LIEN ON HIS INHERITANCE. In an interesting opinion that could have implications in Florida, a California Appellate Court recently used the legal remedy of a constructive trust to allow a testator’s ex-wife to sue her ex-husband and his sister after they allegedly coerced their mother into changing her will just prior to her death, to give to her daughter the share of the estate given to her son in a prior will so that he could avoid child support obligations. In Cabral v. Soares, 69 Cal.Rptr.3d 242 (Ct.App.2007) Tammy Cabral, the Plaintiff, filed a Complaint alleging that as of November 2005 her ex husband James was delinquent in paying court-ordered spousal and child support […]

Florida Homestead Law About Face by Third District Court of Appeals Advances Creditors Claims to Constitutionally-Protected Homestead Property:  General Direction to Pay Estate Taxes Trumps Constitutional Homestead Protections. In a surprising reversal, the Third District Court of Appeals on Tuesday, September 3, 2008, reheard and reversed its own opinion issued almost 19 months ago in Cutler v. Cutler, In Re:  The Estate of Edith Alice Cutler, 2008 WL 4057751, 33 Fla.L.Weekly D2103a (3rd DCA, No. 3D07-3070, Sept. 3, 2008). The opinion is significant for probate administration and litigation attorneys, and estate planning professionals for at least two reasons: (1) The Third District Court of Appeals joins the Fifth District in expanding the types of interest in land that may qualify for homestead protection; (2) a general direction in the administrative language at the end of a Will may now trump constitutional homestead protections. Cutler involved a Decedent, Edith Cutler, who […]