Isaacs v. Federal National Mortgage Association
A husband who had separated from his wife decades earlier, quit-claimed his interest in the marital home to her, and established a separate permanent homestead elsewhere, challenged a foreclosure judgment on a mortgage his wife executed alone (with a signature he claimed was forged). The Third District held that, under article X, section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution as amended in 1985, a non-owner spouse's abandonment of the homestead does not waive the spousal joinder requirement so long as the property remained the owner-spouse's homestead when the mortgage was executed, and reversed the final judgment of foreclosure.
Key facts
- Husband and wife separated decades earlier; husband quit-claimed his interest in the marital home to wife and established a separate homestead elsewhere, then challenged a foreclosure judgment on a mortgage the wife executed alone, claiming his signature was forged.
- The trial court entered a final judgment of foreclosure on the mortgage executed by the wife without the husband's joinder.
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Why it matters
This decision resolves a question Florida courts had not squarely addressed: whether a non-owner spouse's abandonment of the homestead waives the article X, section 4(c) joinder requirement for mortgages. Foreclosure… — full analysis with a trial
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