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Fla. Stat. § 78.10

This is the official text of Fla. Stat. § 78.10, part of Florida’s Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of Florida, published by the state as "Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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78.10 Writ; execution on property in buildings or enclosures.

Official statutory text

In executing the writ of replevin, if the sheriff has reasonable grounds to believe that the property or any part thereof is secreted or concealed in any dwelling house or other building or enclosure, the sheriff shall publicly demand delivery thereof; and, if it is not delivered by the defendant or some other person, the sheriff shall cause such house, building, or enclosure to be broken open and shall make replevin according to the writ; and, if necessary, the sheriff shall take to his or her assistance the power of the county. However, if the sheriff does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the property to be replevied is secreted or concealed in any dwelling house or other building or enclosure, the plaintiff may petition the court for a “break order” directing the sheriff to enter physically any dwelling house or other building or enclosure. Upon a showing of probable cause by the plaintiff, the court shall enter such “break order.”

History: s. 7, Mar. 11, 1845; RS 1716; GS 2180; RGS 3485; CGL 5338; s. 28, ch. 67-254; s. 1, ch. 73-20; s. 7, ch. 83-255; s. 407, ch. 95-147.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.