Re: Florida Statutory Rape Statute of Limitations
In FLORIDA - If a minor who is 13 years old has sex with a man who is 18 years old, and it results in pregnany, but got married in the state of GA, by coercion...(because of the father of the 18 year old man having knowledge of the laws in FL being that he was a paralegal and coercing the minor to follow along with it) when does the statute of limitations expire on that? It's been almost 13 years. I was reading about the statute of limitations regarding statutory rape....and I saw there were some kinds of execptions....but it will take too long for me to figure out what all of that means. There was a period of about 3 years where the man could not be found. They are now getting divorced and have not been together for 6 & 1/2 years, but the mother of that child still wants to pursue if possible. Also, the child was "kidnapped" and taken to GA, (although she consented because she was afraid of what would happen otherwise) where the marriage took place and then after that flown to NY and the mother did not have the resources to pursue any legal action at that time. She called the police several times but they could not help her.
Does the following (quoted from the above post) relate to this in any way, since she did report her 13 year old pregnant daughter missing to law enforcement?
"(14) A prosecution for a first or second degree felony violation of s. 794.011, if the victim is 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense and the offense is reported to a law enforcement agency within 72 hours after commission of the offense, may be commenced at any time. If the offense is not reported within 72 hours after the commission of the offense, the prosecution must be commenced within the time periods prescribed in subsection (2)."
What is the statute of limitations for the mother to pursue ANY type of legal action for having her 13 year old daughter "kidnapped"? She at least wants to file a lawsuit against the husband or the parents who did this to her daughter.
They now have 3 children together, only one of which she was over 18 years of age. He has also been a deadbeat dad and does not have anything to do with his children. He hasn't paid child support in years...and he has injured himself recently, and filed for a divorce asking the wife to pay "rehabilitative alimony". (they have remained married the whole time...because he disappeared for years and the wife could not find him to divorce him)
Also, was the marriage legally binding in the first place? The minor child was asked to sign her parents' names on legal documents at the time. Please advise? Thank you! This is a great site by the way!
I know this is a lot, but one more legal question: He recently received a settlement in a lawsuit he had with someone else. Is the wife entitled to half of it by law....if their marriage IS legal? Yes, she IS getting a lawyer. I am just curious as to what questions this site will be able to answer.
Re: Recourse For Statutory Rape And Coerced Marriage
The statute of limitations for a Florida lawsuit would depend on the cause of action you can dream up, but most likely it would be four years. That period may be tolled for his period(s) of absence from the state.
While there may have been a time when she could have disputed the validity of the marriage, typically that ends shortly after the age of majority (if not sooner). The fact that your daughter is well into her adulthood, has continued to live with her husband, and has never repudiated the marriage probably eliminates any possibility that she could now do so.
Her right to share in the settlement of an injury suit will depend upon the nature of the settlement, and the laws of the state in which they divorce. Property division laws are different in each state.