Cathy E. Butler v. Estate of Dana Grace Butler, Deceased, et al.

Whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and Fla. Const, art. I, §§ 9 & 21 require meaningful notice, hearing, and written findings before converting summary-administration probate to formal administration, striking pro se pleadings, setting aside defaults, and compelling counsel in violation of self-representation and open-courts guarantees.

Whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and art. I, § 21 guarantee immediate appellate review of non-final probate orders that finally determine substantive rights including conversion, striking, and public disclosure orders.

Whether the First and Fourteenth Amendments and art. I, § 23 protect privacy in cause-of-death information and beneficiary identity in probate records and prohibit State retaliation against a crime victim in custody proceedings for reporting her rape as well as State retaliation against the Petitioner for exposing the those retaliations.

Whether Fla. Stat. § 732.802 disqualifies the decedent’s rapist and ex­ fiance from inheriting from Dana G. Butler’s estate and whether custody and benefit orders can be reviewed if Petitioner is barred from speaking on Butler’s behalf, leaving her and her children without constitutional protections. (I)