Florida Statute 222.30
“Fraudulent asset conversions”
What it means
§222.30 closes the conversion loophole. A conversion is every mode, direct or indirect, of changing or disposing of an asset so that its products or proceeds become exempt from creditors' claims — while remaining the debtor's property.
A conversion made with the intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor is a fraudulent asset conversion, whether the claim arose before or after it. Creditors get remedies on the chapter 726 model — avoidance of the conversion, attachment, injunction, other equitable relief — and where the asset went to a third party, chapter 726 itself applies. The action is extinguished unless brought within 4 years after the conversion.
- Converting non-exempt assets into exempt form with intent to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor is fraudulent.
- Applies whether the creditor's claim arose before or after the conversion.
- Remedies track chapter 726: avoidance, attachment or other provisional process, injunction, and equitable relief.
- The claim is extinguished unless brought within 4 years of the conversion.
- The defining feature: the converted property remains the debtor's property — that is what separates a conversion from a transfer.
How it plays out
The classic §222.30 pattern is a lump sum wired into an annuity the week after a lawsuit lands. The purchase is legal; the intent is the question, and courts read timing as its best evidence. In probate we meet the mirror image — estate creditors combing a decedent's last months for conversions, and families startled that “it was his money to move” is not the end of the analysis. Structures built years ahead, with no creditor on the horizon, sit on the other side of the line the statute draws.
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