Florida Enacts Four Bills to Make Various Changes to Consumer-Related Statutes
The Florida Legislature recently enacted four bills that created and modified certain provisions in the Florida Statutes related to consumer issues in connection with (1) telephone solicitations; (2) consumer finance loans; (3) bankruptcy matters in foreclosure proceedings; and (4) the waiver of homestead rights.
Regarding provisions related to telephone solicitation, enacted Senate Bill 568 (found here) makes several changes to Section 501.059 (Florida’s Do Not Call Act) to expand consumer protections against unsolicited voicemails. The bill revises the definition of “telephonic sales call” to include a voicemail transmission (also newly defined to include technologies that deliver voice messages directly to voicemail), and it expands certain prohibitions on outbound messages to expressly prohibit the unsolicited delivery of voicemail messages to persons (now also including businesses) who previously communicated that they would not like to receive certain voicemail solicitations. In addition, the bill requires a telephone solicitor to ensure that, if a telephone number is available on the recipient’s caller ID, the number is capable of receiving phone calls and connects the recipient to the solicitor. The bill also increases potential penalties under the Act to: (i) $10,000 (from $1,000) per violation that is administratively prosecuted; and (ii) $10,000 or more (from $10,000) per violation that is civilly prosecuted. The new provisions in this section take effect on July 1, 2018.
Next, enacted Senate Bill 386 (found here) amends Sections 516.031 and 516.36 in the Florida Consumer Finance Act to permit consumer finance loans (not including lines of credit) to be repaid in smaller installments instead of only monthly installments as currently provided in the statute. That is, installments under the new amendments may be due every 2 weeks, semimonthly, or monthly. In connection with this amendment, the bill also expressly permits a borrower’s final such payment to be less than the prior installments and establishes different maximum delinquency charges that may be charged for a consumer finance loan payment in default for at least 10 days depending on the payment schedule (i.e., due monthly, semimonthly, or every 2 weeks). The new provisions in these sections take effect on July 1, 2018.
Regarding new provisions related to foreclosure proceedings in connection with bankruptcy matters, enacted Senate Bill 220 (found here) creates Section 702.12, in the Foreclosure of Mortgages and Statutory Liens Chapter of the Florida Statutes, to authorize lienholders to use documents filed in a debtor’s bankruptcy case as admissions against the debtor in a mortgage foreclosure action. This change is intended to resolve issues such as those raised by cases where a debtor files a statement of intention to surrender the home in bankruptcy proceedings, but then continues to live in the home and defends against a creditor’s foreclosure action. In response, the new provisions create a rebuttable presumption that a debtor has waived any defense to a foreclosure action if the lienholder submits certain documents filed in the debtor’s bankruptcy case. Further, the bill requires that a court in foreclosure proceeding take judicial notice of an order entered in a bankruptcy case upon the request of a lienholder. Note, however, that a debtor in a foreclosure action still may raise a defense based on the lienholder’s action or inaction after the filing of the bankruptcy case document evidencing the debtor’s intention to surrender the property at issue. This new section takes effect on October 1, 2018, and applies to any foreclosure action filed on or after that date.
Finally, enacted Senate Bill 512 (found here) creates Section 732.7025, in the Probate Code: Intestate Succession and Wills Chapter of the Florida Statutes, to provide express waiver language that a spouse may include in a deed to demonstrate that he or she knowingly waives the right to inherit homestead property, among other related changes. Given the strong protections given to the homestead property as currently provided for in the Florida Constitution and applicable statutes, the purpose of this new section is to resolve differences of interpretation in practice regarding how this may be done under current law, by clarifying how a spouse’s interest in homestead property may be validly transferred in this way. By providing clear statutory language, the intent is to help lessen the uncertainty surrounding the issue of when a knowing and intelligent waiver of homestead rights has occurred. This new section takes effect on July 1, 2018.
