Putting Conventional Probate Concepts to the Test: Parker v. Parker and the Decedent’s Estate as an Indispensable Party

The recent court decision in Parker v. Parker highlights the confusion in Florida law about who can bring a case to get back assets transferred by someone before they died. Some cases say the decedent’s family can bring the case, while others say it should be the personal representative of the estate. The Parker case involved a family dispute over property. After their dad died, some of the kids sued their stepmom and half-brothers, claiming they were tricked into giving away the property. The trial court said the kids couldn’t sue because they didn’t involve their dad’s estate, but the higher court disagreed. They said the estate didn’t have to be in the lawsuit for it to move forward. They pointed to past cases where family members were allowed to sue over property without involving the estate. Florida courts have different interpretations of a law that deals with property transferred by someone who has passed away. In a recent case called Parker, the court said that the person in charge of the deceased person’s belongings, known as the personal representative, is not always needed to bring a lawsuit to get back the transferred property. But other courts have said that the personal representative is the best person to do this. They believe that it’s the personal representative’s job to manage and protect the deceased person’s belongings until they are given out to the rightful people. For example, in a case called All Children’s Hosp., Inc. v. Owens, the court said that the personal representative should be the one to try to get back the transferred property for the benefit of the deceased person’s belongings. Before Parker, Florida courts believed that the personal representative of an estate had the right to recover the deceased person’s assets. They based this on a specific law that says the personal representative has the right to take control of the deceased person’s property. However, there are no Florida Supreme Court cases talking about this issue. A widow and charity organizations wanted to sue a person who got a lot of money from a dead person. But the courts said they couldn’t do that because only the person in charge of the dead person’s stuff can sue for the money. Another court said the same thing when the children of the dead person wanted to sue. They said that when the interests of the dead person’s stuff and the person getting the money are completely opposite, then someone else has to sue for the money. In Florida, there’s a disagreement about whether the personal representative is needed to recover a deceased person’s assets. Some courts say the personal representative is necessary, while others say the heirs can do it on their own. A recent court case called Parker said the estate doesn’t have to be involved in the lawsuit. This goes against other court decisions and federal cases. It’s a bit of a mess right now, and the law is still unclear. Practitioners should consider F.S. §733.309 and §733.607 when deciding whether to open an estate and appoint a personal representative to pursue claims in a situation similar to Parker. These laws give the personal representative the authority to recover assets for the benefit of the estate. In cases like Parker, where there are no assets subject to probate and no appointed personal representatives, the involvement of the decedent’s estate may not be required. Basically, when someone dies and there’s a dispute about money or property they gave away before they died, a court might require the person in charge of the deceased person’s affairs to bring the case to court. This is a trend that is becoming more common. In the past, individual people could bring these cases without the person in charge being involved. This change may be because of a law that was passed in 1973. In Florida, there is a debate about when the estate must be involved in a case to recover assets that were given away before someone died. The law is not clear on this, and there are different opinions from different courts. It’s important for the personal representative to be aware of these issues when dealing with inter vivos transfers in an estate. These cases explain that when someone dies, their personal representative has the legal duty to gather all of the deceased person’s belongings and protect their estate. Only the appointed personal representative of the estate can sue on behalf of the estate and recover the deceased person’s property. Other family members or beneficiaries do not have the legal right to do this. Two people, Cady L. Huss and Elizabeth M. Hughes, work in the legal field in Florida. Huss helps with estate and trust administration, while Hughes focuses on probate, trust, and guardianship cases. They are both part of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/putting-conventional-probate-concepts-to-the-test-parker-v-parker-and-the-decedents-estate-as-an-indispensable-party/