Layne v. Layne
| Decision Date | 16 November 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 1D11–2938.,1D11–2938. |
| Citation | 74 So.3d 161 |
| Parties | Terry LAYNE, Appellant, v. Nancy Marie LAYNE, In re Estate of Joe N. Layne a/k/a Joe Ned Layne, Deceased, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Stacy J. Ford of Pohl & Short, P.A., Winter Park, for Appellant.
Timothy P. Atkinson and Preston McLane of Oertel, Fernandez, Cole & Bryant, P.A., Tallahassee; Christopher E. Broome of The Broome Law Firm, Titusville, for Appellee.
Appellant appeals the trial court's Order of Subsequent Summary Administration in which the court found that Appellant had no interest in certain real property held by his late father's estate and, instead, distributed the property to Appellant's sister and his father's former wife. For the reasons explained below, we reverse.
The facts in this case were undisputed. In 1985, Appellant, along with his late father and Appellee, acquired a townhouse via warranty deed. The deed conveyed an undivided one-half interest in the property to Appellee and the father, as husband and wife, and the remaining one-half undivided interest to Appellant, all as joint tenants with right of survivorship. Five years later, Appellant executed a quitclaim deed conveying his interest in the property to his father and Appellee. As acknowledged in that deed, Appellant's father and Appellee were no longer married when the deed was executed.
Nine years after that conveyance, Appellant's father died intestate, leaving Appellant and his sister as his only beneficiaries. Appellee filed a Petition for Subsequent Summary Administration seeking distribution of the estate's interest in the townhouse. The petition asserted that in 1990, Appellant conveyed his one-half interest in the townhouse to his father and Appellee which, upon the father's death, resulted in one-half of the conveyed interest (i.e., one-quarter of the entire townhouse) inuring to the father's estate. Appellee claimed that one-half of that interest should be distributed equally between Appellee and Appellant's sister, with no portion going to Appellant.
Appellant also asserted that the estate holds a one-quarter interest in the property. Appellant contested the petition, asserting that he and his sister, as sole beneficiaries of the estate, were each entitled to one-half of the estate's interest in the property, and Appellee was not entitled to any portion of the estate's interest.
At the hearing below, Appellee argued that Appellant was not entitled to any interest in the property because his quitclaim deed conveyed any and all interest he had in the property, including the right to take by the intestacy laws. Appellee further argued that the doctrine of “after-acquired title” barred Appellant from regaining his interest in the property and entitled Appellee to the interest she claimed.
The trial court issued an Order of Subsequent Summary Administration and distributed the property held by the estate. Appellee received a one-half interest, and Appellant's sister received the other one-half interest. As to Appellant, the court found that he would take nothing “because he conveyed away all of his interest therein to [the father and Appellee] by his Quit–Claim Deed executed” in 1990.
The court's ruling on this issue was an application of uncontested facts to the law; thus, our review is de novo. See Aills v. Boemi, 29 So.3d 1105, 1108 (Fla.2010) ().
Although the trial court discussed during the hearing the after-acquired title doctrine relied upon by Appellee, it is unclear from its order whether the court relied on that doctrine in finding Appellant is not entitled to any interest in the property, whether the court found that Appellant's quitclaim deed conveyed away any right to the property he may have under the intestacy laws, or some combination of both. In either case, the court erred.
First, the after-acquired title doctrine has no application here. That doctrine addresses a situation in which a person purports to convey to another an interest in property he does not possess and then, after actually obtaining that interest, seeks to avoid the consequences of the conveyance on the ground that he had no interest to convey in the first place. Stated another way:
Legal estoppel or estoppel by deed is defined as a bar which precludes a party to a deed and his privies from asserting as against others and their privies any right or title in derogation of the deed, or from denying the truth of any material fact asserted therein. In other words, legal estoppel contemplates that if I execute a deed purporting to convey an estate or land which I do not own or one that is larger than I own and I later acquire such estate or land, then the subsequently acquired land or estate will by estoppel pass to my grantee.
Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund v. O.H. Lobean, 127 So.2d 98, 102 (Fla.1961) (emphasis added).
The court in Lobean also explained another aspect of the doctrine: “ ‘An equitable estoppel, as affecting land titles, is a doctrine by which a party is prevented from setting up his legal title because he has through his acts, words, or silence led another to take a position in which the assertion of the legal title would be contrary to equity and good conscience.’ ” Id. (quoting Fla. Land Inv. Co. v. Williams, 98 Fla. 1258, 116 So. 642, 643 (1928)).
In both situations contemplated by the after-acquired property doctrine, the underlying concern is fraud or inequity. Such fraud or inequity may result from a party conveying or attempting to convey an interest in property which the purported conveyor does not possess and then, when that person later acquires that interest, the conveyor attempts to convey the property to someone else. Or, the fraud or inequity may occur when the conveyor challenges the prior conveyance on the grounds it was ineffective.
Neither scenario exists here. Appellant did in fact have the interest in the property which he conveyed in the quitclaim deed. He did not later obtain title to that interest and then attempt to nullify the quitclaim deed by claiming that it was invalid, because he did not possess the interest he conveyed. There...
To continue reading
Request your trial