CRC - 2017                                           CS for P 17
       
       
        
       By the Committee on General Provisions; and Commissioner Gaetz
       
       335-00146-17                                            201717c1
    1                         A proposal to amend                       
    2         Section 4 of Article X of the State Constitution to
    3         create exceptions to the homestead exemption from
    4         creditor claims.
    5          
    6  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
    7  Florida:
    8  
    9         Section 4 of Article X of the State Constitution is amended
   10  to read:
   11                              ARTICLE X                            
   12                            MISCELLANEOUS                          
   13         SECTION 4. Homestead; exemptions.—
   14         (a) There shall be exempt from forced sale under process of
   15  any court, and no judgment, decree or execution shall be a lien
   16  thereon, except for the payment of taxes and assessments
   17  thereon, obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement or
   18  repair thereof, or obligations contracted for house, field or
   19  other labor performed on the realty, the following property
   20  owned by a natural person:
   21         (1) a homestead, if located outside a municipality, to the
   22  extent of one hundred sixty acres of contiguous land and
   23  improvements thereon, which shall not be reduced without the
   24  owner’s consent by reason of subsequent inclusion in a
   25  municipality; or if located within a municipality, to the extent
   26  of one-half acre of contiguous land, upon which the exemption
   27  shall be limited to the residence of the owner or the owner’s
   28  family;
   29         (2) personal property to the value of one thousand dollars.
   30         (b) These exemptions shall inure to the surviving spouse or
   31  heirs of the owner.
   32         (c) The homestead shall not be subject to devise if the
   33  owner is survived by spouse or minor child, except the homestead
   34  may be devised to the owner’s spouse if there be no minor child.
   35  The owner of homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if
   36  married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale or gift
   37  and, if married, may by deed transfer the title to an estate by
   38  the entirety with the spouse. If the owner or spouse is
   39  incompetent, the method of alienation or encumbrance shall be as
   40  provided by law.
   41         (d) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a homestead is not
   42  exempt from the claim of a creditor if the creditor:
   43         (1) Establishes in an action against the owner of the
   44  homestead that the creditor’s funds were fraudulently used by
   45  the owner to acquire or improve the homestead; or
   46         (2) Obtains a judgment against the owner of the homestead
   47  for damages caused by an intentional tort or an intentional
   48  criminal or fraudulent act by the owner of the homestead, so
   49  long as the homestead was not the primary residence for the
   50  owner’s spouse or minor child when the tort or act occurred or
   51  at the time of the judgment in the action.