SASHA & SASHA, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
STARDUST MARINE, S.A., JET SEA U.S.A., INC., A DISSOLVED FLORIDA CORPORATION, YACHTING U.S.A., INC., A DISSOLVED FLORIDA CORPORATION, FREDERIC ASSEO, AND JACQUES CASIRO, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1999-07-28
No. 97-2816
GUNTHER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.
741 So. 2d 558 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1999) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Sasha & Sasha appealed a trial court judgment finding it was not a transferee of Florida property in a fraudulent transfer action under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. The court reversed in part on the recordation issue but affirmed on questions of delivery and good faith, and remanded for trial on whether the transfer to Sasha's predecessor was fraudulent.


Holding

The court held that an unrecorded deed can constitute a transfer under the statute, with the transfer date deemed immediately before commencement of the fraud action, rather than being denied recognition entirely. However, the court affirmed that substantial evidence showed the escrow agreement did not constitute delivery to Sasha and evidence suggested Sasha may not have been a good faith transferee.


Headnotes

[1] A transfer of real property under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act is deemed made immediately before the commencement of an action for relief if the transfer is not pe…

[2] The failure to record a deed does not prevent the recognition of an unrecorded deed as constituting a transfer of real property for purposes of the Uniform Fraudulent Tra…

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Key Quotes

“a 'transfer' of real property is made 'when the transfer is so far perfected that a good faith purchaser of the asset from the debtor against whom applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected cannot acquire an interest in the asset that is superior to the interest of the transferee.'”

Establishes the statutory test for when a real property transfer occurs under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act

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Facts & Procedural History

In April 1995, Ming Properties agreed to transfer Florida property to Sasha & Sasha in exchange for two office buildings and a $550,000 note. The deed…

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Opinion of the Court
WARNER, C.J.

WARNER, C.J.

This case is a companion case with Ming Properties, Inc. v. Stardust Marine S.A., et al., 741 So. 2d 554. Based on our reversal in that case, we also reverse the final judgment entered in this case. We write to address two issues raised only in the instant case.

The initial facts are set forth in Ming. Subsequent to Stardust’s filing of the supplementary proceeding against Ming to set aside the transfer from Asseo to Ming as fraudulent, Sasha & Sasha (“Sasha”), appellants herein, obtained the Florida property from Ming in April 1995. Ming agreed to transfer the property to Sasha in exchange for two office buildings and a $550,000 note receivable. Sasha also agreed to refinance the Florida property or to assume Ming’s mortgage on the property. In April of 1995, the deed to the Florida property was delivered to Sasha’s attorney who reviewed the deed and then returned it to Ming’s attorney to hold as escrow agent pending the completion of the escrow agreement obligations, which included Sasha’s agreement to refinance the property or to assume Ming’s mortgage. Sasha also delivered the deeds of the two office buildings and the note receivable to Ming. The deed to the Florida property was not recorded at the time of sale.

In proceedings against Sasha, the trial court determined that Sasha was not a transferee of the Florida property. Stardust contends in this appeal that because the deed of the Florida property to Sasha was not recorded, no “transfer” of real property within the meaning of the statute took place. Stardust points to section 726.107(l)(a), Florida Statutes (1995), which provides that for the purposes of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Chapter 726, a “transfer” of real property is made “when the transfer is so far perfected that a good faith purchaser of the asset from the debtor against whom applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected cannot acquire an interest in the asset that is superior to the interest of the transferee.”

Stardust overlooks section 726.107(2) which provides:

[i]f applicable law permits the transfer to be perfected as provided in subsection (1) and the transfer is not so perfected before the commencement of an action for relief under ss. 726.101-726.112, the transfer is deemed made immediately before the commencement of the action.

Thus, the statute does not prevent the recognition of an unrecorded deed as constituting a transfer; it merely postpones the date of the transfer to immediately prior to the commencement of the action. Therefore, the court erred to the extent that the trial court determined that Sasha was not a good faith transferee for value because of the lack of recordation of the deed.

However, there was substantial competent evidence that the escrow agreement did not constitute delivery of the deed to Sasha. Further, there was evidence that Sasha may not have been a good faith transferee. Therefore, we affirm as to these issues.

The issue of whether there was a fraudulent transfer to Ming, Sasha’s predecessor in title, is reversed and remanded fdr trial.

GUNTHER and STEVENSON, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Hall v. Maal, 32 So. 3d 682 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)
    …evidence of the transfer that occurred.” Cain & Bultman, Inc. v. Miss Sam, Inc., 409 So. 2d 114, 120 n. 5 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). An unrecorded deed does not indicate that there was no transfer of land. See Sasha & Sasha, Inc. v. Stardust Marine, S.A., 741 So. 2d 558 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (holding that where a deed was unrecorded, the transfer of the land was deemed to have occurred just prior to commencement of action under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act). Likewise, in my view, an unlicensed marriage does no…

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