Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...independent wrong, specifically: a violation of the fiduciary duty imposed by the Florida Probate Code. It is clear that Horn, Reinhart and the Lustigs were all "interested persons" within the meaning of the code. § 731.201(21), Fla. Stat. (1981). Section 733.815 provides in pertinent part that: competent interested persons may agree among themselves to alter the interests, shares, or amounts to which they are entitled under the will or under the laws of intestacy in a written contract executed by all who are affected....

...401 (1919). Thus, Charles N. Clifton's will, which devised the homestead to Dorothy was controlling. Heirs and beneficiaries may formally agree to alter their prescribed interests in an estate, but such an agreement must be in writing and comply with section 733.815, Florida Statutes....

...Appellant Basil Litras, one of the decedent George Litras’s three sons, and a contestant for the proceeds of the estate, brings this appeal primarily to challenge the trial court’s rejection of a proposed settlement of the disputed claims. The trial court relied on section 733.815, Florida Statutes (1989), in denying the settlement....

...The court after a hearing entered an order denying Basil Litras’s motion to approve settlement. This was followed by Basil’s filing of a motion for rehearing on the matter, to which John responded, and which the court also denied. The court found that the settlement agreement failed to comply with section 733.815, Florida Statutes....

...He alleged that he had an agreement with the mother to share any award to survivors 60/40. A jury awarded the mother $1,000,000 as a survivor but awarded only $100,000 to the appellant. It awarded no recovery to the daughter’s estate. Appellant sought relief pursuant to section 733.815, Florida Statutes (2012), which provides that interested persons can agree to alter their shares of property from an estate....

...He alleged that he had an agreement with the mother to share any award to survivors 60/40. A jury awarded the mother $1,000,000 as a survivor but awarded only $100,000 to the appellant. It awarded no recovery to the daughter’s estate. Appellant sought relief pursuant to section 733.815, Florida Statutes (2012), which provides that interested persons can agree to alter their shares of property from an estate....

agreement must be in writing and comply with section 733.815, Florida Statutes."1 *518Clifton v. Clifton

agreement must be in writing and comply with section 733.815, Florida Statutes."1 *518Clifton v. Clifton

...§ 171, and also referring to 26 C.J.S., Descent and Distribution, § 76). This conclusion is consistent with the Florida Probate Code, which provides that competent interested persons may alter the interests to which they are entitled under a will or under the laws of intestacy. (Fla.Stat. § 733.815, Private agreements among distributees.) The Court concludes that an expectancy of a possible heir or devisee is assignable in Florida and enforceable in equity, provided that the assignment is fair and satisfies the court’s equitable co...

without requesting additional time. West’s F.S.A. § 733.815.

...t agreement. It is well established that “mediation and settlement of family law disputes is highly favored in Florida law.” Griffith v. Griffith, 860 So.2d 1069, 1073 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003). The Florida Probate Code has embraced this preference in section 733.815, Florida Statutes, which provides that “interested persons may agree among themselves to alter interests, shares, or amounts to which they are entitled in a written contract executed by them....