MEGAN K. LEBEN,
v.
RAYME L. SUAREZ, ETC.,
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A Florida appellate court reversed orders in consolidated mental health and incapacity cases where a guardian sought to compel the sale of the ward's real property, finding that jurisdictional defects regarding service of process and unauthorized exercise of in rem jurisdiction were fatal to the orders.
The court held that the jurisdictional defects concerning lack of service of process and unauthorized exercise of in rem jurisdiction were fatal to the orders, requiring reversal and remand.
[1] Orders directing the sale of real property in guardianship cases are subject to reversal when jurisdictional defects, such as lack of service of process, are present.
[2] Strict compliance with service of process procedures is required for a court to exercise jurisdiction.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“strict compliance with service of process procedures is required”
Establishes the strict standard for service of process in jurisdictional matters
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA guardian filed a motion to compel the sale of real property located in Lighthouse Point, Broward County, Florida. The lower court issued orders dire…
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MILLER, J.
In these consolidated appeals, appellant, a relative of the ward, challenges a series of orders rendered in companion mental health and incapacity cases after appellee, the guardian, filed a motion to compel the sale of certain real property located in Lighthouse Point, Broward County, Florida.2 As relevant here, the orders direct appellant to correct the deed, require appellee to list the property with a specified agent within a time certain, and provide that all sale proceeds shall be deposited in a previously established brokerage account and used for the care and maintenance of the ward.
Based upon the guardian’s commendable confession of error, along with our own independent review of the record, we find that asserted jurisdictional defects concerning the lack of service of process and unauthorized exercise of in rem jurisdiction are fatal to the orders under review. See Baraban v. Sussman, 439 So. 2d 1046, 1047 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983) (reversing and remanding to “quash the service of process” when service was insufficient because “strict compliance with service of process procedures is required”); see also State, Dept. of Nat. Res. v. Antioch Univ., 533 So. 2d 869, 872 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (“[W]here the cause of action is in rem, the court has subject-matter jurisdiction only if it has both jurisdictional power to adjudicate the class of cases to which the cause belongs and jurisdictional authority over the land which is the subject matter of the controversy.”).
Accordingly, we reverse and remand. Reversed and remanded.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- State v. Antioch Univ., 533 So. 2d 869 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
- Peter F.K. Baraban v. Sussman, 439 So. 2d 1046 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983)