Florida Statute 944.512
“State lien on proceeds from literary or other type of account of crime for which convicted”
What it means
Florida's Son of Sam law. On conviction — including a guilty or nolo contendere plea, regardless of adjudication — a lien 'prior in dignity to all others' arises in the state's favor on royalties, commissions, and anything else of value payable to the felon, or a person on the felon's behalf, from any literary, cinematic, or other account of the crime. Pending appeal, the money sits in Department of Legal Affairs escrow.
The proceeds split: 25 percent to the felon's dependents — or the Crimes Compensation Trust Fund if none — 25 percent to victims up to court-determined damages, then court costs and the per-capita cost of imprisonment, with the remainder to the Crimes Compensation Trust Fund.
- The lien attaches on conviction — including a guilty or nolo contendere plea, regardless of adjudication.
- It reaches royalties, commissions, and proceeds from any literary, cinematic, or other account of the crime — and is prior in dignity to all other liens.
- 25% goes to the felon's dependents; if there are none, to the Crimes Compensation Trust Fund.
- 25% goes to the victims, to the extent of damages the court determines.
- Court costs and the per-capita cost of imprisonment come next; the remainder goes to the Crimes Compensation Trust Fund.
- Subsection (3): a judge may impose a similar lien on a settlement for injuries the offender sustained during the crime or while fleeing.
How it plays out
These liens surface in probate because the payments outlive the person. Royalties from a book or documentary keep arriving after the author's death, and a lien that attached at conviction follows them into the estate — death changes the payee, not the encumbrance. On the other side, victims holding claims must still file inside the estate's own windows under §§733.702 and 733.710; this statute does not extend probate's clocks. We treat any crime-story income stream as encumbered until the Department of Legal Affairs says otherwise.
Questions people ask
