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736.0103 (4) Beneficiary means a person who has a present or future beneficial interest
in a trust, vested or contingent, or who holds a power of appointment over trust property in
a capacity other than that of trustee. An interest as a permissible appointee of a power of
appointment, held by a person in a capacity other than that of trustee, is not a beneficial
interest for purposes of this subsection. Upon an irrevocable exercise of a power of
appointment, the interest of a person in whose favor the appointment is made shall be
considered a present or future beneficial interest in a trust in the same manner as if the
interest had been included in the trust instrument.
(14) Estate means the property of a decedent that is the subject of administration.
(20) Heirs or heirs at law means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are
entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent.
(21) Incapacitated means a judicial determination that a person lacks the capacity to
manage at least some of the persons property or to meet at least some of the persons
essential health and safety requirements. A minor shall be treated as being incapacitated.
(25) Minor means a person under 18 years of age whose disabilities have not been
removed by marriage or otherwise.
(32) Property means both real and personal property or any interest in it and anything
that may be the subject of ownership.
(33) Protected homestead means the property described in s. 4(a)(1), Art. X of the State
Constitution on which at the death of the owner the exemption inures to the owners
surviving spouse or heirs under s. 4(b), Art. X of the State Constitution. For purposes of the
code, real property owned in tenancy by the entireties or in joint tenancy with rights of
survivorship is not protected homestead.
731.103 Evidence as to death or status.In proceedings under this code and under chapter
736, the following additional rules relating to determination of death and status are
applicable:
(1) An authenticated copy of a death certificate issued by an official or agency of the place
where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie proof of the fact, place, date, and time
of death and the identity of the decedent.
(2) A copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that a
person is alive, missing, detained, or, from the facts related, presumed dead is prima facie
evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or
report.
(3) A person who is absent from the place of his or her last known domicile for a
continuous period of 5 years and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent
search and inquiry is presumed to be dead. The persons death is presumed to have occurred
at the end of the period unless there is evidence establishing that death occurred earlier.
Evidence showing that the absent person was exposed to a specific peril of death may be a
sufficient basis for the court determining at any time after such exposure that he or she died
less than 5 years after the date on which his or her absence commenced. A petition for this
determination shall be filed in the county in Florida where the decedent maintained his or
her domicile or in any county of this state if the decedent was not a resident of Florida at the
time his or her absence commenced.
(4) This section does not preclude the establishment of death by direct or circumstantial
evidence prior to expiration of the 5-year time period set forth in subsection (3).
In rem, power about or against "the thing" is a legal term describing the power a court may
exercise over property (either real or personal) or a "status" against a person over whom the
court does not have "in personam jurisdiction". Jurisdiction in rem assumes the property or
status is the primary object of the action, rather than personal liabilities not necessarily
associated with the property (quasi in rem jurisdiction).
731.109 Seal of the court.For the purposes of this code, the seal of the clerk of the circuit
court is the seal of the court.
732.107 Escheat (1) When a person dies leaving an estate without being survived by any
person entitled to a part of it, that part shall escheat to the state.
(2) Property that escheats shall be sold as provided in the Florida Probate Rules and the
proceeds paid to the Chief Financial Officer of the state and deposited in the State School
Fund.
(3) At any time within 10 years after the payment to the Chief Financial Officer, a person
claiming to be entitled to the proceeds may reopen the administration to assert entitlement
to the proceeds. If no claim is timely asserted, the states rights to the proceeds shall
become absolute.
Escheat, The power of a state to acquire title to property for which there is no owner.
The most common reason that an escheat takes place is that an individual dies intestate,
meaning without a valid will indicating who is to inherit his or her property, and without
relatives who are legally entitled to inherit in the absence of a will. A state legislature has the
authority to enact an escheat statute.
Florida Statues 732.108 Adopted persons and persons born out of wedlock.
(1) For the purpose of intestate succession by or from an adopted person, the adopted
person is a descendant of the adopting parent and is one of the natural kindred of all members
of the adopting parents family, and is not a descendant of his or her natural parents, nor is he
or she one of the kindred of any member of the natural parents family or any prior adoptive
parents family, except that:
(a) Adoption of a child by the spouse of a natural parent has no effect on the relationship
between the child and the natural parent or the natural parents family.
(b) Adoption of a child by a natural parents spouse who married the natural parent after the
death of the other natural parent has no effect on the relationship between the child and the
family of the deceased natural parent.
(c) Adoption of a child by a close relative, as defined in s. 63.172(2), has no effect on the
relationship between the child and the families of the deceased natural parents.
(2) For the purpose of intestate succession in cases not covered by subsection (1), a person
born out of wedlock is a descendant of his or her mother and is one of the natural kindred of
all members of the mothers family. The person is also a descendant of his or her father and
is one of the natural kindred of all members of the fathers family, if:
(a) The natural parents participated in a marriage ceremony before or after the birth of the
person born out of wedlock, even though the attempted marriage is void.
(b) The paternity of the father is established by an adjudication before or after the death of
the father. Chapter 95 shall not apply in determining heirs in a probate proceeding under
this paragraph.
(c) The paternity of the father is acknowledged in writing by the father.
736.0203 Subject matter jurisdiction.The circuit court has original jurisdiction in this
state of all proceedings arising under this code.
Illegitimate Children At common law, an illegitimate child was a filius nullius (Latin for "child
of no one") and had no right to inherit. Only legitimate children and issue could inherit an
estate upon the death of an intestate parent. This is no longer the case as a result of statutes
that vary from state to state. As a general rule, an illegitimate child is treated as the child of
the mother and can inherit from her and her relatives and they from the child. In some
jurisdictions, the illegitimate child is usually not regarded as a child of the father unless
legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the parents or acknowledged by the father as his
child, such as in affiliation proceedings. A legitimated child has the same inheritance rights
as any other child of the parent. Many statutes permit a child to inherit from his or her
father if the Paternity is judicially established before the father's death. In the case
of Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, 97 S. Ct. 1459, 52 L. Ed. 2d 31 (1977), the Supreme Court
of the United States decided that it is unconstitutional for states to deprive an illegitimate
child of the right to inherit from his or her father when he dies without leaving a will,
especially in cases where paternity is already established in state court
proceedings prior to the father's death.
Since the privilege of receiving property by inheritance is not a natural right but a creation of
law, the legislature of a state has plenary power, or complete authority, over the descent
and distribution of property within the borders of the state subject to restrictions found in
constitutions and treaties. The disposition of the property of an intestate is governed by the
statutes in force at the time of death.