Can an Accident Judgment Reach a Home You Are Buying

Attorney Answer

Probably not the house itself, if it becomes your Florida homestead — but that is not the first question, and the protection is not automatic. The first question is insurance, because most auto cases end inside the limits of a liability policy and never produce a judgment that anyone has to collect from a person.

Start there. If auto liability coverage was in force, your insurer normally owes you both a defense and payment of a covered judgment up to the policy limits. A judgment inside those limits is the insurer's to pay, not yours. The exposure people worry about is the part of a judgment above the limits, and whether that risk is real in your case depends on the injuries claimed, the limits you carry, and how the case is being handled. The defense attorney assigned to you can tell you. Ask directly.

Next, fault in Florida is divided rather than assigned to one person. For accidents before March 24, 2023, Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) provided: "In a negligence action, contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as economic and noneconomic damages for an injury attributable to the claimant's contributory fault, but does not bar recovery." The Legislature changed that rule in 2023 for accidents on or after March 24 of that year, and which version governs a particular crash is a question for a Florida attorney. Under § 768.81(3), judgment is entered against each liable party on the basis of that party's own percentage of fault rather than on joint and several liability, so a smaller share of the blame is a smaller share of the number.

If a judgment above the limits were ever entered, it would be collected only out of property that is not exempt — and Florida exempts a great deal. Wages are the clearest illustration. Section 222.11(2)(a) provides: "All of the disposable earnings of a head of family whose disposable earnings are less than or equal to $750 a week are exempt from attachment or garnishment." A head of family, for this purpose, is a person providing more than half the support of a child or other dependent. Above $750 a week, the earnings of a head of family may not be garnished unless that person waived the protection in writing, and the statute prescribes the separate document, the exact language and the 14-point type a valid waiver requires. Section 222.11(3) carries the exemption forward for six months after those earnings are deposited in a financial institution, so long as they can be traced and identified as earnings.

Now the house. Florida's constitution protects a homestead from most judgment creditors, and that protection is among the strongest in the country. But what qualifies, when it attaches, what residency and acreage require, and which debts it does not stop are set out in constitutional and statutory provisions, and the answer turns on timing and facts. Buying a home while a claim is pending also raises separate questions about transfers made in the face of a creditor. Both belong in front of a Florida attorney before you close, not afterward.

What you can do

1. Confirm in writing to your auto insurer that suit has been filed, if you have not already, and confirm that a defense attorney has been assigned to you.

2. Ask your insurer for the declarations page showing your liability limits, and keep a copy.

3. Ask your defense attorney one direct question: is the claimed exposure within the policy limits, or above them? Almost everything else follows from that answer.

4. Do not move, retitle or transfer assets to shield them without asking a Florida attorney first. Transfers made with a claim pending can create a worse problem than the one they were meant to solve.

5. Before you close on the house, have a Florida attorney of your own — separate from the lawyer the insurer assigned to defend you — look at the timing and the title. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The claim against you runs under Fla. Stat. § 95.11, and which period applies depends on the date of the crash: for accidents before March 24, 2023, the former four-year period applied, and the Legislature shortened it for later accidents. Your case is already filed, though, so the deadlines that matter now are the court's — answers, discovery responses, disclosures, hearings — and those are measured in days. Missing one can cost a case outright. Do not take a date from this page; have a Florida attorney confirm every deadline against your facts.