Bechtel v. Estate of Bechtel

4 Citing cases

  1. U.S. v. One Single Family Residence

    894 F.2d 1511 (11th Cir. 1990)   Cited 80 times
    Holding that property used by its owner to facilitate a controlled substance transaction is exempt from forfeiture when held by the entireties with an innocent spouse

    To hold property by the entireties, Florida common law requires five "unities" to be present: marriage — the joint owners must be married to each other; title — the owners must both have title to the property; time — they both must have received title from the same conveyance; interest — they must have an equal interest in the whole of the property; and control or possession — they both must have the right to use the entire property. Andrews v. Andrews, 155 Fla. 654, 21 So.2d 205, 206 (1945); Bechtel v. Estate of Bechtel, 330 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1976). Should one of these unities never have existed or be destroyed, there is no entireties estate.

  2. U.S. v. One Parcel of Real Estate

    715 F. Supp. 355 (S.D. Fla. 1989)   Cited 7 times
    Holding that state property law is completely preempted by federal forfeiture statute

    These requirements are unity of possession, unity of interest, unity of time, unity of title, and unity of marriage. See Bechtel v. Bechtel, 330 So.2d 217, 219 (2d Dist. 1976). If any of these unities is broken, the tenancy by the entirety ceases. Accordingly, the tenancy by the entirety ends when both spouses convey the property to themselves as tenants in common or to one spouse individually, see Pace v. Woods, 177 So.2d 779 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1965), or the parties divorce, see Quick v. Leatherman, 96 So.2d 136, 138 (Fla. 1957), or one of the spouses commits a felony, see Ashwood v. Patterson, 49 So.2d 848 (Fla. 1951).

  3. Winterton v. Kaufmann

    504 So. 2d 439 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1987)   Cited 6 times

    She did. A tenancy by the entirety occurs when there exist five unities: (1) unity of marriage; (2) unity of possession; (3) unity of interest; (4) unity of title; and (5) unity of time. Bechtel v. Estate of Bechtel, 330 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), aff'd [after] remand, 348 So.2d 927 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977). All five unities are present in this case. This includes the unity of title.

  4. In re Estate of Bechtel

    348 So. 2d 927 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1977)   Cited 6 times

    In the first appearance of this case before our court we reversed the judgment below and held that certain bearer bonds which were located in a jointly-owned safety deposit box on the date of the decedent's death should be included in the inventory of the assets of the estate. Bechtel v. Estate of Bechtel, 330 So.2d 217 (Fla.2d DCA 1976). Upon remand the successful appellant filed a petition for production of estate assets pursuant to the opinion of this court which had ruled that ". . . the bonds in question were owned by the decedent.