Establishing Paternity and Florida Estates – September 7,2016 Third District Court of Appeal Opinion

What statute of limitations is applicable to paternity actions? How do Florida courts determine beneficiaries of a putative father’s intestate estate? According to Florida law, what does it mean to die intestate? If you are involved in inheritance litigation, you may want to read Rose v. Sonson, a Third DCA opinion regarding paternity and an intestate estate.

Dying Intestate in Florida

• Who inherits under intestate succession in Florida?
• Trust and estate litigators in West Palm Beach know that it all depends on whether the person who dies without a will has a spouse, children, parents or other close relatives at the time of their death.
• If you have children but no spouse, the children inherit everything.
• If you have a spouse but no children the spouse inherits everything.
• If you have a spouse, children from you and the spouse and the spouse has no other children, spouse inherits everything.
• If you have a spouse and descendants from you and that spouse, and the spouse has descendants from another relationship, your assets will be divided between your spouse and descendants equally.
• If you have a spouse and descendants from you and someone other than that spouse, your assets will be divided between your spouse and descendants equally.
• If you have parents but no spouse or descendants, your parents inherit everything.
• If you have siblings but no spouse, descendants or parents, your siblings inherit everything.
• Florida litigators know that creating a will can be in your best interest as it allows you to designate who gets what. 
• Estate planning attorneys can help you to conveniently and affordably set up Palm Beach estate plan.

Rose v. Sonson

• This was a September 7, 2016 Third District Court of Appeal opinion.
• Here, a person was claiming to be a surviving son of the decedent and, therefore, a rightful beneficiary of the estate.
• The co-personal representatives, the decedent’s daughters, filed a petition for administration of their dad’s estate.
• A person claiming to be the decedent’s son and, therefore, a beneficiary of the estate, filed a counter-petition to determine beneficiaries.
• The Circuit Court for Miami Dade found, among other things, that when the putative son filed his paternity claim, the claim was already “extinguished” by the applicable statute of limitations.
• There is a four-year statute of limitations on actions to establish paternity.
• The court does recognize that Section 732.108(2)(b) as amended in 2009 has provided relief to people in similar situations “with existing causes of action by eliminating the four year statute of limitations imposed by section 95.11(3)(b) on paternity determinations in probate proceedings to determine intestate succession going forward.”
• However, the amendment doesn’t provide relief for people like the son in this particular case whose claims had already expired before the amendment became law.
• To read the entire case, click here.