In re Estate of Iandoli

22 Fla. Supp. 2d 1
Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida·Decided January 31, 1986·No. Case No. 82-0699·Published

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

RAYMOND J. HARE, Circuit Judge.

FINAL JUDGMENT APPROVING SALE OF SHOPPING CENTER TO PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE

This proceeding was tried before the Court. On the evidence presented,

[2]*2THE COURT FINDS:

1. The Personal Representative (hereinafter P.R.) here petitions for approval of a sale to the P.R. of the Oceanside Shopping Center, which is the principal asset of the probate estate. The Petition also seeks judicial approval of the sale to the P.R. of the three other probate properties, namely: (i) The decedent’s non-exempt jewelry. Sale of the jewelry has been approved by the Court pursuant to a stipulation of the interested persons, (ii) The non-exempt furnishings located in the decedent’s homestead. That issue has been severed and trial thereon deferred, (iii) The portion of the decedent’s homesite which exceeds the constitutional half acre, consisting of 8,585 square feet. This issue has also been severed and deferred for later determination.

2. The decedent’s Will devises one-half of the estate to ANGELINA IANDOLI, the surviving spouse, who is the P.R., and the other one-half to MARIE IANDOLI, the decedent’s daughter by a prior marriage.

3. As part of the Plan of Distribution which the P.R. attached to her Petition for Discharge filed November 22, 1983, the P.r. filed four Petitions to resolve judicial questions of which the Petition for approval of sale of assets to the P.R. is the fourth to be heard by the Court. Appellate review of Final Orders or Judgments on two of the Petitions are pending and such review of Final Orders or Judgments on other Petitions may occur.

4. The decedent’s Will grants to the . P.R. a general and unlimited power of sale. The P.R. therefore can sell the shopping center, in the P.R.’s discretion, without Court approval, F.S. 733.613(2). However, the proposed sale to the P.R. would be voidable by any interested person unless the transaction has been approved by the Court after notice to interested persons, F.S. 733.610. The P.R. here seeks such approval after due notice. This proceeding has been declared to be an adversary proceeding.

5. The shopping center is located on the following described real property situate, lying and being in Broward County, Florida, to-wit:

Those portions of the East one-half (1/2) of the Southwest one-quarter (SW 1/4) of the Southeast one-quarter (SE 1/4) of Section 31, Township 48 South, Range 43 East, Broward County, Florida, described as follows:
PARCEL 1: The West 155 feet of the North feet of the South 470 feet, less the West 25 feet thereof.
PARCEL 2: The South 470 feet less the South 50 feet, less the West 155 feet and less A-l-A Right-of-way.
[3]*3PARCEL 3: The East 100 feet of the West 275 feet of the North 48 feet of the South 518 feet.
PARCEL 4: Beginning at a point on the East boundary of said East one-half (E 1/2) of the Southwest one-quarter (SW 1/ 4) of the Southeast one-quarter (SE 1/4), 470 feet North of the Southeast corner of said East one-half (E 1/2) of the Southwest one-quarter (SW 1/4) of the Southeast one-quarter (SE 1/4); thence Northerly along the East boundary of the said East one-half (E 1/2) of the Southwest one-quarter (SW 1/4) of the Southeast one-quarter (SE 1/4), on a bearing of North 0 degrees 04’ 20” East, a distance of 98.27 feet to a point; thence Westerly on a bearing of North 90 degrees West, a distance of 134.276 feet to a point; thence Southwesterly, along the arc of a circular curve to the left, having a radius of 2824.79 feet, an arc distance of 98.535 feet to a point; thence Easterly on a bearing of North 90 degrees East, a distance of 141.253 feet to the Point of Beginning.
AND ALSO
PARCEL 5: Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, Block 13, POMPANO BEACH, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Plat Book 2, page 93, of the Public Records of Palm Beach County, Florida; said lands situate, lying and being in Broward County, Florida.
PARCEL 6: Lots 1 and 2, Block 5, POMPANO BEACH PARK, according to the plat thereof, recorded in Plat Book 21, page 20, of the Public Records of Broward County, Florida, less the North 15 feet thereof.

6. By agreement of the interested persons, the proceedings under this Petition were bifurcated into two separate Judgments, of which this is the second Judgment. The first Judgment, which is dated January 27, 1986, determined that the 1982 and 1983 payments of estate tax by the P.R., which tax was attributable only to and payable only from the daughter’s share, so reduced the size of her then vested share that the daughter’s pro rata share of the estate’s pool of assets which remained after the tax was paid was reduced to 40.095 of the after tax pool instead of 50%. At the same time, the widow’s share of the pool of assets which remained after the tax was paid and which share was not reduced by the tax, remained constant in size so that its percentage of the estate’s after tax pool of assets was increased to 59.91%.

[4]*47. The daughter’s interests in this two stage proceeding were fully represented in a truly adversary contest. The pleadings were challenged, discovery proceedings were intensive and extensive, and the trial before the Court consumed four days.

8. Since the Will gave the P.R. an unlimited power of sale, there would have been no need to invoke the Court’s jurisdiction for approval of the sale except for the conflict of interest provisions of F.S. 733.610, making the sale voidable without Court approval. The scope of the probate Court’s intervention is explained in In Re Granger Estate 318 So.2d 509, 511 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), as follows:

“[3] Under the statute, an executor, proceeding pursuant to a general power of sale, need not seek a court order of confirmation, but if he does, it would be fallacious to say that the court is powerless to do more than give a rubber stamp approval. Under such circumstance, although the probate court may not consider necessity, it may consider such things as adequacy of consideration, whether or not the transaction is in good faith, whether or not the sale will benefit one or more beneficiaries to the detriment of others and whether or not there is fraud involved.”

9. Applying these criteria to this proceeding, the Court finds that the consideration to be paid by the P.R. is not inadequate. At the trial the P.R. presented the testimony of two qualified appraisers, both members of the American Institute of Appraisers with M.A.I. certification, who, following extensive investigation and research of voluminous facts and data, determined according to standard appraisal methodology that the current fair market value of the shopping center is $6,800,000.00. The inventory value was only $4,080,000.00. The P.R. has offered to purchase the shopping center on the basis of a $7,000,000.00 purchase price, less credit for her proportionate share.

10. The P.R. is acting in good faith in her proposal to purchase the shopping center. She is the widow of the decedent and participated personally on the premises with the decedent in the management of the center for the last ten years of her 22 year marriage to the decedent. The P.R. desires to own the entire property instead of a fractional share.

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In re Estate of Iandoli, 22 Fla. Supp. 2d 1 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1986).

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Williams v. Harrington
460 So. 2d 533 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)
In re Granger
318 So. 2d 509 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)