Florida Senate - 2015 SB 922
By Senator Latvala
20-01205-15 2015922__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the appointment of an ad litem;
3 amending s. 49.021, F.S.; defining the term “ad
4 litem”; authorizing a court to appoint an ad litem for
5 any party in certain circumstances; prohibiting a
6 court from requiring an ad litem to post a bond or
7 designate a resident agent in order to serve as ad
8 litem; requiring courts to discharge an ad litem when
9 the final judgment is entered or as otherwise ordered
10 by the court; providing that an ad litem is entitled
11 to an award of a reasonable fee for services rendered
12 and costs that must be assessed by the court against a
13 specified party or as otherwise ordered by the court;
14 prohibiting a proceeding in which the court appointed
15 an ad litem from being declared ineffective solely due
16 to a lack of statutory authority to appoint an ad
17 litem; providing that this section does not abrogate a
18 court’s common law authority to appoint an ad litem;
19 prohibiting a court from appointing an ad litem to
20 represent an interest for which a personal
21 representative, guardian of property, or trustee is
22 serving; requiring an ad litem, upon discovery that
23 the party it represents is already represented by a
24 personal representative, guardian of property, or
25 trustee, or is deceased, to take certain actions;
26 providing an effective date.
27
28 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
29
30 Section 1. Section 49.021, Florida Statutes, is amended to
31 read:
32 49.021 Service of process by publication; appointment of ad
33 litem.—
34 (1) If, upon whom.—Where personal service of process or, if
35 appropriate, service of process under s. 48.194 cannot be made
36 had, service of process by publication may be made had upon any
37 party, natural or corporate, known or unknown, including:
38 (a)(1) Any known or unknown natural person, and, if when
39 described as such, the unknown spouse, heirs, devisees,
40 grantees, creditors, or other parties claiming by, through,
41 under, or against any known or unknown person who is known to be
42 dead or is not known to be either dead or alive;
43 (b)(2) Any corporation or other legal entity, regardless of
44 whether its domicile is be foreign, domestic, or unknown, and
45 whether dissolved or existing, including corporations or other
46 legal entities not known to be dissolved or existing, and, if
47 when described as such, the unknown assigns, successors in
48 interest, trustees, or any other party claiming by, through,
49 under, or against any named corporation or legal entity;
50 (c)(3) Any group, firm, entity, or persons who operate or
51 do business, or have operated or done business, in this state,
52 under a name or title that which includes the word
53 “corporation,” “company,” “incorporated,” “Inc.,” or any
54 combination thereof, or under a name or title which indicates,
55 tends to indicate, or leads one to think that the same may be a
56 corporation or other legal entity; and
57 (d)(4) All claimants under any of the such parties
58 specified in paragraph (a), paragraph (b), or paragraph (c).
59
60 Unknown parties may be proceeded against exclusively or together
61 with other parties.
62 (2) For the purposes of this section, the term “ad litem”
63 means an attorney, administrator, or guardian ad litem. The
64 court may appoint an ad litem for any party, whether known or
65 unknown, upon whom constructive service of process under this
66 chapter has been properly made and who has failed to file or
67 serve any paper in the action within the time required by law.
68 The court may not require an ad litem to post a bond or
69 designate a resident agent in order to serve as an ad litem.
70 (a) The court shall discharge the ad litem when the final
71 judgment is entered or as otherwise ordered by the court.
72 (b) The ad litem is entitled to an award of a reasonable
73 fee for services rendered and costs, which shall be assessed
74 against the party requesting the appointment of the ad litem, or
75 as otherwise ordered by the court.
76 (3) In all cases adjudicated in which the court appointed
77 an ad litem, a proceeding may not be declared ineffective solely
78 due to lack of statutory authority to appoint an ad litem.
79 (4) This section does not abrogate a court’s common law
80 authority to appoint an ad litem.
81 (5) A court may not appoint an ad litem to represent an
82 interest for which a personal representative, guardian of
83 property, or trustee is serving. If the court has appointed an
84 ad litem and the ad litem discovers that a personal
85 representative, guardian of property, or trustee is serving who
86 represents the interest for which the ad litem was appointed,
87 the ad litem must promptly report that finding to the court and
88 must file a petition for discharge as to any interest for which
89 the personal representative, guardian of the property, or
90 trustee is serving. If the court has appointed an ad litem to
91 represent an interest and the ad litem discovers that the person
92 whose interest he or she represents is deceased, and there is no
93 personal representative, guardian of the property, or trustee to
94 represent the decedent’s interest, the ad litem must make a
95 reasonable attempt to locate any spouse, heir, devisee, or
96 beneficiaries of the decedent, must report to the court the name
97 and address of any such persons that the ad litem locates, and
98 must petition for discharge as to any interest of the person
99 located.
100 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.