Staum v. Rubano

Staum v. Rubano, 120 So.3d 109, 2013 WL 4081055 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)

In 2007, a decedent died while domiciled in New York, owing a debt to his nursing home in New York.  The nursing home filed a claim in both the domiciliary estate in New York, and subsequently in the ancillary estate here in Florida.  The nursing home also sought an accounting of the ancillary estate, and asked the court to transfer the ancillary estate's assets to the New York domiciliary estate.

The personal representative sought to dismiss the nursing home's petition because its claim was untimely, as it was filed more than two years after the decedent's death.  The trial court agreed, and granted the motion to dismiss.

On appeal, the Appellate Court agreed that the claim was untimely in Florida, but stressed that to the extent the trial court found that the claim against the New York estate was untimely, it reversed.  Even though it said the claim was untimely, the Court then found that since the nursing home's claim remained pending in New York, the nursing home was an interested person entitled to seek an accounting and the transfer of the assets, since Florida Statutes § 734.102(6) provides that, "After the payment of all expenses of administration and claims against the estate, the court may order the remaining property held by the ancillary personal representative transferred to the foreign personal representative or distributed to the beneficiaries."  

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