Florida Supreme Court to Decide Statute of Limitations for Estate’s Creditors Issue

The issue of whether a reasonably ascertainable creditor that is not given actual notice by an estate can bring a claim after the three month period following notice to creditors is headed to the Florida Supreme Court. In three similar cases before Florida’s First, Second, and Fifth District Courts of Appeals, the rulings found that if the claim by a creditor is brought after three months from when notice was published then the creditor must get an extension before filing, even if that creditor was not given actual notice. However, a fourth case that came after the First and Second District cases and before the Fifth District’s case, created a split.

In Golden v. Jones, the Fourth District held that whether the filing was untimely depends on whether the creditor was known or reasonably ascertainable by the estate, and that if the creditor was then the statute of limitations does not begin to run until they receive notice, and the claim is timely filed as long as two years has not passed since the death of the decedent. The case has gone to the Florida Supreme court and awaits oral arguments.

See Jonathan Galler, How Courts Handle Late-Filing Estate Creditors, Wealth Management, Nov. 11, 2014.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.