In his post, Juan C. Antúnez comments on the 1st DCA’s opinion on the Sims v. Barnard case that highlights a few exceptions to finality in probate proceedings. Antúnez explains:
This statute seems pretty clear cut. If you’re an heir, and you weren’t included in the probate proceeding, you get a do-over. But reading the statute that way runs headlong into Florida’s strong public policy favoring finality in probate proceedings. So not surprisingly, as explained by Judge Schwartz in a thoughtful concurring opinion he wrote in Klem v. Espejo-Norton (a case I wrote about here) the usual rule in Florida is that an estate won’t be reopened even if a rightful heir was excluded. The exception to this rule being the type of “fraud by concealment” scenarios discussed in the Sims case above.
Read the full post here: When can you reopen a Florida probate proceeding?
