CopyPublished | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
...and Parisi from
the Property (Count VII).
In April 2021, the Appellants moved to dismiss the Operative
Complaint, asserting that it failed to state a cause of action, arguing that the
POA was properly executed, and therefore valid, because section
709.2105(2) of the Florida Statutes does not require that a power of
2
Parisi was the named beneficiary of one of the Decedent’s bank
accounts, and therefore, the Decedent’s mother was not entitled to the
funds in that account.
5
attorney have two subscribing witnesses....
...A trial court’s legal conclusions and
interpretation of a statute are reviewed de novo. See Musi v. Credo, LLC,
273 So. 3d 93, 96 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019).
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The Appellants contend the trial court erred by determining that
section
709.2105, Florida Statutes (2013), requires extraterritorial powers
of attorney to have signatures of two subscribing witnesses to be valid. We
disagree.
Section
709.2105, Florida Statutes (2013), sets forth the
requirements for the execution of a power of attorney....
...before a notary public or (b) as otherwise provided in s.
695.03. Thus,
7
because the POA at issue lacks the signatures of the two required
subscribing witnesses, it was not executed in strict compliance with section
709.2105.
The Appellants asserted below that the manner in which the POA
was executed by the Decedent in Argentina complied with the execution
requirements in Argentina....
...possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.” As Argentina
does not fall within this definition, section
709.2106(3) does not apply in the
instant case. Accordingly, based on the above analysis, the POA was not
executed in strict compliance with section
709.2105 because it did not have
8
the signatures of two subscribing witnesses.
Next, the Appellants argue that the trial court erred by determining
that strict compliance, as opposed to only substantial compliance, of the
execution requirements set forth in section
709.2105 is required....
...principal (Decedent), but the subscribing witnesses provide additional
assurances, such as the circumstances under which the POA was signed
by the principal. Thus, the trial court correctly determined that the
execution requirements set forth in section 709.2105 must be strictly
construed....
