WILFRED H. CONRAD, APPELLANT,
v.
GUY GORDON MCMECHEN, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1976-11-05
No. 76-1761
MAGER, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.
338 So. 2d 1306 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1976) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 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

A judgment creditor obtained an order requiring an execution debtor to appear for examination in a county other than his residence under supplementary proceedings. The court reversed, holding that the debtor must be examined in his county of residence as mandated by the statute governing supplementary proceedings.


Holding

No. Section 56.29(2) of the Florida Statutes expressly provides that the defendant in execution must appear before the court or a master at a time and place specified in the county of the defendant's residence. The trial court's order requiring examination in Brevard County violated this statutory mandate.


Headnotes

[1] Supplementary proceedings are a statutory mechanism to assist judgment creditors in discovering debtor assets for satisfaction of a judgment.

[2] A judgment debtor is statutorily entitled to appear for examination in supplementary proceedings in the county of their residence.

Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Section 56.29(2), Florida Statutes (1975), expressly provides that the defendant in execution appear before the court or a master at a time and place specified in the county of the defendant's residence. The mandate of the statute is plain, but the order under review fails to comply.”

Establishes the controlling statutory requirement that examination must occur in the debtor's county of residence

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Conrad obtained a judgment against McMECHEN. After the judgment execution returned unsatisfied, McMECHEN obtained an order requiring Conrad to appear …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
DOWNEY, Judge.

DOWNEY, Judge.

After obtaining a judgment against appellant and return of an execution unsatis fied, appellee obtained an order (dated August 3, 1976) pursuant to Section 56.29, Florida Statutes (1975), requiring appellant to appear at a time certain before a Circuit Judge in Rockledge, Brevard County, Florida, to be examined concerning his property and financial affairs. Appellant filed a motion to (a) strike the order, and (b) obtain a protective order, alleging, among other things, that he was a resident of Seminole County, Florida, and entitled to be examined in the county of his residence. While the notice of appeal (filed August 12, 1976) seeks review of the order (dated August 12, 1976) denying the foregoing motion, we treat this as an appeal from the order requiring appellant to appear before the Circuit Judge in Brevard County, since this interlocutory appeal really questions the validity of that order. See State ex rel. Poe v. Allen, 196 So. 2d 745 (Fla.1967).

Supplementary proceedings are a creature of statute to aid a judgment creditor in discovering assets of the debtor which might be appropriated to satisfy the judgment. South Florida Trust Co. v. Miami Coliseum Corp., 101 Fla. 1351, 133 So. 334 (1931). Section 56.29(2), Florida Statutes (1975), expressly provides that the defendant in execution appear before the court or a master at a time and place specified in the county of the defendant’s residence. The mandate of the statute is plain, but the order under review fails to comply.

It may be that the trial court felt Fla.R. Civ.P. 1.560, providing for discovery in aid of execution, allowed appellee to obtain discovery of appellant’s assets in accordance with the Rules of Civil Procedure, thus obviating the requirement of holding the examination in the county of appellant’s residence. Of course before instituting supplementary proceedings, appellee could have sought discovery pursuant to Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.560 without necessarily being restricted to the county of appellant’s residence. However, this proceeding was initiated pursuant to the provisions of Section 56.29, Florida Statutes (1975); appellee therefore must comply with those provisions. As pointed out in Wilde v. Wilde, 237 So. 2d 203, 204 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970):

“This rule [Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.560] does not supplant the method provided by statute for the examination of a judgment debt-or, rather it supplements it.”

Kline, Supplementary Collection, 25 University of Miami Law Review, p. 596, 608-609, discusses the interplay between the statute and rule of procedure in the following way:

“Proceedings supplementary to execution should not be confused with discovery in aid of execution which is a process permitted by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. The discovery process may be commenced any time after the entry of judgment and does not require the return of an unsatisfied execution in order to implement the proceedings.

However, the discovery process does not have the teeth of supplementary proceedings for it operates only as a discovery device and no orders are made by the court requiring persons to produce property or show cause why the property should not be produced. On the other hand, in supplementary proceedings, the judge may order third parties to pay the judgment creditor’s judgment and this order may be enforced through the court’s power of contempt. The discovery procedure provided by the Florida Rules is a flexible and inexpensive supplement to supplementary proceedings but it does not operate to supplant these proceedings. In this connection, the judgment creditor might find it convenient to resort first to the discovery procedure for the purpose of determining whether any third persons hold property belonging to the debtor. Once this information is obtained, and it is determined that the third parties refuse to allow the property to be applied to the judgment creditor’s judgment, he may then commence supplementary proceedings in aid of execution.” (Footnotes omitted.)

Appellant was entitled to be examined in the county of his residence, and it was therefore improper for the court to enter the order requiring appellant to appear for examination outside that county.

Accordingly, the order of August 3, 1976, is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

MAGER, C. J., and CROSS, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • …atisfaction of the judgment debt.” As this court has noted, “Supplementary proceedings are a creature of statute to aid a judgment creditor in discovering assets of the debtor which might be appropriated to satisfy the judgment.” Conrad v. McMechen, 338 So. 2d 1306, 1307 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). Cypress calls this court’s attention to In re Hinton, 378 B.R. 371 (M.D.Fla.2007), in which the court stated that a plain reading of section 56.29 makes it clear that the “court’s powers to help a judgment creditor obtain…
  • Nobles v. Ring Power Corp., 531 So. 2d 1023 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
    …ceed under section 56.29, but submitted the notice of taking deposition pursuant to Rule 1.560. Rule 1.560 “does not supplant the method provided by [section 56.29] for examination of a judgment debtor, rather it supplements it.” Conrad v. McMechen, 338 So. 2d 1306, 1307 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976), citing Wilde v. Wilde, 237 So. 2d 203, 204 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970). In Conrad, the court noted that “appellee could have sought discovery pursuant to Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.560 without necessarily being restricted to the county of app…
  • Yale Rudo v. Levin, 855 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
    …in Broward County when the domestication action was filed, it should not now be required to “chase” the petitioner to another county because he has moved in the interim. “Supplementary proceedings are a creature of statute.... ” Conrad v. McMechen, 338 So. 2d 1306, 1307 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). The statute requires the appearance of the judgment debtor in the county of his residence. It neither prohibits the petitioner from moving nor requires his return in the event of a move. “The mandate of the statute is plai…

Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw