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.