Florida Probate Litigation: What is a Petition to Determine Intestate Beneficiaries?
What does dying intestate mean? In a Palm Beach probate proceeding, what is a petition to determine intestate beneficiaries? What is Florida Statute 733.105? What should probate litigators know about a petition to determine intestate beneficiaries and the doctrine of res judicata? A February 22,2017 Second DCA opinion answers these questions.
733.105 Determination of beneficiaries.—
(1) When property passes by intestate succession or the will is unclear and there is doubt about:
any interested person may petition the court to determine beneficiaries or their shares.
Bryan v. Fernald
Here, the decedent’s daughter filed a petition to determine intestate beneficiaries pursuant to section 733.105, Florida Statutes(2014). In this petition, Bryan alleged that that 1) her and her siblings were not notified of the administration of their mom’s estate and 2) her and her siblings are entitled to at least fifty percent of their mother’s estate. The petition further alleged that if their mom’s husband could not prove that he was married to their mother, the kids were entitled to the entire estate. In response to these allegations, their mom’s surviving spouse, Edward John, argued that he was lawfully married to their mom at the time of her death and that this issue had already been determined in a 2013 order in a medical malpractice case. The trial court found that, based on the earlier order in the separate malpractice case, res judicata applied. However, the Second DCA disagreed! To read the entire opinion, click here.