Florida Statute 65.081 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Chapter 65
QUIETING TITLE

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65.081 Tax titles; quieting title.—

(1) PARTIES.—Any grantee under any tax deed issued by the state, or any municipality or other political subdivision thereof, or any purchaser from the state, or any municipality or other political subdivision thereof, of any land the title to which has been acquired by this state or such municipality or political subdivision through any proceeding or foreclosure for the nonpayment of taxes or special assessments, or the successor in title to the grantee or purchaser, may maintain an action in chancery to quiet title to the land included in the tax deed, or so purchased against the holder of the record title to the land, and against any other person or corporation claiming any interest in the land or any lien or encumbrance thereon, before issuance of the tax deed or before the loss of title to the land in the tax proceeding or foreclosure.

(2) DERAIGNING TITLE.—Actions may be maintained hereunder whether or not plaintiff is in possession of the land involved but when defendant is in actual possession of the land a jury trial may be had as provided in other actions to quiet title. When the action is based on a tax deed, the complaint need not deraign title beyond the issuance of the tax deed. When the action is based on a conveyance by this state, or any municipality or other political subdivision thereof, of land the title to which it has acquired through a foreclosure or other proceeding for the nonpayment of taxes, the complaint need not deraign title beyond the deed or other instrument or act vesting title in the state or municipality or other political subdivision of the state.

(3) WHEN TAXES HAVE BEEN PAID.—No defense to the action or attack upon the tax deed shall be made except the defense that the taxes assessed against the property had been paid by the former owner before issuance of the tax deed.

(4) WHEN TAX DEED HAS BEEN ISSUED BEFORE CONVEYANCE BY SOVEREIGN.—No defense shall be made to the action because of assessment of the property or issuance of the tax deed before the United States or the state has parted with title to the property, and no other attack shall be made on it, except the defense that the taxes assessed against the property had been paid by the person, or a claimant under him or her, to whom the United States patent or conveyance from the state was issued before the issuance of the tax deed.

History.—ss. 1, 2, ch. 21822, 1943; s. 2, ch. 29737, 1955; s. 20, ch. 67-254; s. 29, ch. 74-382; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 347, ch. 95-147.

Note.—Former ss. 66.26, 66.27.

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Amendments to 65.081

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 65.081

Total Results: 8 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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Branche v. Airtran Airways, Inc., 342 F.3d 1248 (11th Cir. 2003).

Cited 81 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 20 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 454, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17297, 2003 WL 21983019

maneuver, and that as such they violated 14 C.F.R. § 65.81 2 in performing *1252 it

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Dawson v. Saada, 608 So. 2d 806 (Fla. 1992).

Cited 30 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 1992 WL 342013

...4th DCA 1991), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal certified the following question as one of great public importance: WHETHER FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE NOTICE REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 197.522, FLORIDA STATUTES, INVALIDATES THE ISSUANCE OF A TAX DEED NOTWITHSTANDING THE LANGUAGE IN SECTIONS 197.404 AND 65.081(3), FLORIDA STATUTES? Id....

...The clerk followed the statutory notice procedure, and a valid tax deed was issued to Dawson. The sheriff's failure to serve notice upon the titleholder did not invalidate the tax deed. II. Invalidity of Tax Deed The question as phrased by the district court also requires us to consider the effect of sections 65.081(3) [2] and 197.404, [3] Florida Statutes (1987), which specify the defenses to either a tax deed or tax sale. Dawson contends that sections 65.081(3) and 197.404 supersede section 197.522, thereby excluding insufficient notice as grounds for challenging the validity of tax deeds. Under Dawson's interpretation of these sections, a tax deed would be valid even without compliance with any of the statutory notice requirements. If this Court approved Dawson's interpretation of sections 65.081(3) and 197.404, then we would also be required to find the statutes constitutionally invalid insofar as they would permit the sale of property without notice to the affected owners....

...effect and consequences [and thus] should each be given the effect designed for them unless a contrary intent clearly appears." State v. Gadsden County, 63 Fla. 620, 629, 58 So. 232, 235 (1912). Thus, the legislature must have intended for sections 65.081(3) and 197.404 to be read in pari materia with section 197.522, so as to give each part a field of operation. Whittington v. Davis, 159 Fla. 409, 414, 32 So.2d 158, 161 (1947). Other jurisdictions that have considered statutes similar to sections 65.081(3) and 197.404 have concluded that defects of form may be "cured" by the statutes, but not a jurisdictional defect which occurs when notice does not satisfy due process requirements. See, e.g., Shaffer v. Mareve Oil Corp., 157 W. Va. 816, 204 S.E.2d 404 (1974); Bogart v. Lathrop, 90 Nev. 230, 523 P.2d 838 (1974). Accordingly, we find that sections 65.081(3) and 197.404 specify the bases by which either a tax deed or tax sale may be invalidated, provided that there has been compliance with the notice requirements of section 197.522(1)....

...Thus, as qualified by the above opinion, we answer the question as posed in the affirmative. Failure to comply with the notice requirements of section 197.522 invalidates the issuance of a tax deed, notwithstanding the language in section 197.404 and 65.081(3)....

...to receive notice as provided herein shall not affect the validity of the tax deed issued pursuant to the notice." Thus, the relevant issue is whether the clerk complied with the notice provisions, not whether the owner actually received notice. [2] Section 65.081(3), Florida Statutes (1987), provides that "[n]o defense to the action or attack upon the tax deed shall be made except the defense that the taxes assessed against the property had been paid by the former owner before issuance of the t...

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Vosilla v. Rosado, 944 So. 2d 289 (Fla. 2006).

Cited 8 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 2006 WL 3229420

...erk of court satisfies the requirements of section 197.522(1), id. at 810, which "mandat[es] notice reasonably calculated to apprise landowners of the pending deprivation of their property." Id. at 808. In Dawson, we also considered whether sections 65.081(3) and 197.404, Florida Statutes (1987), which specified the defenses available to challenge either a tax deed or a tax deed sale, superseded section 197.522. See Dawson, 608 So.2d at 809. [4] Neither section 65.081(3) nor section 197.404 listed inadequate notice as an available defense....

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Vill. of Doral Place Ass'n v. RU4 Real, Inc., 22 So. 3d 627 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009).

Cited 7 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 15540, 2009 WL 3271164

...Florida Statutes. The Hidden Bay opinion did not involve any discussion of tax deeds, nor any discussion whether the common elements *631 of a condominium property could be separately sold. The Buyers argue that they are entitled to prevail under subsection 65.081, Florida Statutes (2003). That statute authorizes the grantee under a tax deed to maintain a quiet title action. Id. § 65.081(1)....

...The statute provides in part, "No defense to the action [to quiet title] or attack upon the tax deed shall be made except the defense that the taxes assessed against the property had been paid by the former owner before issuance of the tax deed." Id. § 65.081(3)....

...J.A., 963 So.2d 189, 199 (Fla.2007); see also Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992). Indeed, the principle of construing statutes in pari materia with each other was applied by the Florida Supreme Court to an earlier version of section 65.081....

...§ 718.107(2). "The share in the common elements pertinent to a unit cannot be conveyed or encumbered except together with the unit." Id. § 718.107(2). These concepts are basic to the ownership interests in a condominium. Reading section 718.107 and 65.081 together, we find no indication that subsection 65.081(3) overcomes the ban on separate sale of common elements contained in subsection 718.107....

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Bostwick v. Clukies, 801 So. 2d 961 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2001 WL 1386060

...Morrison of McLin, Burnsed, Morrison, Johnson, Newman & Roy, P.A., Leesburg, for Appellees. THOMPSON, C.J. Edrick G. Clukies sued Orlando 311, LTD., a dissolved Texas limited partnership, and Robert Bostwick, in an action to quiet title to real property in Lake County, Florida, pursuant to Section 65.081, Florida Statutes (1997)....

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Crane v. Martin, 741 So. 2d 1251 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999).

Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 13220, 1999 WL 790785

omission does not invalidate the tax deed. Section 65.081, Florida Statutes (1997), provides, in part:

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Markley v. Madill, 259 So. 2d 723 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1972).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1972 Fla. App. LEXIS 7138

deraign her title in the quiet title action. Section 65.081(2), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., pertaining to

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Saada v. Dawson, 573 So. 2d 1008 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1991 Fla. App. LEXIS 583, 1991 WL 7686

certificate issued for nonpayment of taxes. Section 65.081(3): No defense to the action or attack upon

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