WILLIAM BECHTOLD, APPELLANT,
v.
MARY BECHTOLD, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1991-11-06
No. 91-0365
Polen, J., Downey, J., Anstead, J.
588 So. 2d 321 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1991) Caution
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

The court reversed the trial court's dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, holding that the husband established long-arm jurisdiction over the wife through her ownership of Florida property, and remanded to reinstate the partition action and allow amendment of the dissolution petition.

Holding

Personal jurisdiction over a defendant can be established under Florida's long-arm statute based on the defendant's ownership of property within the state, even if not alleged in the initial pleading.

Headnotes

[1] A defendant's ownership of real property within the state constitutes a basis for in personam jurisdiction under Florida's long-arm statute, section 48.193(1)(c), even if…

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Facts & Procedural History

A husband filed suit against his wife for dissolution of marriage and partition of property. The husband failed to allege the basis for personal juris…

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Topics
Partition Of Property Partition Amendment Of Pleadings Long Arm Statute

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Opinion of the Court
POLEN, Judge.

POLEN, Judge.

This is an appeal of a non-final order finding lack of personal jurisdiction over the appellee. The husband filed suit against the wife for dissolution of marriage and for partition; however, the husband failed to allege the basis for personal jurisdiction over the wife in his petition for dissolution of marriage. He did clearly show, in the complaint for partition, that the wife owned property in the State of Florida which constitutes a basis for long arm jurisdiction under section 48.193(l)(c), Florida Statute (1989). We therefore reverse the order of the trial court as to the partition action.

We also note that the husband may seek leave to amend his petition for dissolution of marriage to include the formality of alleging personal jurisdiction over the wife, which he did in the complaint for partition. The petition for dissolution of marriage and the complaint for partition were attached when presented to the trial court and while we can see why the court dismissed the dissolution action, e.g., Rand v. Rand, 491 So. 2d 1293 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), we think that personal jurisdiction over the wife can be obtained on the basis of her ownership of property in this state.

The case is reversed and remanded with instructions to reinstate the husband’s complaint for partition and, upon proper mo tion, to allow the husband to amend his petition for dissolution if he so desires.

DOWNEY and ANSTEAD, JJ„ concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Marshall v. Marshall, 988 So. 2d 644 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
    …ished personal jurisdiction under subsection 48.193(l)(c). We find that under this subsection there was personal jurisdiction over the husband solely as to the partition of the Boynton Beach property as alleged in Count II. See Bechtold v. Bechtold, 588 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (reversing an order dismissing a complaint for partition that was attached to a petition for dissolution of marriage). However, this subsection did not provide for personal jurisdiction over the husband to resolve support, equita…
  • Bechtold v. Bechtold, 600 So. 2d 1289 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)
    …PER CURIAM. Appellant William Bechtold has moved to enforce our mandate and direct the trial court to comply with this court’s decision in Bechtold v. Bechtold, 588 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991). In Bechtold this court reversed and remanded the trial court’s order dismissing appellant's petition for dissolution of marriage and partition. We instructed the trial court “to reinstate the husband’s complaint for partition an…

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