Florida Statute 66.021 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

Chapter 66
EJECTMENT

View Entire Chapter

66.021 Ejectment.—

(1) RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person with a superior right to possession of real property may maintain an action of ejectment to recover possession of the property.

(2) JURISDICTION.—Circuit courts have exclusive jurisdiction in an action of ejectment.

(3) NOTICE.—A plaintiff may not be required to provide any presuit notice or presuit demand to a defendant as a condition to maintaining an action under this section.

(4) LANDLORD NOT A DEFENDANT.—When it appears before trial that a defendant in an action of ejectment is in possession as a tenant and that his or her landlord is not a party, the landlord must be made a party before further proceeding unless otherwise ordered by the court.

(5) DEFENSE MAY BE LIMITED.—A defendant in an action of ejectment may limit his or her defense to a part of the property mentioned in the complaint, describing such part with reasonable certainty.

(6) WRIT OF POSSESSION; EXECUTION TO BE JOINT OR SEVERAL.—When plaintiff recovers in an action of ejectment, he or she may have one writ for possession and for damages and costs or, at his or her election, may have separate writs for possession and for damages and costs.

(7) CHAIN OF TITLE.—The complaint and the answer must include a statement setting forth, chronologically, the chain of title upon which the party will rely at trial. Copies of each instrument identified in the statement must be attached to the complaint or answer. The statement must include the names of the grantors and the grantees, the date that each instrument was recorded, and the book and page or the instrument number for each recorded instrument. If a party relies on a claim or right without color of title, the statement must specify how and when the claim originated and the facts on which the claim is based. If defendant and plaintiff claim under a common source, the statement need not deraign title before the common source.

(8) TESTING SUFFICIENCY.—If either party seeks to test the legal sufficiency of any instrument or court proceeding in the chain of title of the opposite party, the party must do so before trial by motion setting up his or her objections with a copy of the instrument or court proceedings attached. The motion must be disposed of before trial. If either party determines that he or she will be unable to maintain his or her claim by reason of the order, that party may so state in the record and final judgment shall be entered for the opposing party.

(9) OPERATION.—This section is cumulative to other existing remedies and may not be construed to limit other remedies that are available under the laws of this state.

History.—s. 21, ch. 67-254; s. 348, ch. 95-147; s. 1, ch. 2018-94.

F.S. 66.021 on Google Scholar

F.S. 66.021 on CourtListener

Amendments to 66.021

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 66.021

Total Results: 7 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

Copy

Crigger v. Florida Power Corp., 436 So. 2d 937 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983).

Cited 24 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 22763

...Roper, 385 So.2d 718 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980), cert. denied 392 So.2d 1378 (Fla. 1980); Florida Power Corp. v. McNeely, 125 So.2d 311 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960), cert. denied, 138 So.2d 341 (Fla. 1961). [18] See § 65.061(3), Fla. Stat. (1981) (as to quiet title actions) and § 66.021(4), Fla....

Copy

Pro-Art Dental Lab, Inc. v. V-Strategic Grp., LLC, 986 So. 2d 1244 (Fla. 2008).

Cited 24 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 33 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 503, 2008 Fla. LEXIS 1236, 2008 WL 2679160

...See generally Nicholas C. Glover, Florida Commercial Landlord Tenant Law §§ 4.03-.07 (2007 ed.). These remedies are: first, the historic common-law remedy of ejectment, which the Legislature codified in 1967, see ch. 67-254, § 21, Laws of Fla.; § 66.021, Fla....

...Given the facts of this case, and assuming compliance with the amount-in-controversy requirement, V-Strategic could have filed either an ejectment action in circuit court, an unlawful-detainer action in county court, or a tenant-removal action in county court. See §§ 26.012(2)(f), 34.011, Fla. Stat. (2006); see also §§ 66.021 (ejectment), 82.04-.05 (unlawful detainer), 83.20-.21(tenant removal or eviction), Fla....

...As plaintiff, V-Strategic chose its cause of action (ejectment). However, the ejectment complaint was materially deficient because it did not specifically deraign V-Strategic's title dating from the common source of its and Pro-Art's property interests. See § 66.021(4), Fla....

...nty courts lack subject-matter jurisdiction to *1253 entertain ejectment actions. V-Strategic possessed a clear strategic motive for pleading ejectment (e.g., the ability to obtain possession, damages, and costs through a single cause of action, see § 66.021(3), Fla....

...(2006)), and it certainly exercised that option by including all of those items in its complaint. However, V-Strategic simply sought that relief in the wrong court, applied an incorrect procedure (section 51.011, Florida Statutes (2006)), and failed to comply with the mandatory requirements for ejectment provided in sections 66.021 and 66.031, Florida Statutes (2006)....

Copy

Fish v. Post of Amvets No. 85, 560 So. 2d 337 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990).

Cited 6 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1990 Fla. App. LEXIS 2925, 1990 WL 52795

...he will rely at trial. If any part of such chain of title is recorded, the statement must set forth the names of the grantors and the grantees, and the book and page of the record thereof. 20 Fla. Jur.2d Ejectment and Related Remedies, §§ 26, 29; § 66.021(4), Florida Statutes (1987)....

...20 Fla.Jur.2d Ejectment and Related Remedies, § 130. The third amended complaint herein complies with these strictures in all respects. While motions to test the legal sufficiency of instruments in an opponent's chain of title, accompanied by copies of such instruments, may be filed prior to trial, Section 66.021(5), Florida Statutes (1987), no such motions were filed herein....

Copy

Mesnikoff v. Fq Backyard Trading, LLC, 239 So. 3d 765 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2018).

Cited 1 times | Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida

Defendant Norman Mesnikoff . . . under Florida Statute 66.021.”1 (emphasis added). Backyard Trading requested

Copy

Collier v. Parker, 794 So. 2d 616 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001).

Cited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2001 WL 245763

...1st DCA 1966); § 86.011, Fla. Stat. (1997). The appellants contend that the trial court ordered them to remove the fence and dispossessed them of the fenced property. According to the appellants, such an order is an ejectment subject to the procedures outlined in section 66.021, Florida Statutes (1997)....

Copy

Kathryn Johnson, Successor Tr. of the Krippes Living Trust Dated June 1, 2006 v. Dominic Johnson & Caroline Johnson (Fla. 1st DCA 2025).

Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal

had to show “a superior right to possession.” § 66.021(1), Fla. Stat. Since the deeds were reformed,

Copy

Cohen v. Ginsberg, 715 So. 2d 1113 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1998).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 10428, 1998 WL 484487

have separate writs for possession and damages. § 66.021(3), Fla. Stat. (1997) (emphasis supplied). In

This Florida statute resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a Jacksonville, Florida personal injury and workers' compensation attorney. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.