Lorenzo v. Medina
Florida District Court of Appeal
47 So. 3d 927 (2010)
Cecelia's will left half her estate to her brother Jose, with a substitute gift to his wife Juana if he predeceased her; both Jose and Juana predeceased Cecelia, and when Cecelia died, Jose and Juana's children (defendants) claimed a substitute gift under Florida's antilapse statute, which applies only where the devisee whose gift lapsed was a descendant of the testator's grandparents. The trial court awarded the children 50 percent of the estate, and Jesus Lorenzo (plaintiff), the other devisee, appealed.
Whether an antilapse statute that requires a biological relationship between a devisee and the testator before a substitute gift will be made to the descendants of the devisee allows for a substitute gift if the devisee is related to the testator only by marriage.