Rubin on Probate Litigation

Cohen v. Shushan , --- So.3d --- (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) In Florida, a "surviving spouse" receives certain benefits- they can take an intestate share of the deceased spouse's estate and they may also be entitled to an elective share, family allowance, homestead and so on. Under principles of comity, Florida courts will recognize the marriage of citizens of a foreign country if that marriage was valid under foreign law.  Here, a surviving child of a decedent and a purported spouse of the decedent disagreed regarding whether a marriage would be deemed valid under Israel law, and as a result whether the marriage should be recognized by the Florida Probate Court for inheritance purposes. After hearing expert testimony on Israeli law, the trial court held that because the surviving spouse would be considered the decedent's "reputed spouse" under Israeli law, she should take under Florida's intestacy law.  A "reputed spouse," translated from Hebr...

Landau v. Landau , 230 So.3d 127 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017) Normally, an injunction is considered to be a serious form of relief, and courts typically will not grant them unless a high burden is met.  Here, however, the Court upheld an injunction freezing trust assets, based on the probate court's "inherent jurisdiction" to protect the assets under its supervision. The Court held that in this case, where the Trustee, who was also a beneficiary of the trust, had been sued by a beneficiary for an accounting, breach of trust, and other causes of action, the Trustee's due process was not violated by an injunction order freezing the trust assets until the accounting was completed.