Pro-business advocates quickly repeated the theme, praising Cantero for his "humility" -- among other qualifications.
All that enthusiasm is code-speak for a justice who is disinclined to find fault with the work of conservative Florida legislators, observes Tallahassee constitutional lawyer Robert Rivas.
Business and religious conservatives complain that the Florida Supreme Court, under the influence of Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead and Justices Barbara Pariente, Peggy Quince and Leander Shaw, has frequently overstepped its authority in challenging the Legislature on such things as abortion, tort reform and the death penalty.
But if conservatives have found an ally in Cantero, the pragmatists among them find little to celebrate in the appointment. Cantero replaces retiring Justice Major B. Harding, whose record is also considered generally conservative.
Says one Tallahassee lawyer who asked not to be identified: "No appointment will satisfy those who want judicial restraint until there's a majority on the court who practice judicial restraint."
Cantero's qualifications, however, are more than just satisfactory. The son of Cuban exiles, Cantero, 41, graduated from Harvard Law School and spent 14 years as an appellate lawyer with the Miami firm of Adorno & Yoss. He's also Catholic and opposes abortion. In fact, says Rivas, Cantero may be a tempting choice for another high court vacancy in the not-so-distant future. Two U.S. Supreme Court justices are reportedly considering retirement. Cantero, says Rivas, would be "an obvious candidate."
Trusts
FIDO, FLUFFY AND PROBATE
Probate court litigation could get a whole lot more interesting next year when a new law goes into effect that will make it possible for animal lovers to turn a pet into a legal heir.
Though it sounds like the kind of scenario that makes Florida courtrooms so popular with novelists, estate lawyers say the new law actually fills a much-needed gap. Lots of clients, they say, want to make arrangements for the care of any pets that survive them. And, in fact, they frequently do, setting up trust accounts for the lifetime care of an animal.
Though more formal than simply asking a friend or relative to take good care of a beloved pet, such trusts have never been recognized by the law and are considered unenforceable. Now, under a change introduced by Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, estate lawyers can legally draft a trust that leaves money specifically for the lifetime care of a pet. They can designate a trustee, spell out the conditions of care and designate a charity or another heir to receive what's left over when the pet dies.
The law ensures that if a trustee is not spending the money properly for a pet's care, an interested party can bring an action in probate court to enforce the terms of the trust.
There are limitations, however. Spouses are entitled to a minimum of 30% of an estate and can't be cut out of a will entirely. And Burt says the law specifies only that a "reasonable" amount of money can be put aside in a pet trust, though "reasonable" depends on the pet's standard of living.
Fort Lauderdale lawyer Brett Marley, an associate in the trusts and estates group of Holland & Knight, says clients began asking to set up pet trusts within weeks of the measure being signed into law, though it doesn't take effect until January. One client wants to leave an entire estate, valued at nearly $1 million, to a pet. Her children will inherit what's left after the pet dies.
Marley acknowledges that such scenarios will occasionally end up in litigation. "There will be cat fights," he says, unable to resist the pun. Lawyers, he says, will have to be even more cautious about establishing their client's mental soundness. When there's enough money involved, "those kids are going to be getting lawyers," he admits. And, he says, there's the tricky issue of how to provide for a pet's future offspring.
But he doesn't think pet trusts will create any more contested wills than probate courts deal with already. "It's no different than if you're going to leave your money to a favorite nephew instead of your children," he says. "You are allowed to leave your money to whoever you want. Kids have no right to an inheritance, so kids can take second fiddle to the pets."
Susan Sexton, a probate court judge in Hillsborough County, agrees. "When money is involved, there's always the potential for litigation," she says. Naples probate Judge Hugh Hayes says dogs and cats are already the subject of custody disputes in family court, so it's not that far-fetched to expect them to end up in the middle of probate litigation as well.
A formal trust might even take some of the feuding out of it because a legal trust has the oversight of the court to ensure that a client's wishes are carried out. Hayes says probate judges take such things very seriously. "We take the position generally that it's your money," says Hayes. "You worked hard for it. We give you the benefit of the doubt that you are competent to know what to do with it."
Spencer Faircloth, first vice president of SunTrust's branch in retiree-rich Sun City, says many of the company's trust clients worry about what will happen to their pets when they die. Florida, he says, is full of retirees for whom a pet becomes family, sometimes the only family. The state's largest trust company finds it perfectly natural that clients may want to establish a trust for their pets. "People love their animals like you wouldn't believe," says Faircloth.