Court Clarifies Florida Rules On Probate Evidence Of Ownership

Florida law allows the personal representative of an estate to take possession of all property of the decedent in order to distribute the property to the proper beneficiary. However, the state also allows a beneficiary already in possession to challenge the personal representatives request on two basis; that the property is not actually that of the decedent or that someone other the representative has a right to the property.

In Delbrouck v. Eberling, the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that the determination must be made in an evidentiary hearing as opposed to a non-evidentiary hearing which was what took place and triggered the lawsuit. The court rejected the personal representatives argument that Fla. Stat 733.607(1), which states that the need of the personal representative for the property is conclusively established by the request itself, grants a conclusive right to the property. In short, the right to property must be established in a evidentiary hearing although the need is simply established by a request.

See Jordan Hammer, Evidence Required to Determine Possession of Property During Florida Probate, Clark Skatoff, October 14, 2015.