Fourth DCA Case: Was Snowbird Domiciled in West Palm Beach or Philadelphia for Probate?
These days more and more snowbirds own property in West Palm Beach while residing up North. Which probate court is superior? The West Palm Beach and the Pennsylvania court both want control in a case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. If you have property in multiple states you may want to learn more.
Ancillary Probate
- When parties own property in multiple states the courts often set up an ancillary probate in the other state for that court to deal with the real property.
- The laws of the state real property is in will usually control such a probate process.
- The state that a person is domiciled in will also control how the rest of the probate process goes.
- But how do you know which court is the court of the person’s domicile?
- If your grandmother spends six months in Manhattan and six months in Delray Beach which is the domicile state?
- That was the issue in a recent case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeal that hears probate cases in and around Palm Beach County.
Perelman v. Estate of Ruth Perelman
- On October 30, 2013 the Court decided Case No. 4D13-1370 regarding an appeal of a final probate order.
- The son of the decedent appealed the trial court’s refusal to stay the Florida probate proceedings in deference to a Pennsylvania probate proceeding; and the trial court’s determination that the decedent was domiciled in Florida at the time of her death.
- The appellate court ultimately concluded that the trial court had erred by not staying the case due to a doctrine of priority.
- Do you know what the doctrine of priority had to do with this?
- Why does the court care where the first probate filings took place?
- Palm Beach probate litigators know that its not semantics, where you are domiciled will effect your estate plan and sometimes going to trial to fight a finding of domicile is necessary.
- Do you know where you are domiciled?
Want to learn more? Check out the entire case by clicking here.