Opinion ID: 2542857
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Legal Context of the Statute

Text: Before we examine the conflict in the bankruptcy courts regarding section 222.25(4), we outline the context of the statute within Florida and federal law. First, the constitutional homestead exemption to which the statute refers protects the homestead against every type of claim and judgment except those specifically mentioned in the constitutional provision itself. Olesky v. Nicholas, 82 So.2d 510, 513 (Fla.1955). [2] According to the plain and unambiguous wording of article X, section 4, a homestead is only subject to forced sale for (1) the payment of taxes and assessments thereon; (2) obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement or repair thereof; or (3) obligations contracted for house, field or other labor performed on the realty. Havoco, 790 So.2d at 1022 (quoting Butterworth v. Caggiano, 605 So.2d 56, 60 (Fla.1992)); see Wilhelm v. Locklar, 46 Fla. 575, 35 So. 6, 6 (1903) (No judgment is a lien on said property unless it come[s] within the exceptions of the Constitution.); see, e.g., Ilkanic v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 705 So.2d 1371, 1373 (Fla.1998) ([T]he civil restitution lien [§ 960.293, Fla. Stat. (Supp.1994)] cannot be a cloud on homestead property.); Demura v. County of Volusia, 618 So.2d 754, 756 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993) (Although the statute [§ 162.09, Fla. Stat. (1991)] merely provides that any lien created pursuant to an administrative fine may not be foreclosed on real property which is homestead, the Constitution itself goes much farther: No such lien exists as to such homestead property.). When a person acquires property and makes it his or her home, the property is impressed with the character of a homestead, and no action of the Legislature or declaration or other act on [the owner's] part [is] required to make it [the owner's] homestead, for it [is] already such in fact. Hutchinson Shoe Co. v. Turner, 100 Fla. 1120, 130 So. 623, 624 (1930) (citing Baker v. State, 17 Fla. 406, 408-09 (Fla.1879) (stating that under the constitutional provision, the homestead is exempt from forced sale, whether [the owner] has or has not been threatened with executions or other process)). Further, we have stated that where a homestead has been acquired it can be waived only by abandonment or by alienation in the manner provided by law. Olesky, 82 So.2d at 512; see Fidelity & Cas. Co. of New York v. Magwood, 107 Fla. 208, 145 So. 67, 68 (1932) (As the right of homestead once acquired continues until terminated in the manner provided by law, the protection of the right may be exercised by one entitled thereto so long as the homestead character and attributes of the property exist.); see also Chames v. DeMayo, 972 So.2d 850, 862 (Fla.2007) (holding waiver of the homestead exemption from forced sale in an unsecured agreement is unenforceable). Chapter 222, Florida Statutes (2007), which is entitled Method of Setting Apart Homestead and Exemptions, includes both the statutory exemption at issue and other provisions pertinent to both the statutory personal property exemption and the constitutional homestead exemption. Sections 222.01 and 222.02 provide a means whereby a person may claim property as homestead and notify judgment creditors of the property's exempt status under article X, section 4, either pre- or post-levy. See Grant v. Credithrift of America, Inc., 402 So.2d 486, 488 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Failure to employ these statutory methods for asserting a homestead exemption claim, however, does not waive the right to the homestead exemption. Albritton v. Scott, 73 Fla. 856, 74 So. 975, 975 (1917) (When a homestead to which the exemption from forced sale is attached is sold in violation of the exemption rights conferred by the Constitution, such sale is void. A mere failure to resist the sale is not a waiver of the exemption rights.); see Magwood, 145 So. at 68 (It is true that the appellee here could have interposed his claim of homestead exemption in that [earlier] suit, but, having failed to interpose it there, he is not precluded from exercising his constitutional right to contest his ouster from his homestead.). Finallyand importantlyanother provision in chapter 222 explains why the Eleventh Circuit has asked this Court essentially to resolve a conflict in the bankruptcy courts over the applicability of the section 222.25(4) exemption. Bankruptcy is governed by federal law, but states may opt out of the federal bankruptcy exemptions of 11 U.S.C. § 522(d) (2006) and determine the exemptions allowed to debtors. See 11 U.S.C. § 522(b). Florida has done so in section 222.20, Florida Statutes. [3] Accordingly, when a Florida resident files for bankruptcy, Florida law determines which property the debtor may exempt from the bankruptcy estate and administration by the trustee.