IN RE ESTATE OF CHRISTA BELLE PARSON. JAMES N. DAVIS FUNERAL HOME, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
CYNTHIA FAYE MCCLENDON, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF CHRISTA BELLE PARSON, DECEASED, APPELLEE
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The court held that the funeral home's claim against the estate was untimely and barred because it was not filed within the statutory period, and the personal representative's objection was not required to be disallowed.
[1] A creditor's claim against an estate is a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim, not a statute of limitations, if filed after statutory deadlines, barring untimely claims wi…
[2] A personal representative's ability to object to a creditor's claim is contingent upon the timely filing of that claim within statutory periods.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA funeral home filed a claim for services against a deceased's estate after the statutory deadline. The personal representative (PR) did not object to…
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ERVIN, Judge.
James N. Davis Funeral Home, Inc. (Home), appeals a probate court’s order denying its objection to the personal representative’s (PR) petition for discharge, thereby denying as well the Home’s untimely claim for funeral expenses incurred on behalf of the deceased. We affirm for the reasons stated below. Because appellant is a non-prevailing party under our disposition, we also affirm the trial court’s order denying appellant’s claim for attorney’s fees, filed pursuant to Section 57.105, Florida Statutes (1987).
Appellant argues that although it failed to file its claim with the estate within three months from the date of the first publication of the notice of administration, as required by Section 733.702(l)(a), Florida Statutes (Supp.1988), the PR’s failure to object to the claim until approximately fifteen months after the claim was filed required that the objection be disallowed, pursuant to the provisions of Section 733.-705(2), Florida Statutes (Supp.1988).1 We disagree.
Section 733.705(2) permits the PR to file a written objection to a claim “[o]n or before the expiration of 4 months from the first publication of notice of administration or within 30 days from the timely filing of a claim.” (Emphasis added.) Because the claim at issue was filed more than four months after the first publication of notice of administration, the PR obviously could not file its objection to the claim within the initial four-month period. And because appellant’s claim was not timely filed within three months of publication of the first notice of administration, the alternative thirty-day period for filing objections under section 733.705(2) was similarly inapplicable.
Appellant also relies upon Barnett Bank of Palm Beach County v. Estate of Read, 493 So. 2d 447 (Fla.1986), wherein the Florida Supreme Court held that section 733.-702 is a statute of limitations. Thus, any claim filed beyond the time set forth in section 733.702 is barred only if the statute of limitations period was raised as an affirmative defense, or, if the defense appeared on the face of the prior pleadings, by motion to dismiss. Id. at 448. In our judgment Barnett Bank is inapplicable to the case at bar, because changes made to the Florida Probate Code after that decision disclose the legislative intent that the statute requiring a creditor’s claim to be timely filed is now a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim — not a statute of limitations.
In Barnett Bank, the Florida Supreme Court considered only the 1983 version of chapter 733. Subsequent to Barnett Bank, that portion of Section 733.705(3), Florida Statutes (1983), providing that “[n]o action or proceeding shall be brought against the personal representative after the time limited above,” was amended, effective May 15, 1984, by adding the following language immediately thereafter: “and any such' claim shall be forever barred without order of the court.” Ch. 84-25, § 1, Laws of Fla.
Additionally, as of October 1, 1986, section 733.705(2) was amended to provide, as it does currently, that a PR or other interested person may file a written objection within thirty days from the “timely” filing of a claim. Ch. 86-249, § 1, Laws of Fla. In further clarifying its intent, the 1986 Florida Legislature also amended section 733.705(3), by adding “thereafter” before the words “forever barred without any court order.” Id.
These changes, in our judgment, indicate the legislature’s intent to create a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim which, under the circumstances specified in the statutes, automatically bars untimely claims.2
AFFIRMED.
NIMMONS and ALLEN, JJ., concur. .
Appellant relies upon the 1988 supplement to the statutes, which is inapplicable because the 1988 version applies only to estates of decedents who died after July 1, 1988. Ch. 88-340, § 8, Laws of Fla. The decedent in question died on February 14, 1988, therefore, the 1987 version of the Florida Statutes is controlling.
We note, however, that the 1988 amendment added one significant change to section 733.702. Subsection (3) thereof, although providing that a claim is barred if no objection is filed, nevertheless permits the court to grant an extension for filing a claim on grounds of fraud or estoppel. Ch. 88-340, § 6, Laws of Fla. No such grounds have been raised in the instant case, nor has good cause otherwise been shown for the late filing of the claim.
Consequently, insofar as our disposition of this issue is concerned, it makes no difference whether the 1987 or 1988 statutes is applied.
. See Tulsa Professional Collection Servs., Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478, 108 S.Ct. 1340, 99 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988), in which the Supreme Court held that an Oklahoma statute similar to Florida’s 1987 statute was a jurisdictional statute of non-claim, not a statute of limitations. See also the 1988 amendments to chapter 733, particularly section 733.702(3), discussed supra at n. 1.
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David R. MAY Ad Litem of the Estate of Oscar T. Bradley v. Ill. Nat'l Ins. Co., 771 So. 2d 1143 (Fla. 2000)…on amendments to section 733.705, Florida Statutes, made by the Legislature in 1984 and 1986,9 to support a finding that section 733.702 now operates as a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim, not a statute of limitations. See In re Estate of Parson, 570 So. 2d 1125, 1125-26 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Baptist Hospital of Miami, Inc. v. Carter, 658 So. 2d 560, 563 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995) (relying on reasoning of Estate of Parson); Wylie v. Inv. Mgmt. & Research, Inc., 629 So. 2d 898, 902 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (same), receded…
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Comerica Bank & Tr. v. SDI Operating P'rs, L.P., 673 So. 2d 163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)…te of nonelaim, rather than an ordinary statute of limitations, and nothing in legislative response to Pope has altered that 1984 recasting of section 733.702 from a general limitations to a jurisdictional nonclaim provision. In re Estate of Parson, 570 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); and Thames v. Jackson, 598 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992).5 This is true even though the claims filing period of section 733.702 may be enlarged by the court when the required factual basis for doing so has been established. In…
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Rexwood S. Thames v. Jackson, 598 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…ors must adhere to well-established practices when dealing with untimely claims_ This procedure guarantees that claims such as fraud and estoppel are properly adjudicated. 493 So. 2d at 449. Subsequently, this court held in In Re Estate of Parson, 570 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), that amendments to section 733.705 revealed a legislative intent to reclassify section 733.702, Florida Statutes (Supp.1988), as a jurisdictional statute of nonclaim; therefore, Barnett was found to be no longer controlling. In…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Tulsa Prof'l Collection Servs., Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478 (U.S. 1988)
- Barnett Bank OF Palm Beach Cnty. v. Est. OF Leon Henry Read, Jr., 493 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 1986)