Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...analysis"). We begin with a review of the applicable statutes. MRTA MRTA was enacted in 1963 to simplify and facilitate land transactions, and specifically provides that its provisions are to be construed liberally. See § 712.10, Fla. Stat. (2003). Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (2003), provides that "[a]ny person ......

...e statute is unclear, then rules of statutory construction control"). "Ambiguity suggests that reasonable persons can find different meanings in the same language." Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992). Section 712.02 of MRTA provides that "[a]ny person ......

...Hollywood, Inc., 224 So.2d 743 (Fla.App. 1969), 236 So.2d 114 *527 (Fla. 1970). The intent of the Legislature that the Marketable Record Title Act should affect past as well as present and future transactions was made clear by the language employed therein. Section 712.02, Fla....

...The section clearly provides that rights of entry and easements "reserved for the purpose of mining, drilling, exploring, or developing, shall be limited to a twenty (20) year period beginning with the recording of such conveyance or devise. " (Emphasis supplied.) This language is virtually identical to that used in Section 712.02 [1] of "The Marketable Record Titles to Real Property Act" which has been given retroactive application....

...1958), Indemnity Insurance Co. of North America v. Brooks-Fisher Insulating Co., 140 So.2d 613 (Fla.App. 1962), Schonfield v. City of Coral Gables, 174 So.2d 453, Fla.App., cert. disch., 183 So.2d 682, Fla., Heberle v. P.R.O. Liquidating Co., 186 So.2d 280 (Fla.App. 1966). [1] 712.02 Marketable record title....

...od sense and cannot make good law. The clear Legislative *120 intention behind the Act, as expressed in F.S. § 712.10, F.S.A., was to simplify and facilitate land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described by F.S. § 712.02, F.S.A., subject only to such limitations as appear in F.S....

..."The deed `affects title' and, in turn, is a title transaction as those terms have been construed in Florida. In Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., 224 So.2d 743 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969), the Fourth District Court, speaking through Judge Reed, stated at page 749: `The word "affecting" as it is used in the second sentence of Section 712.02 in the clause "affecting the title to the land" does not carry the narrow meaning of "changing or altering"....

...The purpose of the act is to simplify and facilitate land transactions by allowing persons interested therein to rely on a record title. Section 712.10, F.S. 1967, F.S.A. The purpose of the act is accomplished basically by the provisions of Sections 712.02 and 712.04, F.S. 1967, F.S.A. Section 712.02 reads as follows: "Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more, shall have a marketab...

...title transactions, such estate has passed to the person claiming such estate, with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of the estate claimed." The word "affecting" as it is used in the second sentence of Section 712.02 in the clause "affecting the title to the land" does not carry the narrow meaning of "changing or altering"....

...102, 19 So. 161. All parts of an act should be read together in an effort to achieve a consistent whole. Ideal Farms Drainage District v. Certain Lands, 1944, 154 Fla. 554, 19 So.2d 234. The interpretation which we give the word "affecting" as used in Section 712.02 attributes to it a meaning consistent with the sense in which the same word is used in Section 712.01(3) in the definition of a "title transaction"....

...Such an interpretation would create an inconsistency within the definition of the term "root of title" because it is defined in Section 712.01(2) in terms of a title transaction which purports to create or transfer an estate. The first sentence of Section 712.02 states, "Any person * * * who * * * has been vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in § 712.03." (Emphasis added.) The plaintiff argues that the use of the word "vested" in the first sentence of Section 712.02 indicates a legislative intent to apply the operative provisions of the act only to and in favor of a person who is in fact vested with some estate in land as distinguished from one who has an apparent estate in land....

...e their predecessors in title had no estate. The defendants, therefore, are not entitled to the benefits of the act, and the act is not operative to bar the claim of the plaintiff. We disagree with this construction placed upon the first sentence of Section 712.02 by the plaintiff....

...Furthermore, since the purpose of the act is to allow persons to rely on the record title to real property, it would be inconsistent to construe the words "vested * * * of record" in that sentence in such a way as to require an inquiry behind the record. The plaintiff's construction would render the first sentence of Section 712.02 inconsistent with the more explicit definition of "marketable record title" which is contained in the second sentence of Section 712.02....

...In the second sentence, a marketable record title is defined as a title which is purportedly created by recorded instruments or court proceedings without reference to *750 that which might be disclosed by facts outside the record title. We conclude, therefore, that Section 712.02 declares the existence of a marketable record title when a person is shown by the record to have been vested with any estate of land for thirty years or more. In our opinion the application of Section 712.02 is not conditioned upon an actual vesting of some estate or interest in a person claiming the benefit of the act....

...The specific enumeration of exceptions to the act in Section 712.03 and the specific provision in Section 712.05 for the protection of valid claims indicates a legislative intent to exclude no other claims from extinction by the operation of Sections 712.02 and 712.04....

...a record title even though it may be based on a void deed. Compare Wilson v. Kelley, Case No. 68-421, decided by the Florida Second District Court of Appeal on 14 May 1969 wherein it held that the Marketable Title Act may be applied to a wild deed. Section 712.02 correlates with Section 712.04....

...The first sentence of Section 712.04 states that "* * * such marketable record title shall be free and clear of all estates, interest * * *." The phase "such marketable record title" refers back to the marketable record title declared and defined in Section 712.02....

...perty is a necessary implication from the affirmative allegation that the defendants have present claims to the land in question. The defendants, therefore, appear from the allegations of the complaint to have a marketable record title as defined in Section 712.02....

...It is not disputed that the plaintiff together with its predecessors in its claims of title to these lands have been vested with the fee simple paper title of record for more than thirty years and that there is nothing of record purporting to divest the plaintiff or any of its predecessors of such estate. Under Section 712.02 this would constitute the title of plaintiff to be free and clear of all claims `except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in Section 712.03'....

...Rooks of Robison, Rooks & Owen, Casselberry, for appellee Combank/Seminole County. COWART, Judge. This case involves a contest between two land titles and the effect of a curative act (§ 95.231(2), Fla. Stat. (1981)), the recording statute (§ 695.01, Fla. Stat. (1981)) and of the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) (§ 712.02, Fla....

...urposes over the northerly 25 feet of Lot 2 because (1) appellants' action was barred by the statute of limitations (§ 95.231(2), Fla. Stat. (1981)); (2) appellees had a marketable title to the easement under the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA) (§ 712.02, Fla....

...MRTA proceeds by describing certain titles in land of record for a stated time, declares them to be of marketable quality and, with certain exceptions, undertakes to completely extinguish all other estates, interest, claims or charges as against such titles. The operative provisions of MRTA (sections 712.02 and 712.04, Florida Statutes (1981)) provide that when a person or his predecessors in title has been vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, he shall have a marketable record title to such estate free and clear of all claims with the exceptions set forth in section 712.03....

...[13] In view of this objective it would indeed be an anomaly to construe section 712.03(4), so that exception applies to exclude a title transaction recorded during an operative 30 year period which merely transfers an older genuine, main, fee simple absolute title (thereby allowing section 712.02 to make a newer inferior competing title marketable and superior to an older genuine title) but to construe that exception to include a title transaction recorded during an operative 30 year period which merely commences or "gives rise to" a wild or spurious chain of title of an easement that clouds the fee simple absolute title (thereby preventing section 712.02 from applying to improve the older genuine title by invalidating the newer spurious or wild title to a lesser interest). However, from the adoption of the 30-plus year operative period in the exception in section 712.03(4) as well as the limitation as to that period in section 712.02, it is clear that MRTA was not intended to and does not make marketable a title as against adverse record claims that first appear, or that are created, or "arise" during, or subsequent to the commencement of, the operative 30 year period....

...rior to this quiet title action), appellants' *467 root of title (entry 8) goes back not just 30 years but 37 years to July, 1944. On the other hand, while appellees' root of title (entry 26 — January 24, 1951) is old enough (30 plus years old) for section 712.02 to apply to make it marketable as against appellants (if some exception in 712.03 does not apply) appellees' origin of title (entry 13-24 — May 7, 1949) is still young enough to have occurred after appellants' effective root of title (entry 8 — August 8, 1944) thus causing the exception in 712.03(4) to apply to appellees' claim and preventing 712.02 from applying to appellants' title to extinguish appellees' claim....

...by mense conveyances from sovereignty is superior to one that is not. Must MRTA be construed to not only fail to support that basic premise but to defeat it because the origin of the superior title is older than the root of a spurious title (causing section 712.02, when applied to both, to potentially cut off the superior in favor of the spurious) and the origin of the spurious title is younger than the root of the superior title (which under the exception in 712.03(4) prevents 712.02 from cutting off the spurious title in favor of the superior title)? In contemplating the answer to this question one should consider two matters, viz: (1) the origin of a true superior title, being sovereignty, will always be before the origi...

...)) or arises prior to the root of a first or true title (and, hence, is extinguished because it is not an exception under section 712.03(4)). This means that when each of two competing titles goes back at least 30 years of record, to initially apply 712.02 and 712.04 to make both titles marketable and to then apply 712.03(4) to exclude MRTA's beneficial effect as to one title but to give it to the other will almost always cause the contest to turn not on which is the superior title traced from s...

...be subsequent to the root of the second title while the second title may, as here, arise prior to the root of title with the last next pre-30 year root and therefore may be within the exception in 712.03(4) and may be subject to extinguishment under 712.02 and 712.04....

...section 712.06 (an exception under 712.03(2)) or notice from a county tax roll assessment (an exception under 712.03(6)) or notice from possession (an exception under 712.03(3)) in preventing an extinguishment of an interest in the land by sections 712.02 and 712.04....

...ay whatever. The conveyance of the fee is not inconsistent with the existence of the easement, but is subject to it. The purpose of MRTA is to simplify and facilitate land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title described in section 712.02, subject only to the exceptions in section 712.03, and shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purpose....

...least 30 years prior to the time when marketability is being determined." § 712.01(2), Fla. Stat. (1981). [9] We have carefully considered whether an easement for access appurtenant to a parcel of land is an "estate in land" as that term is used in section 712.02 and have reluctantly concluded that it is because the term "estate" includes all interests in land inheritable at common law and an easement appurtenant (perhaps as distinguishable from an easement in gross) was considered an incorporeal hereditament and hence an estate in land and inheritable. Considering the purpose of MRTA and the fact that normally the title to land is now held in one estate and interests such as easements constitute claims and encumbrances against that one title it is unfortunate that section 712.02 is so broad as to include and perfect not only the one fee simple absolute title but also includes and perfects easements and other lesser title interests which as a practical matter constitute but claims and encumbrances that cloud an...

...ld never apply to benefit a spurious chain of title as against persons claiming under the true chain of title to the fee and to whom the land is being continuously assessed on the county tax rolls. However in this particular case when appellees pled section 712.02 of MRTA as perfecting their title to the claimed easement against appellants, appellants did not plead the exception in 712.03(6) by a reply to the affirmative defense and therefore the effect of 712.03(6) in this case has not been properly presented nor preserved....

...3d DCA 1974); Atod, Inc. v. Coleman, 214 So.2d 769 (Fla. 3d DCA 1968). [21] See, e.g., Cahill v. Chesley, 189 So.2d 818, 822 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966) (attempted fee simple absolute transfer from one who only owns a life estate cannot be made good by section 695.01). [1] § 712.02, Fla....

...at the result is the same and that an artificial lowering of the waters of Lake Louisa occurred and that the sovereign lands formerly beneath the lake waters continued to be sovereignty lands after they were exposed. The Marketable Record Title Act, section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1963), provides, in effect, that any person whose chain of title extends from any title transaction recorded over thirty years has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims except those set forth in section 712.03, Florida Statutes....

...139 (1960); Catsman, A Proposed Marketable Record Title Act for Florida, 13 U.FLA.L.REV. 334 (1960). [5] "This law shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in § 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in § 712.03." Fla....

...ants: With respect to the interest purportedly conveyed to Lotta by the 1937 deed, does the deed constitute a valid `root of title' upon which can be established a `marketable record title' within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Sections 712.01 and 712.02? "Question 1 as proposed by Appellee: Does the 1937 deed from Lotta M. Wadsworth constitute a valid `root of title' upon which can be established a `marketable record title' within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Sections 712.01 and 712.02? "2....

...The deed "affects title" and, in turn, is a title transaction as those terms have been construed in Florida. In Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., 224 So.2d 743 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969), the Fourth District Court, speaking through Judge Reed, stated at page 749: "The word `affecting' as it is used in the second sentence of Section 712.02 in the clause `affecting the title to the land' does not carry the narrow meaning of `changing or altering'....

...The specific enumeration of exceptions to the act in Section 712.03 and the specific provision in Section 712.05 for the protection of valid claims indicates a legislative intent to exclude no other claims from extinction by the operation of Sections 712.02 and 712.04.' "To adopt the defendants' contention would be to subvert the major legislative purpose of the Act which is, as stated by the Florida Supreme Court in Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., `... to simplify and facilitate land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described by F.S. § 712.02, F.S.A., subject only to such limitations as appear in F.S....

...OVERTON, C.J., and ADKINS, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur. NOTES [1] " 712.10 Law to be liberally construed. — This law shall be liberally construed to effect the legislature purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in § 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in § 712.03." [2] Id. [3] " 712.02 Marketable record title....

...other interest by any predecessors in interest of Appellants' land. Based on Akers' affidavit and the deeds, the McDonalds moved for summary judgment, arguing that MRTA applied and precluded Appellants' action against the McDonalds' property. Under section 712.02, Florida Statutes, "when a person or his predecessors in title has been vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, he shall have a marketable record title to such estate free and clear of all claims with the exceptions set forth in section 712.03." Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So.2d 456, 463 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). Specifically, section 712.02, "Marketable record title; suspension of applicability," states: Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with her or his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of r...

...h a claim. The Legislature clearly expressed that MRTA should be liberally construed and applied "to effect the legislative purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in s. 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in s....

...passage of time, whereas under the Marketable Record Title Act, most defects or clouds on title beyond the period of 30 years are removed and the purchaser is made secure in his transaction.'" (Emphasis supplied.) 236 So.2d 114, at 119. Thus, under Section 712.02 of the Act any person with the legal capacity to own land in this state who, either alone or with his predecessors in title, has been vested with title for thirty years has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims except those enumerated in Section 712.03, F.S....

...complish the same objective of stabilizing property law by clearing old defects from land titles, limiting the period of record search, and clearly defining marketability by extinguishing old interests of record not specifically claimed or reserved. Section 712.02 of MRTA expressly provides that any person vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more shall have a marketable record title free and clear of all claims of an interest in land except those preserved by section 712...

...en vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in § 712.03. § 712.02, Fla....

...eserving them and giving a reasonable period of time within which to take the necessary steps to accomplish that purpose. Similarly, in Cunningham v. Haley, 501 So.2d 649, 652-53 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986), the court explained: It is the intent of sections 712.02(1) and 712.03(1), that easements and use restrictions and other estates, interests, and claims created prior to the root of *1175 title be extinguished by section 712.03(1), Florida Statutes, unless those matters are filed under section 712.05...

...The Legislature clearly stated the purpose of MRTA and the exclusivity of its exceptions by adopting section 712.10. It provides: "This law shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in § 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in § 712.03." § 712.10, Fla....

...40. Do we really know what influenced the original panel to issue the PCA? No. But we believe our analysis is both reasonable and fair. We deny the Motion for Rehearing. MOTION DENIED. COBB, J., concurs. PALMER, J., concurs in result only. NOTES [1] § 712.02, Fla.Stat.

...r in title by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of Florida. Consequently, the Horns claim ownership of a "marketable record title" to the land by virtue of a record title extending well beyond the thirty year period required by the MRTA, section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1985)....

...has been vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in s. 712.03." 712.02, Fla....

...perty Act (MRTA). See § 712.04, Fla. Stat. (1993). [1] Although we agree with the trial court's conclusion that application of MRTA effectively extinguishes the 1948 deed restrictions, we base our decision to affirm the final judgment upon sections 712.02 and 712.03 of MRTA....

...1993) (defense of lack of standing can be waived), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 1538, 128 L.Ed.2d 191 (1994). MRTA was enacted to simplify and facilitate land title transactions "by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in s. 712.02 [Florida Statutes (1993)] subject only to such limitations as appear in s. 712.03 [Florida Statutes (1993)]." MRTA must "be liberally construed to effect [this] legislative purpose." § 712.10, Fla. Stat. (1993). Section 712.02 [4] provides that, when a record owner, alone or with its predecessors in title, has been vested with an estate in land of record for 30 years or more, such owner has marketable title free and clear of all claims except matters preserved by section 712.03....

...sferred or continued such easement, use restrictions or other interests... . § 712.03(1), Fla. Stat. (1993). Thus, pursuant to section 712.03(1), the use restrictions created prior to the 1957 deed (the Town's root of title) [5] are extinguished by section 712.02 unless the use restrictions are disclosed and specifically identified in any muniment of title....

...Save Sand Key, Inc., 303 So.2d 9 (Fla. 1974); Town of Flagler Beach v. Green, 83 So.2d 598 (Fla. 1955); White v. Metropolitan Dade County, 563 So.2d 117 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Smith v. Bolte, 172 So.2d 624 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965); Guernsey v. Haley, 107 So.2d 184 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958). [4] Section 712.02 provides: 712.02 Marketable record title; suspension of applicability....

...ested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in s. 712.03... . § 712.02, Fla....

...Muniments of title include "deeds, wills, and court judgments through which a particular land title passes and upon which its validity depends." Cunningham v. Haley, 501 So.2d 649, 652 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986) (emphasis omitted). [7] We must decline Martin's invitation to create an exception to sections 712.02 and 712.03 for charitable donations created by deed because appellate courts do not possess the authority to rewrite a statute....

...subject only to such limitations as appear in [section] 712.03[, Florida Statutes (1989)]." § 712.10, Fla. Stat. (1989). The act provides that a person "vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more" has "a marketable record title ... free and clear of all claims" except claims preserved by section 712.03. Section 712.02, Fla....

...Chapter 712 purports to extinguish all estates, interests, claims or charges on any property owned by "(a)ny person having the legal capacity to own land in the state, who, alone or together with his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for 30 years or more." § 712.02, Fla....

...3. Applicability of the Marketable Record Title Act. The final issue we address is whether the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA), chapter 712, Florida Statutes, applies to the 1883 swamp and overflowed deeds. The legislature adopted MRTA in 1963. Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1963) provides that any person whose chain of title extends from any title transaction recorded over thirty years has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims except those in 712.03....

...They also allege that the use restrictive covenants were created in a recorded deed in 1944 prior to the *651 root of title [1] in each of appellants' chains of title and that appellants' titles have been made marketable and free and clear of the restrictive covenants by virtue of section 712.02, Florida Statutes, the Florida Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA)....

...the action in 1978 which became the case of Acopian v. Haley, supra , the then owners of lots in this subdivision were parties, and (3) that this is sufficient under section 712.03(1) to preserve the restrictions from being cleared and eliminated by section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes. The trial judge, who was also the trial judge reversed in Acopian v. Haley , upheld the restrictive covenants, citing Acopian v. Haley . Section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes, in effect provides that when any person and his predecessors in title have had an estate in land of record for thirty years or more, that person has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims except matters set forth in the exceptions in section 712.03. In this case, this means that section 712.02(1) clears the title of appellants of the land use restrictions unless those restrictions are preserved by section 712.03, which, in relevant part, provides as follows: Such marketable record title shall not affect or extinguish the fol...

...or other interests; subject, however, to the provisions of subsection (5). (emphasis supplied) In effect section 712.03 provides that as to use restrictions created prior to appellants' respective roots of title the restrictions are extinguished by section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes, unless the use restrictions are disclosed and specifically identified in one or more of the muniments of title in appellants' chains of title since the date of appellants' respective roots of title....

...This case does not remotely involve the effect of "notice" (actual or constructive) of facts on the title of good faith purchasers. Under section 712.03(1), Florida Statutes, actual notice does not suffice to protect use restrictions created prior to a root of title from being extinguished by section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes....

...The material question is: Do muniments in the chain of title since the root of title disclose the use restrictions by specific reference so as to meet the provisions of *652 section 712.03(1) and thereby preserve the restrictions from being extinguished by section 712.02(1)? When applicable, section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes, simply clears basic titles of all adverse, limiting, or competing claims, estates, interests, easements, and use restrictions existing prior to the root of title unless muniments of title in the chain of title sin...

...Thirty years is a reasonable time and, in addition, the statute provides a method for preserving and protecting claims, rights, and interests adverse to the one record title made marketable by the act. See § 712.05(1), Fla. Stat. See also Holland v. Hattaway, 438 So.2d 456 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983). It is the intent of sections 712.02(1) and 712.03(1), that easements and use restrictions *653 and other estates, interests, and claims created prior to the root of title be extinguished by section 712.03(1), Florida Statutes, unless those matters are filed under section 712.05(...

...in of title. Therefore the restrictive covenants in this case do not fall within the proviso as to restrictions predating the root of title contained in the Exceptions to Marketability in section 712.03(1), Florida Statutes, and were extinguished by section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes, thirty years from the date of recording of the root of title in the chain of title of each of the lots owned by appellants....

...[1] A connected chain of title runs from Florida Coastline to appellee, Paradise Fruit Company, Inc. From 1906 to date, taxes on this property have been levied and *11 paid by appellee and its grantors. In 1963, the legislature adopted the Marketable Record Title Act, section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1963), which provides that any person whose chain of title extends from any title transaction recorded over thirty years has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims, with the exception of those set forth in section 712.03....

...At issue is whether that interest survives operation of MRTA. MRTA operates to correct defects in title by creating a marketable record title when the public records disclose a record title transaction affecting the title to the land which has been of record for not less than thirty years. Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1979)....

...ted with any estate in land of record for [thirty] years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claims except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in s. 712.08. § 712.02, Fla....

...5th DCA 1983). The statute provides that once a person — along with his or her predecessors in title — has been vested with an estate in land of record for a period of thirty years or more, he or she shall have the marketable record title to that estate. § 712.02....

...t has the effect of extinguishing the use restrictions contained in Sunshine Vistas' plat. We disagree. The express purpose of the Act is to simplify and facilitate "land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on record title as described in s. 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in s. 712.03." Section 712.10, Fla. Stat. (1989). Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1989), "in effect provides that when any person and his predecessors in title have had an estate in land of record for thirty years or more, that person has a marketable record title free and clear of all claims except matters set forth in the exceptions in section 712.03." Cunningham v....

...e them unless specific identification by reference to book and page of record or by name of recorded plat be made therein to a recorded title transaction which imposed, transferred or continued such easement, use restrictions or other interests; ... Section 712.02, Fla....

...731.27) Thus it appears that the defendants, on their father's death, became vested by virtue of the Florida statute quoted above with a one-quarter interest in the fee title to their father's homestead, subject to their mother's life estate. The Florida Marketable Title Act, adopted in 1963, however, provides in Section 712.02: "Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more, shall have a marketable record title t...

...ida Marketable Title Act. In Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., Fla.App.1969, 224 So.2d 743, 749, 750; cert. denied, Fla.Sup.Ct.1970, 236 So.2d 114; cert. denied, 400 U.S. 964, 91 S.Ct. 366, 27 L.Ed.2d 384, it was held: ". . . We conclude, therefore, that Section 712.02 declares the existence of a marketable record title when a person is shown by the record to have been vested with any estate of land for thirty years or more. In our opinion the application of Section 712.02 is not conditioned upon an actual vesting of some estate or interest in a person claiming the benefit of the act." Thus, by virtue of the Florida Marketable Title Act, the defendants' claims have been extinguished, unless their interests are among those protected from extinction by Section 712.03 of the Act....

...The specific enumeration of exceptions to the act in Section 712.03 and the specific provision in Section 712.05 for the protection of valid claims indicates a legislative intent to exclude no other claims from extinction by the operation of Sections 712.02 and 712.04." To adopt the defendants' contention would be to subvert the major legislative purpose of the Act which is, as stated by the Florida Supreme Court in Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., ". . . to simplify and facilitate land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described by F.S. § 712.02, F.S.A., subject only to such limitations as appear in F.S....

...Rohe, Tallahassee, for appellants. Julian Clarkson and Michael L. Rosen, of Holland & Knight, Tallahassee, for appellee. COWART, Judge. As to land titles with roots of title that were thirty or more years old prior to the 1978 amendment to the Marketable Record Title Act (MRTA), section 712.02 et seq., Florida Statutes, that act can extinguish the claim of state sovereignty even to lands under meandered waters and can perfect title thereto in a private owner....

...stituted a root of title under the Marketable Record Title Act, ("MRTA") Chapter 712 Florida Statutes. It was appellant's position below, and is here, that the United States' rights in the perpetual easement were extinguished under the provisions of Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (1989) due to its nonuse for the statutory period....

...uch estate; or (2) some other person from whom, by one or more title transactions, such estate has passed to the person claiming such estate, with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of the estate claimed. § 712.02, Fla....

...s. See Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So.2d 1224, 1227 (Fla. 2004). To effectuate this legislative purpose, section 712.10 requires the MRTA "be liberally construed . . . by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in [section] 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in [section] 712.03." Section 712.02, titled "Marketable record title; suspension of applicability," provides: Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with her or his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in...

...transaction or the name of the plat that imposed the original restrictions on May 18, 1971. [6] See Martin v. Town of Palm Beach, 643 So.2d 112, 114 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (finding use restrictions created prior to the root of title are extinguished by section 712.02 unless the use restrictions are disclosed and specifically identified in a muniment of title); but cf....

...Having determined that Noblin, as successor in interest to Huey, has an easement for ingress and egress in the surface estate owned by Harbor Hills and Schell, we must next determine whether that easement is extinguishable under MRTA. Whether MRTA Applies To Extinguish The Easement “Section 712.02 of MRTA expressly provides that any person vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more shall have a marketable record title free and clear of all claims of an interest in land except those preserved by section 712.03 ....” H & F Land, Inc....

...extinguishment under MRTA.11 We reverse the trial court’s summary judgment for Owner and remand for proceedings consistent herewith.12 11 We need not, and do not, reach the questions of whether a non-governmental restrictive covenant constitutes a “claim” under section 712.02, or whether the 12  Reversed and remanded. restrictive zoning covenant in this case is delineated as an exception to MRTA under section 712.03. 12 We do not quarrel with the trial cou...

...uch estate; or (2) Some other person from whom, by one or more title transactions, such estate has passed to the person claiming such estate, with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of the estate claimed. § 712.02, Fla....

...Further, MRTA states that its provisions should be liberally construed: This law shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in s.712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in s.712.03....

...tle Act, Fla. Stat. § 712.01, et seq. ("MRTA"). The MRTA provides that any person vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more shall have a marketable record title free and clear of all claims of an interest in land. Fla. Stat. § 712.02....

...has been vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more, shall have a marketable record title to such estate in said land, which shall be free and clear of all claim except the matters set forth as exceptions to marketability in Section 712.03." Section 712.02....

to divest such claimant of the estate claimed. § 712.02, Fla.Stat. (1975). Section 712.03 lists the interests

...d sense and cannot make good law. The clear Leg *120 islative intention behind the Act, as expressed in F.S. § 712.10, F.S.A., was to simplify and facilitate land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described by F.S. § 712.02, F.S.A., subject only to such limitations as appea'r in F.S....

...bound by them) and stated: The point is not whether appellants or their predecessors had notice of the restrictive covenants.... [A]ctual notice does not suffice to protect use restrictions created prior to a root of title from being extinguished by section 712.02(1), Florida Statutes....

...The material question is: Do muniments in the chain of title since the root of title disclose the use restrictions by specific reference so as to meet the provisions of section 712.03(1) and thereby preserve the restrictions from being extinguished by section 712.02(1)? ....

...uch estate; or (2) Some other person from whom, by one or more title transactions, such estate has passed to the person claiming such estate, with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of the estate claimed. § 712.02, Fla....

...For the same reason, we reverse the denial of the Lydays' motions for summary judgment. The legislature enacted MRTA to "simplify and facilitate land transactions." Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224, 1227 (Fla. 2004); Matissek v. Waller, 51 So. 3d 625, 628 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (2015), provides that "[a]ny person ....

...restrictions applicable to the Lydays' lot in Unit II predate the Lydays' root of title and that they are more than thirty years old. Thus, they are "null and void" unless they fall within one of the exceptions contained in section 712.03. See §§ 712.02, .04; Matissek, 51 So....

...a public utility or governmental agency, so long as the same are used and the use of any part thereof shall except from operation hereof the right to the entire use thereof. 3 Section 712.02 provides in relevant part that "[a]ny person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with her or his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for [thirty] years or mor...

...establish certainty of ownership. See H & F Land v. Panama City-Bay Co. Airport & Indus. Dist., 736 So. 2d 1167, 1171 (Fla. 1999), receded from on different grounds by Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004). To effectuate that purpose, section 712.02 permits the clearing of title to any property where the title has been recorded for at least thirty years and for which no statutory exception applies....

...We have previously aligned ourselves with Paradise Fruit Co. and refused to apply the 1978 amendment retroactively. Coastal Petroleum Co. v. American Cyanamid Co., 454 So.2d 6 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). As in Coastal Petroleum, the Trustees executed the deeds which are the Stevenses' "root of title." § 712.02(2), Fla....

...and improvements within Eastwood Shores, as stated in Eastwood Shores' declaration and in the Association's articles of incorporation. The Association is comprised of unit owners in Eastwood Shores. By operation of MRTA, specifically section 712.02, Eastwood Shores' declaration of restrictions and covenants ceased to govern one or more of the units within the community in 2009.1 Pursuant to the covenant revitalization statutes, the Association sought approval from the Departme...

...ation sections of chapter 720 by virtue of a specific provision in MRTA, section 712.11.4 MRTA provides for marketable record title to estates in land "free and clear of all claims" except as to those exclusions expressly set forth. § 712.02. 3Interestingly, although the Association's declaration of covenants is titled "Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions for Eastwood Shores Condominiums," the declaration does not reference cha...

..., who, alone or with his or her predecessor in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for thirty years or more, has a marketable record title to such estate except as to certain exceptions to marketability set forth in the statute. § 712.02, Fla....

...Accordingly, the Act extinguishes “all estates, interests, claims, or charges, the existence of which depends upon any act, title transaction, event, or omission that occurred before the effective date of the root of title” unless such estates, interests, claims, or charges fall within one or more statutory exceptions. § 712.02, Fla....

...ot filed pursuant to section 712.-05. 383 So.2d at 1171-72 . The appellants’ attempts to distinguish Allen are unavailing. MRTA’s language is clear and broad, and its purpose is to allow persons to rely upon marketable record title as defined in section 712.02....

...the right to the entire use thereof. Mid-Peninsula filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment arguing that the subsection (5) exception did not apply to a right-of-way held in fee simple. The trial 3 Section 712.02 provides in relevant part that "[a]ny person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who, alone or together with her or his predecessors in title, has been vested with any estate in land of record for [thirty] years or mor...

...establish certainty of ownership. See H & F Land v. Panama City-Bay Co. Airport & Indus. Dist., 736 So. 2d 1167, 1171 (Fla. 1999), receded from on different grounds by Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004). To effectuate that purpose, section 712.02 permits the clearing of title to any property where the title has been recorded for at least thirty years and for which no statutory exception applies. Because the thirty-year period for establishing root of title in this case expire...

...But that purported legislative intent is not contained within MRTA. Instead, section 712.10 provides that MRTA "shall be liberally construed to effect the legislative purpose of simplifying and facilitating land title transactions by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in [section] 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in [section] 712.03." (Emphasis added.) -6- We do not construe MRTA as entitling governmental agencies to employ a broader construction of the term...

affects title to any estate or interest in land.” F.S. 712.02 provides: “Any person having the legal capacity

...ilitating land title transactions”). In essence, the Act declares marketable title in a recorded chain of title that is more than thirty years old and extinguishes all interests that are older than the root of that chain of title. Florida Statutes section 712.02 provides in part: A person shall have a marketable record title when the public records disclosed a record title transaction affecting the title to the land which has been of record for not less than 30 years purporting to create such...

...ct Court of Appeal in Marshall v. Hollywood, Inc., 224 So.2d 743 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1969), aff'd, 236 So.2d 114 (Fla.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 964 , 91 S.Ct. 366 , 27 L.Ed.2d 384 (1970): The word ‘affecting’ as it is used in the second sentence of Section 712.02 in the clause ‘affecting the title to the land’ does not carry the narrow meaning of ‘changing or altering.’ The word is used in the broader sense meaning ‘concerning’ or ‘producing an effect upon.’ In this broad sense,...

...rth in Allen should not apply. Id. at 213. The court stated: The appellants’ attempts to distinguish Allen are unavailing. MRTA’s language is clear and broad, and its purpose is to allow persons to rely upon marketable record title as defined in section 712.02. We therefore apply the reasoning of Allen to the circumstances of this case. Id. We conclude that Pencie Wester’s purchases of the tax deeds were title transactions under section 712.02 and that the recorded deeds were thus roots of title under the MRTA....

...or more title transactions, such estate has passed to the person claiming such estate, with nothing appearing of record, in either case, purporting to divest such claimant of the estate claimed. 3 § 712.02, Fla....

...Second, subject to enumerated exceptions, “it extinguishes all interests in the estate which predate the root of title.’” Id.; see also § 712.10, Fla. Stat. (stating that the MRTA accomplishes its purpose “by allowing persons to rely on a record title as described in s. 712.02 subject only to such limitations as appear in s....

...ss ninety-five percent of landowners vote to dissolve the declaration and disband the association. “MRTA was enacted in 1963 to simplify and facilitate land transactions.... ” Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So.2d 1224, 1227 (Fla.2004). “Section 712.02, Florida Statutes (2003), provides that ‘[a]ny person ......