## Facts

- Thomas Giblin (decedent) purchased residential real property in Broward County, Florida, in 2000; title was solely in his name.
- The property was located within a municipality and was less than one-half acre.
- Thomas and Nivia Giblin married in 1959, separated in 1981, and never divorced; they had a daughter.
- Nivia and the couple’s daughter lived in the home; Thomas never lived in the home with them.
- Thomas died in 2001.
- In his will, Thomas attempted to give the property (as part of his estate) to his children and grandchildren.
- While probate was pending, the estate’s personal representative executed a mortgage on the property in favor of Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC (Bayview).
- After Bayview pursued foreclosure, Nivia petitioned in the probate proceeding for a determination that the property was protected homestead.
- After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court ruled the property was homestead and that, because Thomas was survived by a spouse, Nivia held a life estate with a vested remainder in Thomas’s descendants; the homestead exemption from creditor claims inured to Nivia.

## Issues

1. Whether real property owned by a decedent, but never occupied by him, qualifies as constitutional homestead when it was occupied as the residence of the decedent’s wife and child.

## Decision

- The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the order finding the property to be homestead.
- The court held that Article X, section 4 of the Florida Constitution expressly extends municipal homestead to property that is the residence of “the owner or the owner’s family,” so the decedent’s lack of personal occupancy did not defeat homestead status where his wife and child lived there.
- Because the property was homestead and the decedent died survived by a spouse, the statutory descent scheme applied: the surviving spouse was entitled to a life estate with a vested remainder in the descendants.

## Legal Principles

- Under Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(a)(1), municipal homestead protection applies (up to one-half acre) to property “owned by a natural person” that is the residence of “the owner or the owner’s family”; the text allows family occupancy to satisfy the residence requirement.
- When homestead status exists at the owner’s death, Fla. Const. art. X, § 4(b) provides that the exemption from forced sale and creditor claims continues for the benefit of the surviving spouse or heirs, subject only to the constitution’s listed exceptions (e.g., taxes, purchase-money obligations, and certain improvement/repair obligations).
- When the decedent is survived by a spouse, § 732.401(1), Fla. Stat. (2001), controls the descent of homestead: the surviving spouse takes a life estate, and the decedent’s descendants take the remainder interest.
- A trial court’s homestead determination turns on constitutional and statutory requirements for homestead status and descent, not on whether the decedent personally occupied the property when the constitution permits family occupancy.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed the homestead determination because the Florida Constitution extends municipal homestead to a residence occupied by the owner’s family, even if the owner never lived there; as a result, homestead protections applied at Thomas Giblin’s death and the property descended as a life estate to the surviving spouse with a vested remainder in the descendants.


Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC v. Giblin, 9 So. 3d 1276 (2009)