In Re Frizzell's Estate

156 So. 2d 558
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 4, 1963
Docket3573
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 156 So. 2d 558 (In Re Frizzell's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal 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 Frizzell's Estate, 156 So. 2d 558 (Fla. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

156 So.2d 558 (1963)

In re ESTATE of Arthur C. FRIZZELL, a/k/a A.C. Frizzell, Deceased.
Arthur Paul FRIZZELL et al., Appellants,
v.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK IN FORT MYERS, a corporation, as Executor of the Estate of Arthur C. Frizzell, deceased, Patti Lee Frizzell and Dorothy Carey Frizzell, Appellees.

No. 3573.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

September 4, 1963.
Rehearing Denied October 15, 1963.

Leroy Hill, Punta Gorda, T. Paine Kelly, Jr., of Macfarlane, Ferguson, Allison & Kelly, Tampa, for appellants.

Leo Wotitzky, of Wotitzky, Wotitzky & Conrad, Punta Gorda, for appellee First Nat. Bank in Fort Myers.

W.A. Sheppard, of Sheppard & Woolslair, Fort Myers, for appellee Dorothy Carey Frizzell.

Edwin O. Simon of Redfearn & Simon, Miami, for appellee Elwood P. Safron, as guardian ad litem for appellee Patti Lee Frizzell.

ALLEN, Acting Chief Judge.

This appeal is from an order in probate declaring that appellee, Patti Lee Frizzell, is a pretermitted child of A.C. Frizzell, deceased, within the meaning of § 731.11, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. The appellants are beneficiaries named in decedent's will. The appellees, the executor and decedent's wife as well as Patti Lee Frizzell, answering by separate briefs favor the ruling of the County Judge.

We pause here to comment upon the able opinion of the County Judge in this case and also thank all counsel for the well prepared briefs filed on behalf of both the appellants and the appellees.

Arthur C. Frizzell died at his home in Charlotte County, Florida, on January 6, 1961. Survivors included his wife, appellee Dorothy Carey Frizzell, an adult adopted son, Arthur Paul Frizzell, appellant herein, and an adopted infant daughter, Patti Lee Frizzell. The infant adopted child was born prior to and adopted after execution of decedent's will and codicil thereto.

Decedent's Last Will was executed on February 15, 1960, and a Codicil was executed on July 9, 1960, changing the Executor and Trustee from Exchange National Bank in Tampa to First National Bank in Fort Myers. Decedent and his wife formally adopted Patti Lee Frizzell on October 10, 1960, and decedent's Will was never revised to provide for her. On the other hand, the Will did not show any intention of omitting any provision for her.

The main point on appeal is one of first impression in Florida and is "whether a child adopted after the execution of a Will is a pretermitted child and would take a *559 child's part within the meaning of Section 731.11, Florida Statutes."

Contained in the record-on-appeal is a certificate, signed by the County Judge, to this effect:

"A. That the status of Patti Lee Frizzell, the adopted infant daughter of the above named decedent, could and should be adjudicated upon the said petitions and the pleadings filed in response thereto;
* * * * * *
"C. That taking of testimony to determine the status of Patti Lee Frizzell was unnecessary because the facts were * * * in the pleadings and the record and there was no controversy as to any material fact; so that the Court was not called upon to hold, and did not hold testimony to be inadmissible on the issue then before the Court."

Accordingly, the issue here is limited to the question whether, as a matter of law, the protection of Section 731.11 extends to an adopted child.

Section 731.11, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides:

"When a testator omits to provide in his will for any of his children born after the making of the will and such child has not had bestowed upon him by way of advancement a portion of the testator's property equivalent to a child's part, unless it appears from the will that such omission was intentional, such child shall receive a share in the estate of the testator equal in value to that which he would have received if the testator had died intestate. The share of the estate which is assigned to such pretermitted child shall be raised in accordance with the order of appropriation of assets set forth in this law."

Section 731.30, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides:

"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, and the adopting parents shall inherit from the adopted child. The adopted child shall be regarded as the natural brother or sister of the natural children and other adopted children of the adopting parents for the purpose of inheritance from or by them. The adopted child shall inherit the estate of his blood parents, but his blood parents shall not inherit from the adopted child."

Section 72.22, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides:

"By the decree of adoption the child shall be the child and legal heir of the adopting parent or parents, entitled to all the rights and privileges, and subject to all obligations, of a child born to such parent or parents in lawful wedlock. The natural parents of such adopted child, if living, shall, after the adoption, be relieved of all legal duties and obligations due from them to such child, and shall be divested of all rights with respect to such child; provided, when the adopting parent is married to one of the natural parents of such child, or thereafter inter-marries with one of such natural parents, then the relation of such child toward such natural parents shall be in no way altered by the adoption; provided further, that when an adopted child has been subsequently adopted by some third party or readopted by his natural parents or one of them, that such adopted child shall not inherit from an adopted parent when he has been subsequently adopted by another or by his natural parents or one of them, in the absence of some evidence in writing that such adopting parent considered such child his child for the purposes of inheritance, notwithstanding the subsequent adoption and provided further that nothing in this law shall be construed *560 to prevent a legally adopted child from inheriting from the natural parents under the laws of this state or any state."

In the case of Tsilidis v. Pedakis, Fla. App. 1961, 132 So.2d 9, Judge Sturgis of the First District Court of Appeal, held that the statute authorizing an adult married couple, or the survivor, to adopt another adult implies that the adoption of an adult by a person who had never married was repugnant to Florida law or policy, and, therefore, the adopted adult could not, under Florida law, be the pretermitted heir to an estate. The appellant in that case claimed that he was entitled under Section 731.11, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., to inherit the estate of Constantine Prassas, deceased, claiming thus to be the pretermitted child by reason of his adoption in Greece. Prassas, who had never married, died after the decree of adoption was entered, leaving an estate of inheritance in Florida and a will that was executed prior to the entry of the foreign decree of adoption. The statute deemed controlling, Fla. Stat. § 72.34, (1959) F.S.A. provides:

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Related

In re Estate of Freedman
226 So. 2d 423 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1969)
First National Bank In Fort Myers v. Hill
194 So. 2d 675 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1967)
In Re Baker's Estate
172 So. 2d 268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)
Parker v. Blaine
172 So. 2d 268 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)
Frizzell v. First National Bank of Fort Myers
162 So. 2d 666 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1964)

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