Florida is among the handful of states that provide significant creditor protection for assets held jointly as tenants by the entirety between spouses.
Under the common law of England in 1776, which was adopted by many states, including Florida, a creditor with a judgment against one spouse generally can’t reach TBE assets, unless the creditor has a judgment against both spouses. The spouse with a judgment against them may file bankruptcy to eliminate the judgment and keep the TBE assets, so long as there’s no joint debt against them.
There are six unities required for a joint asset to be considered to be held as TBE. These include the unity of time, which requires that the couple acquire the joint assets simultaneously. The unity of time has been a significant stumbling block for many married couples when it comes to managing financial accounts.
But that changed with the Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision in Loumpos v. Dove Investment Corp., No. SC2024-1256 (Fla. Dec. 11, 2025). In Loumpos, the court decided the issue of whether Florida Statutes Section 655.79(1) permits spouses to convert an individually-owned bank account into a TBE account protected from just one spouse’s creditors. The court held that the 2008 statutory amendment to Florida Statute Section 655.79(1) eliminates common-law requirements of unity of time and title for spousal bank accounts, allowing conversion through signature card designation alone. This landmark decision significantly expands creditor exemption planning for married couples in Florida.
Prior Law
Florida has had decades of uncertainty regarding whether and when a married couple opening a financial account could consider it a TBE account when the account agreement provided for joint ownership with right of survivorship but didn’t provide for TBE status.
In Beal Bank, SSB v. Almand & Associates, No. SC93384 (March 1, 2001), the Florida Supreme Court ruled that if a bank account is titled in the names of both spouses and the signature card doesn’t expressly disclaim TBE ownership, then a presumption arises that the account is held as a TBE, so long as the married couple establishes the account in accordance with the six unities (including time and title) and with right of survivorship. The burden then shifted to the creditor to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the account wasn’t held as a TBE.
The Beal Bank court found that an account opened with right of survivorship by a married couple when the bank or financial institution didn’t offer a TBE box to check wouldn’t lose TBE treatment merely because the couple checked the “joint ownership with right of survivorship” box. But the Beal Bank court didn’t answer the question of whether an account initially opened by one spouse and later amended to include the other spouse could qualify as a TBE account. The court also declined to address whether the unity of time should be omitted from the list of TBE requirements.
In 2008, the Florida Legislature added the following sentence to Florida Statute Section 655.79(1): “Any deposit or account made in the name of two persons who are husband and wife shall be considered a tenancy by the entirety unless otherwise specified in writing.” For purposes of this article, references in the statute to “husband and wife” should be read as “a married couple.”
That statutory change created a presumption in favor of TBE status for spousal financial accounts, unless the spouses opted out in writing. Loumpos has now confirmed that this statute authorizes a joint spousal bank account to be held as a TBE even if the account was initially established by one spouse, meaning that the absence of the unities of time and title doesn’t defeat TBE treatment for spousal bank accounts governed by Section 655.79(1).
Bottom Line
Now we know that under Florida Statute Section 655.79(1), accounts that are “made” in the name of a married couple qualify for TBE protection unless otherwise specified in writing, and the Florida Supreme Court has rejected the argument that an account is only “made” when it’s first opened. Accordingly, even if the account began as an individual account of one spouse, it can still become a TBE account after being changed into a joint spousal account, so long as the spouses don’t opt out in writing.
