There’s No Place Like Home…
…and now the Homeowners’ Association can’t sell it out from under him.
Court: Marine can’t be forced to sell home
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A retired Marine who has waged a five-year fight with his homeowners’ association over a flag pole won a battle Wednesday when an appeals court ruled his home can’t be sold for lawyers’ fees.
In a 3-0 decision, the appeals court agreed with George Andres, and his wife, Anna, that the Florida Constitution protects homes from forced sales except in very limited circumstances – and attorneys’ fees are not on the list.
Humanity...or the Lack Thereof | tree hugging sister | 
March 24, 2005 3:04 pm
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attorneys’ fees are not on the list.
My God, how’d the attorney’s let that one slip through?
Time to call in the resident barrister to answer your question, Grasshopper.
Candygram for Mr. Dave! Candygram for Mr. Dave!
I actually worked staffing a select committee on condo and homeowners’ association law that went around the state taking testimony a couple years ago, so I know way more about this stuff than I would EVER want to. The homestead exemption, however, isn’t in the statutes: the exact same language has been in the state constitution for more than 100 years, carried over from the 1885 constitution into the current one adopted in 1968. While the Florida Constitution is notoriously easy to amend, no one has touched the homestead exemption for fear of opening up the floodgates and having exceptions swallow the rule.
The bill that my select committee ultimately produced attempted to shift the priority of payments with respect to liens on condo units and HOA parcels, moving attorney fees further down the list, but I think the Bar managed to get that amended out by the time it passed. I’d have to look back at the legislative history to be sure, but I’d really rather stick in an icepick in my eye than deal with that stuff again.
When you need an answer
who’s your man?
If Dave can’t answer
Noone can!!
Our humble thanks, sir.
The other thing about the homestead exemption is that it doesn’t contain an exception for property purchased with the proceeds of crime or fraud: hence some VERY huge mansions in south Florida that are *cough* allegedly used primarily as a means of money laundering. I wrote a report from on a Representative’s inquiry about how we could deal with that, but I think it’s hardly surprising that that went nowhere: I don’t think there was ever even legislation filed based on the report and even if there was, I know it never received a committee hearing.