JAMES NIELSEN ROGERS, ETC., APPELLANT,
v.
CHARLES LANGDON ROGERS, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1997-02-26
No. 96-1815
Before JORGENSON, COPE and FLETCHER, JJ.
688 So. 2d 421 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1997) Caution
Cited by 5 cases

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Synopsis

In this probate appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's order transferring a Dade County probate action to San Francisco, California. The court held that the beneficiaries' objection to venue was untimely under Florida Statutes § 733.212(5) and that the trial court lacked authority to transfer probate proceedings out of state.


Holding

The appellees' objection to venue was untimely and forever barred under § 733.212(5), Florida Statutes. The trial court erred in entertaining the motion and had no authority to transfer the probate proceeding to California.


Headnotes

[1] Objections to venue in a probate action, filed by persons on whom notice was served, are forever barred if not filed within three months after the date of first publicati…

[2] A trial court lacks authority to transfer a probate proceeding to a court in another state.

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Key Quotes

“Objections under paragraph (l)(b), by persons on whom notice was served, that are not filed within the later of three months after the date of first publication of the notice or 30 days after the date of service of a copy of the notice on the objecting person are forever barred.”

Establishes the mandatory statutory deadline for venue objections in probate proceedings, which the appellees failed to meet.

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Facts & Procedural History

The personal representative of an estate published a notice of administration on June 29, 1995. The appellees (siblings and beneficiaries) received no…

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Opinion of the Court
JORGENSON, Judge.

JORGENSON, Judge.

In this Dade County probate action, the personal representative appeals from an order entered in favor of the appellees, who are siblings of the personal representative and beneficiaries of the estate, transferring the action to San Francisco, California. For the following reasons, we reverse.

On June 29,1995, the personal representative published a notice of administration; a copy of that notice was received by the appel-lees’ attorney on October 2,1995. On March 22, 1996, the appellees filed their “Objection to Venue,” and moved to transfer the action to California. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing, then granted the motion; the court specifically ruled that “This cause shall be transferred to San Francisco, California.” No ancillary proceedings had been brought relating to the property in California.1

We reverse. The trial court erred in entertaining the appellees’ motion, as it was not timely filed. Section 733.212(5), Florida Statutes (1993), provides that:

Objections under paragraph (l)(b), by persons on whom notice was served, that are not filed within the later of three months after the date of first publication of the notice or 30 days after the date of service of a copy of the notice on the objecting person are forever barred. (Emphasis added.) The appellees did not file their objection to venue2 until four months and twenty-one days after the statutory deadline had expired. Their objection was thus “forever barred.” Cf. Baptist Hosp. of Miami, Inc. v. Carter, 658 So. 2d 560, 563 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995) (section 733.710, Florida Statutes, which mandates that creditors’ claims against estate be filed within two years of decedent’s death, is a statute of limitations).

The trial court had absolutely no authority to “transfer” the probate proceeding to San Francisco, California. At oral argument, appellees conceded as much. The trial court’s resolution of the venue issue is so novel and bewildering that this court is stymied in its efforts to find any authority relating to the proposition of whether a Dade Circuit Court can, ipse dixit, crate up and move pending litigation across the country. We then likewise hold, ipse dixit, that it cannot.3

. REVERSED.

. Ancillary proceedings in California may not be necessary. It appears from this admittedly scant record that the only property in California was held by the decedent and his son, the personal representative, as joint tenants.

. On appeal, the motion is characterized by the appellees as a motion to dismiss on the basis of forum non conveniens; that theory was not argued below, and it was not a basis of the trial court's order. . We do not mean to suggest by this opinion that a trial court may never dismiss an action on the basis of forum non conveniens or, pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.060, transfer a case to a different court within the county, or to a different county within the State of Florida. What we find so novel in this case is the trial court’s impromptu transfer of the litigation to California.


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Cited By

  • Pastor v. Pastor, 929 So. 2d 576 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)
    …wever, that Appellant’s petition was not filed within three months after the date of service of a copy of the notice of administration. Therefore, pursuant to section 733.212(3), Florida Statutes, Appellant’s claims are barred. See Rogers v. Rogers, 688 So. 2d 421, 421-22 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (holding that where beneficiaries of an estate sought to transfer the action to California, the objection was untimely when not filed within the [*577] three-month limit under section 733.212). Id. For the purpose of over…
  • Lops v. Lops, 140 F.3d 927 (11th Cir. 1998)
    …tate transfer of ICAEA cases. Similarly, the doctrine of forum non conveniens did not permit the Georgia court’s interstate transfer. Accordingly, the interstate transfer directive issued by the Georgia court was unauthorized. Cf. Rogers v. Rogers, 688 So. 2d 421, 422 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997) (reversing an interstate transfer order that was not authorized under state law); United Carolina Bank v. Martocci, 416 Pa.Super. 16, 22-23, 610 A2d 484, 487-88 (1992) (holding that Pennsylvania’s intrastate transfer law does…

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