In Florida, there’s a rule that says Florida residents can’t use exemptions from their Florida assets in other states. This means if you owe money and can’t protect your Florida stuff, you might end up facing trouble in another state.
The person or company you owe money to can take legal action to get their money, even if you don’t live in Florida. Florida has some special rules that help protect certain things you own, like your wages or money in your bank account. But in other states, these protections aren’t as common.
If a court in another state gets involved, they’ll only follow the rules of that state when deciding what can and can’t be taken from you. If that state has rules similar to Florida’s, you might be safe. But if their rules are different, your Florida stuff might not be so well protected.
Here’s an example to help explain: A big bank tried to take money from a Florida person’s bank account in a Florida branch, even though they lived in Texas. The Florida person was married to a banker, and their bank account was set up in a way that should be protected under Florida law. But in Texas, it’s different. In Texas, they can take all the money from the account, even if your spouse owns part of it.
To decide what rules to follow, the court looked at something called the Restatement of Conflict of Law. It’s like a guide that tells courts which rules to use in cases like this. The Restatement says that most of the time, the court should use the rules of the state where they are. But if another state has a stronger connection to the case, they should use that state’s rules.
The Florida court decided that because the person lived in Florida and had a strong connection to Florida’s rules, those rules should be used to decide what money could be taken from their bank account. The Texas rules didn’t apply to the person’s spouse.
So, if you live in Florida and worry about someone coming after your stuff from another state, it’s a good idea to follow the Restatement of Conflict of Law principles to protect your Florida things from being taken by courts in other places.
This post was written by Trey Wright, an experienced bankruptcy lawyer Jacksonville FL! Trey is one of the founding partners of Bruner Wright, P.A. Attorneys at Law, specializing in bankruptcy law, estate planning, and business litigation.
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