Florida Statutes

Fla. Stat. § 704.04 (2025)

Judicial remedy and compensation to servient owner.

✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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1704.04 Judicial remedy and compensation to servient owner.When the owner or owners of such lands across which a statutory way of necessity under s. 704.01(2) is claimed, exclusive of the common-law right, objects or refuses to permit the use of such way under the conditions set forth herein or until she or he receives compensation therefor, either party or the board of county commissioners of such county may file suit in the circuit court of the county wherein the land is located in order to determine if the claim for said easement exists, and the amount of compensation to which said party is entitled for use of such easement. When said easement is awarded to the owner of the dominant tenement, it shall be in compliance with s. 704.01(2) and shall exist so long as such easement is reasonably necessary. The court, in its discretion, shall determine all questions, including the type, duration, extent, and location of the easement, the amount of compensation, and the attorney’s fees and costs to be awarded to either party for unreasonable refusal to comply with the provisions of s. 704.01(2), provided that if either of said parties so requests in her or his original pleadings, the amount of compensation may be determined by a jury trial. The easement shall date from the time the award is paid.
History.s. 4, ch. 28070, 1953; s. 2, ch. 91-117; s. 789, ch. 97-102; ss. 3, 4, ch. 2005-214.
1Note.Section 4, ch. 2005-214, reenacted s. 704.04 as it existed prior to amendment by s. 3, ch. 2005-214, “[e]ffective only if a court determines that [s.] 704.04 . . . , as amended by [s. 3, ch. 2005-214], is unconstitutional and such determination is upheld on appeal,” to read:

704.04 Judicial remedy and compensation to servient owner.—When the owner or owners of such lands across which a statutory way of necessity under s. 704.01(2) is claimed, exclusive of the common-law right, objects or refuses to permit the use of such way under the conditions set forth herein or until she or he receives compensation therefor, either party or the board of county commissioners of such county may file suit in the circuit court of the county wherein the land is located in order to determine if the claim for said easement exists, and the amount of compensation to which said party is entitled for use of such easement. Where said easement is awarded to the owner of the dominant tenement, it shall be in compliance with s. 704.01(2) and shall exist so long as such easement is reasonably necessary for the purposes stated herein. The court, in its discretion, shall determine all questions, including the type, duration, extent, and location of the easement, the amount of compensation, and the attorney’s fees and costs to be awarded to either party for unreasonable refusal to comply with the provisions of s. 704.01(2) provided that if either of said parties so requests in her or his original pleadings, the amount of compensation may be determined by a jury trial. The easement shall date from the time the award is paid.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 22 cases, 1956–2019 · leading case: Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004).
Blanton v. City of Pinellas Park, 887 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 2004). · cites it 8× “See § 704.04, Fla. Stat. (2003). [5] Section 704.”
Deseret Ranches of Florida, Inc. v. Bowman, 349 So. 2d 155 (Fla. 1977). · cites it 10× “Section 704.04, Florida Statutes (1975), provides a judicial remedy and compensation to the servient owner when Section 704.”
Cirelli v. Ent, 885 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004). · cites it 4× “§ 704.04, Fla. Stat. (2002); Parham; Sapp.”
Parham v. Reddick, 537 So. 2d 132 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). · cites it 6× “§ 704.04, Fla. Stat. (1985). In light of the foregoing, we find we must reverse the trial court's grant of final summary judgment.”
Bell v. Cox, 642 So. 2d 1381 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994). · cites it 15× “See § 704.04, Fla. Stat. (1991). [1] All this must be accomplished between an owner that understandably does not wish the valuable attributes associated with the private ownership of land interrupted by an adjacent owner who wishes to gain access with as little economic impact…”
Sapp v. Gen. Dev. Corp., 472 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). · cites it 5× “§ 704.04, Fla. Stat. (1983). One of the requirements of obtaining an easement by prescription is twenty years of adverse use by the dominant owner without permission of the servient owner.”
Stein v. Darby, 126 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 1st DCA 1961). · cites it 4× “* * *" F.S. § 704.04, F.S.A.: "Judicial remedy and compensation to servient owner.”
Paul R. Messer & Betty J. Messer v. Mark James Sander, & Julia Dils Sander, etc., 182 So. 3d 795 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016). · cites it 5× “§ 704.04, Fla. Stat. (2014). On remand, the trial court entered a final judgment in accordance with this Court’s holding and awarded the Appellants appellate-level attorney’s fees and costs, but the trial court did not award trial-level attorney’s.”
Moran v. Brawner, 519 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988). · cites it 2× “01(2), Florida Statutes (1985), and section 704.04, Florida Statutes (1985) (dealing with compensation therefor).”
Hoffman v. Laffitte, 564 So. 2d 170 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). · cites it 4× “Section 704.04, Florida Statutes (1987), provides a judicial remedy for establishment of a statutory way of necessity.”
Trammell v. Ward, 667 So. 2d 223 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). · cites it 2× “If the Trammells believe they are entitled to additional compensation, it seems such claim should be brought pursuant to section 704.04, Florida Statutes. See Parham v.”
Vitelli v. Hagger, 268 So. 3d 246 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019). · cites it 2× “See § 704.04, Fla. Stat. (2017) (providing for award of attorney's fees to either party for the "unreasonable refusal to comply with the provisions of s[ection] 704.”
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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