In re Oyola
In re Oyola
Opinion of the Court
ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OPINION OVERRULING TRUSTEE’S OBJECTION TO DEBTOR’S CLAIM OF EXEMPTIONS
Ordinarily, a debtor who is not a U.S. citizen cannot legally formulate the intent to reside here permanently for homestead purposes unless the debtor is a permanent resident as of the petition date. Here, the Debtor was not a permanent resident as of the petition date. So she cannot legally intend to reside here permanently. But the Debtor’s adult daughter, who is living in the Debtor’s house, was a permanent resident as of the petition date. And her minor granddaughter, who is also living in her house, was a U.S. citizen. Because the Florida Constitution permits an owner to claim property as homestead if the owner’s family is living on the property, the Debtor is entitled to claim the homestead exemption.
The Debtor is a Colombian citizen.
At some point, the Debtor apparently left the country, only to later return. It is undisputed, though, that the Debtor has been living in the U.S. since 2008 or so. The Debtor currently lives in her home at 12143 Armenia Gables Circle, Apt, #12143, Tampa, Florida, with her 30-year-old daughter, who was a permanent resident at the time this case was filed, as well her four-year-old granddaughter, who is a U.S. citizen.
In 2015, the Debtor filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The Trustee objected to the Debtor’s homestead exemption.
Conclusions of Law
More than ten years ago, this Court, in In re Fodor, considered whether a debtor who was not a permanent resident as of the petition date could claim the homestead exemption.
At first glance, the rationale for denying the homestead exemption in Fodor appears to apply equally here. Like the debt- or in Fodor, the Debtor here was not a permanent resident as of the petition date. It’s true that the Debtor will likely be eligible for permanent residence once her daughter becomes a U.S, citizen, which is expected to happen soon (or may have already happened). And that was true of the debtor in Fodor. In fact, the debtor in Fodor actually obtained his permanent residence just three months after the petition date. But that was not enough to support the homestead exemption. The Debtor, however, argues the Court should follow the Third District Court of Appeal’s decision five years ago in Grisolia v. Pfeffer,
In Grisolia, the Third District Court of Appeal held that a Venezuelan citizen here on a temporary visa could claim the homestead exemption.
On appeal, the Grisolia court, relying on the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in In re Cooke, correctly noted that the Florida Constitution permits an owner to claim property as homestead, even if the owner is not living there, so long as the owner’s family is living on the property:
The Florida Supreme Court has addressed the issue of homestead exemption and held that “although it is not necessary that the head of the family reside in the state or intend to make the property in question his permanent residence, he must establish that he intended to make his property his family’s permanent residence.” We have also acknowledged that article X, section 4(a)(1) specifies that a homestead exemption is limited to the residence of the owner or the owner’s family and, “[a]c-cordingly, ‘the Florida Constitution does not require that the owner claiming homestead exemption reside on the property; it is sufficient that the owner’s family reside on the property.’ ”21
The Grisolia court noted that in Cooke, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the homestead claim by Canadian citizens temporarily in the U.S. because none of them had the legal right to reside in Florida.
'Within the last ten years, two Florida bankruptcy courts have refused to extend the homestead exemption to property occupied by a debtor’s adult child.
In determining that the adult children were not “family” for homestead purposes, both courts articulated the test for determining whether a “family” exists as follows:
For purposes of the homestead exemption, the test for family is: “(1) A legal duty to maintain arising out of the relationship and (2) a continuing communal living by, at least two individuals under circumstances where one is regarded as the person in charge.” Under this test, the “head of the family must not only be obligated to, but must actually support such dependents,”30
Because under Florida law, a parent’s duty to support a child generally ends when the child reaches the age of majority, both courts concluded no “family” existed for homestead purposes under the first test.
Although it doesn’t appear that the debtor in either case would have satisfied the second test, Wilson and Fowler could be read to suggest that it was unnecessary to address the second test because the debtors in both cases failed the first one. After all, the court in both cases use the conjunctive “and” to join the tests. And in both cases, the court declined to address the second test after concluding the debtor failed the first one. The tests articulated by the Wilson and Fowler courts, however, should actually be read in the disjunctive.
Both Wilson and Fowler trace the tests for “family” back to the First District Court of Appeal’s decision in Heard v. Mathis.
This is consistent with how Florida courts have since treated the homestead exemption. Numerous Florida courts have explained that Florida homestead law recognizes both “family in law” and “family in fact.”
Here, there is no “family in law.” Because the Debtor’s daughter has reached the age of majority, the Debtor no longer has a legal obligation to support her. The Debtor’s granddaughter is a minor. But the Court is unaware of any legal obligation for the Debtor to support her granddaughter. The Court does conclude, however, that there is a “family in fact.”
More than a century ago, in Caro v. Caro, the Florida Supreme Court recognized that a parent and adult children can constitute a “family” for homestead pur-r poses.
On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court held that Caro was a head of family for homestead purposes. The Court noted that the parties had stipulated that Caro’s two daughters who inherited the home had been living with Caro continuously.
Here, the Court concludes the Debtor is living as a family with her adult daughter and minor granddaughter. In fact, at no point has the Trustee disputed that the Debtor is living communally with her daughter and granddaughter and that her daughter and granddaughter recognize her as the person in charge. The Trustee’s only opposition to the exemption is that the Debtor cannot have the intent to reside here permanently, .which is irrelevant if the Debtor intends to make her home her family’s permanent residence.
Conclusion
It may be true, as the Trustee argues, that the Debtor cannot legally intend to reside here permanently. But as the Florida Supreme Court explained more than 30 years ago,
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED;
1. The Trustee’s objection to the Debt- or’s homestead exemption claim is OVERRULED.
2. The Debtor’s home located at 12143 Armenia Gables Circle, Apt. #12143, Tampa, Florida, is exempt homestead.
. Doc. No. 14 at Ex. A.
. Id. at ¶ 8.
. Id.
. 8 U.S.C. § 1186a.
. Id.
. Doc. No. 14 at ¶ 8.
. Doc. No. 1.
. Id. at Schedule C,
. Doc. No. 14 at ¶ 7.
. Id.
. Doc. No. 11.
. Id. a ¶ 5.
. 339 B.R. 519, 522 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2006).
. Id. at 520 (citing 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(2000)).
. Id. at 520.
. Id. at 523.
. 77 So.3d 732 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011),
. Id. at 736.
. Id. at 733.
. Id.
. Id. at 734 (quoting In re Cooke (Cooke v. Uranksy), 412 So.2d 340, 343 (Fla. 1982)) (citations omitted).
. Id. (discussing Cooke, 412 So.2d at 343).
.Id. at 736.
. In re Fowler, 2016 WL 1444195, at *2 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2016); In re Wilson, 393 B.R, 778, 783-84 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2008).
. Wilson, 393 B.R. at 782.
. Id. at 783-84.
. Fowler, 2016 WL 1444195, at *1.
. Id, at 2-3,
. Wilson, 393 B.R. at 783; Fowler, 2016 WL 1444195, at *2.
. Wilson, 393 B.R. at 783 (quoting Heard v. Mathis, 344 So.2d 651, 654 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)) (emphasis added) (citations omitted); Fowler, 2016 WL 1444195, at *2 (quoting Wilson) (citations omitted).
. Wilson, 393 B.R. at 783; Fowler, 2016 WL 1444195, at *2.
. 344 So.2d 651, 654 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977).
. id.
. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, https://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/singly.
. Id. (citing Crosby & Miller, Our Legal Chameleon, The Florida Homestead Exemption, 2 U. Fla. L. Rev. 12 (1949)),
. Id. at 24 (emphasis added).
. See, e.g., Flannery v. Green, 482 So.2d 400, 402 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Routman v. Desvarieux, 467 So.2d 1090, 1090 n.1 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985); In re Schorr's Estate, 409 So.2d 487, 489-90 (Fla. 4th 1981).
. Flannery, 482 So.2d at 402; Routman, 467 So.2d at 1090 n.1.
. Flannery, 482 So.2d at 402; Routman, 467 So.2d at 1090 n.1.
. Routman, 467 So.2d at 1090 n.1; In re Rivera, 5 B.R. 313, 315 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 1980).
. 45 Fla. 203, 34 So. 309 (Fla. 1903).
. Id. at 206, 34 So. 309.
. Id. at 207, 34 So. 309.
. Id. at 206, 34 So. 309.
.Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 207, 34 So. 309.
. In re Cooke (Cooke v. Uranksy), 412 So.2d 340, 341 (Fla. 1982).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IN RE: Gloria OYOLA, Debtor
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published