Kelli Snyder, Petitioner, v. Kent W. Davis, etc., Respondent

Summary

In Snyder v. Davis, the Florida Supreme Court held that under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, a testator not survived by a spouse or minor child may devise homestead property to any family member within the class of intestate successors and still preserve the homestead exemption from forced sale by creditors. The Court adopted a “class definition” of “heirs,” meaning the exemption inures to any devisee who falls within the categories of potential heirs under the intestacy statute, not just the person who would actually inherit in intestacy.

Holdings

1. When there is no surviving spouse or minor child, the homestead exemption from forced sale may inure to the benefit of a devisee under the decedent's will.
2. A testator with no surviving spouse or minor children may devise the homestead, with its protection from creditors, to any family member within the class of persons categorized in the intestacy statute (section 732.103, Fla. Stat.), even if that devisee would not actually inherit under intestacy because a closer consanguine heir survived.

Questions Presented

1. Whether article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution exempts from forced sale a devise of a homestead by a decedent not survived by a spouse or minor child to a lineal descendant who is not an heir under the statutory definition.
2. Whether the term 'heirs' in the homestead provision is limited to those who would actually inherit under intestacy or extends to the broader class of potential intestate successors.
3. Whether the protections against creditors found in the homestead provision can be devised by will.

Disposition

quashed