Florida Amendment 5, Willing of Property to a Spouse Amendment (1972)

Florida Amendment 5
Election date November 7, 1972
Topic Constitutional language and Property
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Florida Amendment 5 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 7, 1972. It was approved.

A “yes” vote supported clarifying language allowing for the willing of property to a spouse if there is no minor child.

A “no” vote opposed clarifying language allowing for the willing of property to a spouse if there is no minor child.

Election results

Florida Amendment 5
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,137,735	67.20%
No		555,426	32.80%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 5 was as follows:

“

No. 5 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ARTICLE X, SECTION 4 Homestead exemptions – Proposing an amendment to Article X, Section 4 of the Florida State Constitution; providing for the devise of the homestead if there is no minor child.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

Section 4. Homestead; Exemptions. (a) There shall be exempt from forced sale under process of any court, and no judgment, decree or execution shall be a lien thereon, except for the payment of taxes and assessments thereon, obligations contracted for the purchase, improvement or repair thereof, or obligations contracted for house, field or other labor performed on the realty, the following property owned by the head of a family: (1) a homestead, if located outside a municipality, to the extent of one hundred sixty acres of contiguous land and improvements thereon, which shall not be reduced without the owner’s consent by reason of subsequent inclusion in a municipality; to the extent of one-half acre of contiguous land, upon which the exemption shall be limited to the residence of the owner or his family; (2) personal property to the value of one thousand dollars. (b) These exemptions shall inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner. (c) The homestead shall not be subject to devise if the owner is survived by spouse or minor child, except the homestead may be devised to the owner’s spouse if there be no minor child. The owner of homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale or gift and, if married, may by deed transfer the title to an estate by the entirety with the spouse. If the owner or spouse is incompetent, the method of alienation or encumbrance shall be as provided by law.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Florida Constitution

A 60% vote was required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounted to a minimum of 51 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments did not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot required a simple majority vote in this year.

See also

1972 Measures

• 1972 Measures
• Constitutional language on the ballot
• Property on the ballot
• 1972 legislative sessions

Florida

• Florida ballot measures
• Florida ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Florida Constitution Revision Commission, "Florida's Constitutions: The Documentary History"
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune, "Automatic Voting Machine Sample Ballot," November 6, 1972