86.021

Power to construe.

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86.021 Power to construe.Any person claiming to be interested or who may be in doubt about his or her rights under a deed, will, contract, or other article, memorandum, or instrument in writing or whose rights, status, or other equitable or legal relations are affected by a statute, or any regulation made under statutory authority, or by municipal ordinance, contract, deed, will, franchise, or other article, memorandum, or instrument in writing may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under such statute, regulation, municipal ordinance, contract, deed, will, franchise, or other article, memorandum, or instrument in writing, or any part thereof, and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other equitable or legal relations thereunder.
History.s. 2, ch. 21820, 1943; s. 38, ch. 67-254; s. 458, ch. 95-147.
Note.Former s. 87.02.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 94 cases (11 in the last 5 years), 1969–2025 · leading case: Higgins v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co.
Higgins v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co. (2004) fla · cites it 7× “The Court quoted that portion of the Act now found in section 86.021 and held: There must be some doubt as to the proper interpretation of the written contract or as to the existence or non-existence of some right, status, immunity, power or privilege under the written contract,…”
Martinez v. Scanlan (1991) fla · cites it 3× “§ 86.021, Fla. Stat. (1989). This Court has long held, however, that individuals seeking declaratory relief must show that there is a bona fide, actual, present practical need for the declaration; that the declaration should deal with a present, ascertained or ascertainable…”
Armstrong v. Harris (2000) fla · cites it 2× “See § 86.021, Fla. Stat. (1997). The statute does not mention legislatively proposed constitutional amendments.”
Tindall v. Allstate Ins. Co. (1985) fladistctapp · cites it 4× “Section 86.021, Florida Statutes, provides: Any person claiming to be interested or who may be in doubt about his rights under a deed, will, contract or other article, memorandum, or instrument in writing or whose rights, status, or other equitable or legal relations are…”
Orange County v. Expedia, Inc. (2008) fladistctapp · cites it 4× “§ 86.021, Fla. Stat. Such entity would have to use the administrative process associated with collection efforts to obtain a threshold legal determination.”
Olive v. Maas (2002) fla · cites it 2× “Section 86.021, Florida Statutes (2000), further instructs: Any person claiming to be interested or who may be in doubt about his or her rights under a .”
School Bd. of Leon County v. Mitchell (1977) fladistctapp · cites it 2× “Section 86.021, Florida Statutes (1975). Chapter 86 is both substantive and remedial, and is to be liberally construed.”
Palumbo v. Moore (2001) fladistctapp · cites it 2× “§ 86.021, Fla. Stat. (2000); Kelner v. Woody, 399 So.”
Nirvana Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. QBE Ins. Corp. (2008) flsd · cites it 2× “See Fla. Stat. § 86.021 . The state statute is, however, a procedural mechanism within the Civil Practice and Procedure Chapters, Title VI, that confers subject matter jurisdiction on Florida circuit and county courts.”
Eisenberg v. City of Miami Beach (2014) flsd · cites it 2× “section 2201 and Florida Statute section 86.021 (Count VII) (see id. ¶¶ 111-12 ).”
Williams v. Howard (1976) fla · cites it 2× “[1] Appellees brought suit under the Declaratory Judgment Act, Section 86.021, Florida Statutes, to have declared unconstitutional those portions of Chapter 75-49, Laws of Florida, which transfer non-quasi-judicial powers from the Parole and Probation Commission to the…”
Allstate Ins. Co. v. Conde (1992) fladistctapp · cites it 2× “011(2) and not section 86.021. [4] In effect Allstate is asking that the court, pursuant to section 86.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

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