Michaels, Burton M.

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University of Florida Levin College of Law

Florida Law Review Volume 5 Issue 2 Article 10 June 1952 Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption Burton M. Michaels Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Burton M. Michaels, Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption, 5 Fla. L. Rev. 203 (1952). Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol5/iss2/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UF Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Florida Law Review by an authorized editor of UF Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact kaleita@law.ufl.edu. DATE DOWNLOADED: Thu Sep  8 11:49:48 2022SOURCE: Content Downloaded from HeinOnlineCitations:Bluebook 21st ed.			                                                                Burton M. Michaels, Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption, 5 U.FLA. L. REV. 203 (1952).                                                             ALWD 7th ed.                                                                         Burton M. Michaels, Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption, 5 U.Fla. L. Rev. 203 (1952).                                                             APA 7th ed.                                                                          Michaels, B. M. (1952). Homestead: duration of residence for realty tax exemption.University of Florida Law Review, 5(2), 203-204.                                     Chicago 17th ed.                                                                     Burton M. Michaels, "Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption,"University of Florida Law Review 5, no. 2 (Summer 1952): 203-204                     McGill Guide 9th ed.                                                                 Burton M. Michaels, "Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption"(1952) 5:2 U Fla L Rev 203.                                                          AGLC 4th ed.                                                                         Burton M. Michaels, 'Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption'(1952) 5(2) University of Florida Law Review 203                                     MLA 9th ed.                                                                          Michaels, Burton M. "Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption."University of Florida Law Review, vol. 5, no. 2, Summer 1952, pp. 203-204.HeinOnline.                                                                          OSCOLA 4th ed.                                                                       Burton M. Michaels, 'Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption'(1952) 5 U Fla L Rev 203Provided by: University of Florida / Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center-- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and    Conditions of the license agreement available at https://heinonline.org/HOL/License-- The search text of this PDF is generated from  uncorrected OCR text.-- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your  license, please use:Copyright Information1Michaels: Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax ExemptionPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 1952CASE COMMENTSwill adopt. The radical change in constitutional law brought aboutby the Tidelands decision may well be corrected by federal legisla-tion; 20 meanwhile the states, unless the Federal Government developsa competence and will to do the job, are perservering in the exerciseof their traditional police functions, and rightly expect their tax-payers to meet the cost of these recognized benefits.THOMAS F. IcAuHOMESTEAD: DURATION OF RESIDENCE FOR REALTYTAX EXEMPTIONSparkman v. State ex rel. Scott, 58 So.2d 431 (Fla. 1952)Relator, eligible for homestead realty tax exemption in accordancewith the Florida Constitution,' had not been a Florida resident forone year when he filed his application. The tax assessor denied theexemption, basing his denial on a recent statute requiring such one-year residence. 2 The circuit court declared the statute unconstitu-20By joint resolution in 1946 Congress proposed to quitclaim to the states anytitle that the United States might have to lands below the waters within theirboundaries, H. R. Doc. No. 765, 79th Cong., 2d Sess., but President Truman vetoedthe measure. As this issue goes to press the President has again vetoed a similarmeasure.'Art. X, §7: "Every person who has the legal title to or beneficial title in equityto real property in this State and who resides thereon and in good faith makesthe same his or her permanent home, or the permanent home of another or otherslegally or naturally dependent upon said person, shall be entitled to an exemptionfrom all taxation, except for assessments for special benefits, up to the assessedvaluation of Five Thousand Dollars on the said home and contiguous real prop-erty .... The Legislature may prescribe appropriate and reasonable laws regulat-ing the manner of establishing the right to said exemption."2FLA. STAT. §192.12(1) (1951), enacted as Fla. Laws 1951, c. 26899: "No personshall be entitled to an exemption from taxation on his or her homestead, as pro-vided in §192.12, Florida Statutes, unless such person at the time of making theapplication for such exemption shall have been a legal resident of the State ofFlorida for a period of one year prior thereto."2Florida Law Review, Vol. 5, Iss. 2 [1952], Art. 10https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/flr/vol5/iss2/10UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LAW REVIEWtional 3 On appeal by the tax assessor, HELD, the statute violates theprovisions of Article X, Section 7, of the Florida Constitution.4The Florida Constitution specifically sets forth the requirementsentitling one to homestead realty tax exemption. 5 Although it fur-ther authorizes the Legislature to set up the procedure for establish-ing the right thereto,6 it does not grant the Legislature power to alteror modify the substantive right to exemption. Whether the 1951statute was procedural or substantive in its effect accordingly becamethe major issue confronting the Court, which held the statute an at-tempt to alter the substantive rights of claimants.Detailed analysis of the exemption of $5,000 of the assessed valua-tion of homestead realty from taxation has previously been presentedin this publication' and is beyond the scope of this comment. Fixingthe official assessment date, January 1,8 as the date on which perma-nent residence must exist, and prescribing that the right to this ex-emption is waived unless claim therefor is filed on or before April1 of each year9 constitute "reasonable laws regulating the manner ofestablishing the right to said exemption." 1° Such laws the Legisla-ture was specifically empowered to enact. Under existing law a home-steader taking up his domicil on his Florida property after January1, 1951, cannot claim the tax exemption for 1951, but under the 1951statute1 1 he could not have claimed it for 1952 either unless he hadacquired such domicil by April 1, 1951. The shift in qualificationsfor the right is obvious, as the Court observed. The manner of es-3The opinion does not state the nature of the proceeding in the circuit court,but in all probability a declaratory decree was requested; see FLA. STAT. §192.19(1951).4The University of Florida Law Review anticipated this decision when it ob-served: "By this new requirement the Legislature purports to remove, without theaid of a constitutional amendment, a right previously recognized under the Con-stitution. Therefore, the statute as amended may well be unconstitutional." 4 U.oF FLA. L. REV. 388 (1951).5See note 1 supra.6Ibid.7Crosby and Miller, Our Legal Chameleon, The Florida Homestead Exemption:', 2 U. oF FLA. L. REV. 346 (1949); see especially 365-369.8FLA. STAT. §§192.04, 193.11 (1951).9FLA. STAT. §192.16; see also §§192.14-192.15, 193.12 (1951).IoSee note 1 supra.l"See note 2 supra.3Michaels: Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax ExemptionPublished by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 1952

Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption

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Homestead: Duration of Residence for Realty Tax Exemption

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