Crain v. Putnam

KLEIN, Judge.

The St. Lucie County property appraiser denied a homestead exemption in 1994 for the reason that the owner, an elderly woman, had not lived in her home since 1992, when she was placed in a nursing home in a vegetative state. We conclude that she was still entitled to the exemption.

Vivian Crain suffered extensive brain damage as a result of an illness in 1992, and after being hospitalized for a short time, was placed in a nursing home where she remained until her death in 1995. In 1994 her son, the appellant, applied for a total exemption from taxation on the property pursuant to…