In Re Estate of Carlton

378 So. 2d 1212
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedMarch 8, 1979
Docket51413
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 378 So. 2d 1212 (In Re Estate of Carlton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Estate of Carlton, 378 So. 2d 1212 (Fla. 1979).

Opinion

378 So.2d 1212 (1979)

In re ESTATE OF Perry CARLTON, Deceased.
Alberta Carlton HAYES et al., Petitioners,
v.
Lucy Jane Carlton ROGERS, Respondent.

No. 51413.

Supreme Court of Florida.

March 8, 1979.
Request for Recusal Denied January 10, 1980.
Rehearing Denied January 10, 1980.

John T. Brennan of Brennan, McAliley, Albury & Hayskar, Fort Pierce, B.K. Roberts of Roberts, Miller, Baggett & LaFace, Tallahassee, for petitioners.

Robert E. Jackson of Jackson & Clem, Vero Beach, for respondent.

The Petition for Writ of Certiorari reflected probable jurisdiction in this Court. We issued the Writ and have heard argument of the parties. After hearing argument and upon further consideration of the matter [See 348 So.2d 896 (Fla.App.)] we have determined that the Court is without jurisdiction. Therefore, the Writ must be and is hereby discharged and the Petition for Writ of Certiorari is dismissed.

It is so ordered.

ENGLAND, C.J., and OVERTON, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.

ADKINS, J., dissents with an opinion, with which BOYD, J., and MELVIN, Associate Justice, concur.

*1213 ADKINS, Justice, dissenting.

I dissent from the majority.

Justice James Alderman, while a circuit judge, found that Lucy Rogers, the adopted daughter of the intestate's deceased brother, Lindley Carlton, was not an heir at law of the intestate. The order contained the following:

The legal issue which the Court must determine is whether Mrs. Rogers is an heir-at-law of Perry Carlton, by virtue of her adoption by Perry Carlton's brother. This question must be determined as of April 4, 1970, because the rights of the heirs became vested and fixed upon that date.
On April 4, 1970, the Florida Probate Law, Florida Statutes, Section 731.30, provided in part as follows:
"An adopted child, whether adopted under the laws of Florida, or of any other state or country, shall be an heir at law, and for the purpose of inheritance shall be regarded as a lineal descendant of his adopting parents . ."
At that time, the Florida Adoption Law, Florida Statutes, Section 63.151, also provided in part as follows:
"By any judgment or decree of adoption the child shall be the child and legal heir of the adopting parent or parents, entitled to all rights and privileges and subject to all obligations, of a child born to such parent or parents in lawful wedlock."
It can reasonably be argued from the statutory language quoted above, that the Legislature intended to place an adoptive child within his or her adoptive family on the same basis as a natural child. It may also reasonably be contended that this statutory language, when read in conjunction with Florida Statutes, Section 731.23, which specifies the mode of intestate succession, would allow inheritance between an adoptee and the full range of his or her adoptive kindred. However, the Florida Supreme Court has taken a different view. In the case of In re Hewett's Estate, [153 Fla. 137,] 13 So.2d 904, Fla. (1943), the Court construing Section 731.30, Florida Statutes (1941), specifically held that within the adoptive family, intestate succession is strictly limited to inheritance by and from the adoptee and his or her adoptive parents. The only difference in the Statute, from 1943 to 1970, is that it was amended to allow inheritance by and from the adoptee and the other natural and adoptive children of the adoptive parent or parents.
In Hewett, the question was whether the adopted daughter of a first cousin of the deceased was entitled to share in the estate to the same extent that her adoptive father would have shared had he been living. The Court held that she could not; that an adoptee could not inherit by intestacy from any other adoptive kindred other than his or her adoptive parents.
Exactly the same legal point is presented in the instant case where the question is whether Mrs. Rogers, the adopted daughter of Perry Carlton's brother, is entitled to share in his estate to the same extent that her adoptive father would have shared had he been living. Under the holding of the Supreme Court in the Hewett case, she would not.

The district court of appeal reviewed this order and attempted to distinguish Hewett, supra, observing that the claimant in Hewett, though an heir-at-law and lineal descendant of his adopted father, could not claim to be a descendant of his adopted father's mother. The court distinguished Hewett because in the case sub judice the claimant was a descendant of the deceased brother of the intestate. She was therefore a lineal descendant of her adopted parent and entitled to share in the estate.

In Hewett, this Court said the claimant could not participate in the estate of the ancestors, "or other blood kin," Id. 13 So.2d at 907, but the district court in the case sub judice held the claimant could participate in the estate of the blood kin. This is clear conflict.

The fact that inclusion of the "blood kin" in the rule enunciated by the Hewett court may be considered dictum does not prevent *1214 the Court from taking jurisdiction. Twomey v. Clausohm, 234 So.2d 338 (Fla. 1970).

On the merits, I would adopt the reasoning of the Court in Hewett, when the Court said:

We might well say that what the legislature mainly had in mind in drafting this section was the extent and quality of an adopted child's inheritance from both its adopting parents and its natural parents, and the reciprocal right of inheritance from the adopted child — which latter right was given exclusively to the adopting parents, just the same as if the adopted child were "for the purpose of inheritance" regarded "as the lineal descendant of its adopting parents", which adopting parents assume the burden and legal duty of raising, training, educating and supporting the adopted child, and thus relieving the blood parents of this burden and expense.
This statute is very liberal in its provisions in behalf of the adopted child. Such child inherits from its adopting parents as if it were their own natural child, and likewise inherits from its natural parents. Why should the legislature be [construed] to have gone further and intended, by court-imposed implication, to give the adopted child the right to inherit from the adopting parents' ancestors or other blood kin? [Emphasis added.] The legislature should not be construed to have intended this unless the language of the statute makes it plain that such was the legislative intent — which we do not think it does. The statute says: "An adopted child * * * shall be an heir at law, and for the purpose of inheritance be regarded as a lineal descendant of its adopting parents * * *." So the words "heir at law" and "for the purpose of inheritance be regarded as a lineal descendant" are all limited and qualified by the words "of its adopting parents". We would be going too far if we should expand the language of this sentence to read: "of its adopting parents and their ancestors."

153 Fla. 137, 13 So.2d 904, 906-07 (1943).

The ruling of Hewett has, in effect, been reaffirmed in subsequent decisions of this Court and district courts of appeal that either followed it or distinguished it on the facts. Thus, in In re Poole's Estate, 153 Fla. 610, 15 So.2d 323 (1943), this Court relied on Hewett

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378 So. 2d 1212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-carlton-fla-1979.