The information on this website is provided by Hamilton Mikes, P.A. for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not legal advice, it is not a legal opinion, and it should not be relied upon as either. Community association law in Florida changes frequently, and the application of any statute, rule, or governing document depends on the specific facts, documents, and history of a particular community. You should consult a licensed Florida attorney about your association's specific situation before taking or refraining from any action.
Scope and currency
This website addresses Florida law as applied to Florida community associations, and the firm is licensed to practice in Florida only. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the law of any other jurisdiction. Florida's community association statutes have been amended in every regular session since 2021, and subsection numbering has moved more than once in that period. Each article states the edition of the Florida Statutes it was written against. The law may have changed after that date, an appellate court may have construed a provision differently, and an administrative rule or a local ordinance may impose requirements the article does not address.
Your governing documents control
Much of what governs a Florida association is not in the statutes at all. Declarations, articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules, plats and recorded amendments differ from community to community, and on many questions they set the rule while the statute sets only a floor or a default. A procedure that is correct in one association may be a breach of the documents in the association next door. No general article can tell you which is which for your community.
Why information is not a substitute for an attorney
This website is designed to be a knowledge center, and we have tried to make it thorough. Thoroughness has limits. Legal matters are decided on a case-by-case basis, by applying the law to the particular facts as a judge, jury, arbitrator or hearing officer finds them. Two associations with the same statute and the same question can reach opposite results because their declarations differ, because their boards documented their decisions differently, or because one dispute was handled well in its first week and the other was not. No article can anticipate those facts, and no summary of the law can weigh them.
An attorney provides what information cannot. The judgment to recognize which facts matter and which do not. Experience with how courts, arbitrators, the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, and opposing counsel actually treat a given situation. Strategy to choose among the courses of action available and to sequence them so that the association preserves its rights and its leverage. Advocacy to carry the association's position through negotiation, hearing, mediation or trial. Reading about a records request, a special assessment or a construction defect prepares a board to have a better conversation with its lawyer; it does not replace the conversation. Before acting on any significant decision, retain counsel.
The standard of care, and the protection the statute attaches to counsel
A director of a Florida community association is held to the standard in section 617.0830, Florida Statutes: to act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and to discharge the duties of the office with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances. Sections 718.111(1)(a) and 720.303(1) apply that standard to condominium and homeowners association directors. It is measured against the decision the board actually faced, on the record actually before it.
The same statute supplies the protection that goes with the duty. Under section 617.0830(4) and (5)(b), a director who has no knowledge making reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports and statements prepared or presented by legal counsel retained by the association as to matters the director reasonably believes are within counsel's professional competence. The Legislature has written the prudent course into the statute. A board that obtains advice on its own documents and its own facts, and acts on that advice, is standing on ground the statute expressly protects.
Nothing on this website confers that protection. General information, however carefully prepared, is not advice on your declaration, your amendments, your board's history or your dispute. A director who substitutes free material found on the internet — this website included — for advice from a Florida-licensed attorney is not economizing. That director is making a decision on an incomplete record, against a standard of care that will be judged on the record, and is forgoing a statutory protection that was available for the asking. Where the decision was one on which a reasonably prudent director would have obtained counsel, that choice is itself capable of being characterized as a failure to discharge the duties of the office.
Personal exposure is real
Service on an association board is usually uncompensated, but volunteer status is not itself immunity. Under section 617.0834, Florida Statutes, a director or an officer is not personally liable in monetary damages for a statement, vote, decision, or failure to act in that role unless two things are both true: the director or officer breached or failed to perform the duties of the office, and that breach was a violation of the criminal law, a transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct in a proceeding brought by or in the right of the corporation, or recklessness or bad faith in a proceeding brought by anyone else. That protection turns on how the director acted, not on whether the director was paid.
Chapters 718, 719 and 720 add consequences of their own, including removal from office, civil penalties assessed against the individual for certain willful and knowing violations, and in defined circumstances criminal liability. Whether any of that reaches a particular director depends entirely on the facts and on the director's conduct. The practical point is narrower and more useful: the decisions that generate this exposure — levying an assessment, enforcing a covenant, denying a transfer, withholding a record, entering a unit, terminating a contract, signing for construction work — are precisely the decisions on which general information is least adequate, and on which counsel costs least relative to what is at stake.
No attorney-client relationship
Viewing this website, downloading materials from it, or sending us an email or a message through a form on this site does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Hamilton Mikes, P.A. An attorney-client relationship is formed only when the firm has confirmed in writing that it will represent you or your association. Until then, please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information, and please understand that a conflicts check must be completed before the firm can accept a matter. Unsolicited information sent to the firm may not be treated as privileged or confidential.
No guarantee; prior results
The firm makes no representation or warranty that the information on this website is complete, current or applicable to any particular matter, and disclaims liability to any person for any action taken or not taken in reliance on it. Case results, verdicts, and settlements described on this website depend on the facts of each matter and do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome in any other case. Testimonials reflect the experiences of the individuals quoted.
Attorney advertising
This website may be considered attorney advertising under the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience.
Links to other sites
Links to third-party websites, including news coverage and the Florida Legislature's Online Sunshine site, are provided for convenience only. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. does not control and is not responsible for the content of any linked site.
Do not act on this website alone
If your association faces a decision of consequence, obtain advice from a Florida-licensed attorney who has read your governing documents and the relevant record before the board votes, signs, sends or forecloses. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. represents community associations throughout Southwest Florida.
Hamilton Mikes, P.A. · 8850 Terrene Court, Suite 110, Bonita Springs, FL 34135 · 239-594-7227