What is “Personal Jurisdiction” and Why is It So Important for Your Florida Trust Dispute?

Estate lawyers in Florida deal with issues outside of probate administration for a variety of reasons. Florida probate litigation can spill into various other areas depending on what the decedent was doing at that time. Check out this recent case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeals where the personal representative was battling over personal jurisdiction. What is personal jurisdiction and why does it matter in your Florida probate lawsuit?

Personal Jurisdiction

• Florida probate lawyers know that there are two types of jurisdictions to worry about.
• Subject matter jurisdiction is about whether or not the Court hears those types of issues.
• For example, the trial court probably should not be dealing with bankruptcy issues, because it lacks subject matter jurisdiction.
• The other type of jurisdiction deals with the Court’s power over the people.
• Why does this matter to probate attorneys Florida?
• Estate attorneys Florida can sue anyone they want but it is not going to mean much if the Court does not have personal jurisdiction over the individual.
• In fact, the case may be dismissed outright if the Court determines there is no personal jurisdiction.
• This raises the question of how does a Florida estate lawyer prove that there is personal jurisdiction?
• Check out this recent case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeal to see what one Florida personal representative had to deal with.

Kotoura v. Stern

• This was an interesting case that all Florida estate lawyers may want to read.
• The defendant was being sued by the personal representative of the estate for various tortious actions that allegedly occurred.
• The interesting part was that the Defendant was a Japanese National who had never even been to Florida.
• So how could the Court have personal jurisdiction?
• The truth is it depends, because phone contact may be sufficient.
• On appeal here the Florida Court said there should be an evidentiary hearing to determine whether or not personal jurisdiction existed.
• What do you think should happen?
• More interestingly (and not mentioned in this case) what did that guy do over the phone that could prompt a lawsuit that spans two countries?
• Florida will contest lawyers know that it is crucial when dealing with probate litigation to ensure you have personal jurisdiction over all of the defendants.

Want to learn more?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.

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