Where is the Proper Venue for a Will Contest? Fifth DCA Case Dismisses Motion to Transfer Venue.

Are you serving as the personal representative of a  West Palm Beach estate? Has a beneficiary filed a will contest in a county that is inconvenient to you? You may be able totransfer venue to West Palm Beach probate court. Do you know how to figure out the appropriate forum? Do you know what needs to be in your motion to transfer? Experienced West Palm Beach probate litigators know how to get a case into the best forum possible and how to use that forum to their advantage. Want to learn more? Check out this case out of the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Motion to Transfer Venue

• Do you know what venue is?
• The venue of a case is where the court is physically located.
• Florida has numerous probate courts organized along county lines.
• Florida is a big State which means that a will contest in Tallahassee may not be convenient for you as a West Palm Beach personal representative.
• Florida has categorized what constitutes proper venue by creating statutes.
• Do you know what constitutes the proper venue for a will contest?
• If you are serving as personal representative does your residency play into the equation?
• What about where the will is being probated – does that matter?
• Experienced West Palm Beach probate litigators know how to determine a proper venue, and also that sometimes there are multiple.
• Check out this case on the Fifth District Court of Appeal where a motion to transfer venue was reversed on appeal.

Hall v. Animals.Com

• The trial court had determined that the proper venue was Miami-Dade County even though the case was originally filed in Lake County.
• On appeal this was reversed.
• Do you know why?
• A website was set up and based in Miami Dade County, which is also where the registered agent was located.
• The website owed about a quarter of a million dollars to a creditor who wanted to foreclose her security interest in Lake County.
• The appeals court reversed on the grounds that the motion did not state the grounds that were argued in the actual hearing.
• Experienced West Palm Beach probate litigators know how to argue a motion in court and to get a more convenient venue.
• Are you prepared to get the Lake County and Orange County courts to relinquish jurisdiction so that your case can be heard in West Palm Beach?

Want to learn more about transferring venue to West Palm Beach?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.