CLINTON L. SHEAFER, APPELLANT,
v.
WILLIAM L. SHEAFER AND ALFRED KREISLER, GUARDIANS OF THE PERSON AND PROPERTY OF OLIVE W. SHEAFER, INCOMPETENT, APPELLEES
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Clinton Sheafer appealed a county judge's order denying his motion to dismiss a guardianship and his petition to set aside guardians appointed for his incompetent relative Olive W. Sheafer, as well as the judge's approval of a real estate sale. The appellate court affirmed the denial of the motion and petition but reversed the real estate sale authorization because it violated statutory limits on credit terms.
The court affirmed the denial of the motion to dismiss and the petition to set aside the guardians' appointment, finding no error demonstrated. However, the court reversed the authorization of the real estate sale because the credit terms violated Florida Statute section 745.11, which prohibits credit exceeding 75% of the purchase price or extending longer than 5 years.
“It affirmatively appears that the order authorizing the sale of real property is in contravention of the express terms of section 745.11, Fla.Stat., F.S.A., in the following particulars: The sale price was $18,500. The purchase-money mortgage was to be in the amount of $15,000, payable in monthly payments for a period of 20 years. Thus the credit extended was in excess of 75 per cent of the purchase price and for a period exceeding 5 years.”
Establishes the specific statutory violation: the credit terms exceeded both the percentage and time limits set by statute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOlive W. Sheafer was declared incompetent and placed under guardianship. The county judge authorized the sale of real property belonging to the incomp…
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Appellant who was petitioner in the court below appeals an order entered in the county judges’ court, in and for Dade County, Florida, by which the county judge denied a motion to dismiss the guardianship, denied the petition to set aside appointment of guardians for the person and property of Olive W. Sheafer, incompetent, and overruled the objection of petitioner to the sale of real estate belonging to the incompetent.
We have considered assignments of error going to the denial of the motion and of the petition, and find that error has not been demonstrated.
It affirmatively appears that the order authorizing the sale of real property is in contravention of the express terms of section 745.11, Fla.Stat., F.S.A.,1 in the following particulars: The sale price was $18,500. The purchase-money mortgage was to be in the amount of $15,000, payable in monthly payments for a period of 20 years. Thus the credit extended was in excess of 75 per cent of the purchase price and for a period exceeding 5 years.
Although the county judge authorized the sale of the property at terms in violation of the statute, we are convinced he did so to obtain an offer which would be most beneficial to the estate of the incompetent. Nevertheless, the county judge is circumscribed by the language of the statute. If the limits set in the statute are so narrow that they do not give a county judge sufficient scope to exercise his discretion, it is for the Legislature to liberalize the con*895fining provisions of the statute. Therefore, the portion of the order appealed which authorized sale of the real property is reversed and the cause remanded for the entry of an order not inconsistent with this opinion.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded.
PEARSON, Acting Chief Judge, CARROLL, CHAS., J., and SAULS, RICHARD M., Associate Judge, concur.