Could Donald Trump Be Compelled to Sell Mar-a-Lago?

An attorney has suggested that Donald Trump will likely be able to keep his Mar-a-Lago estate due to Florida’s robust debtor protection laws. New York Attorney General Letitia James has stated that if Trump fails to settle the $450 million he owes from a recent civil fraud lawsuit ruling, she intends to seize his properties, as reported by ABC News on Tuesday.

Furthermore, Donald Trump faces an additional financial burden as he is required to pay interest exceeding $87,000 per day on the debt, as calculated by the Associated Press. Additionally, he must compensate retired journalist E. Jean Carroll with $88.3 million following a recent ruling in a separate civil trial.

According to New York-based attorney Colleen Kerwick, debtor protection in Florida is exceptionally robust, enshrined even within the state’s constitution. “Florida serves as a sanctuary for debtors,” she explained to Newsweek. “The homestead law outlined in the Florida Constitution shields an unlimited value in one’s primary residence from creditors seeking judgments.”

Certainly, Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution grants an exemption to the homestead of every resident, protecting it from any “forced sale under process of any court, and no judgment, decree or execution shall be a lien thereon.”

Kerwick explained that to be eligible for the Florida homestead exemption, one must fulfill certain criteria: “You must reside in the home, be the owner of the home, and maintain it as your primary residence.”

She said that a 1993 agreement allowing Mar-a-Lago to become a private club explicitly bans club members from staying there for more than 21 days per year. Trump’s attorney said at the time that he was not living in Mar-a-Lago and was only a “member of the club.”

Trump changed his legal residence to Mar-a-Lago from Trump Tower in New York City in 2019. He is also registered to vote in Palm Beach County, Florida. According to a 2021 Forbes article, Palm Beach’s attorney ruled that the former president could legally live at Mar-a-Lago without violating the aforementioned agreement.

Kerwick pointed out that Trump might find a loophole in this situation since Palm Beach zoning laws permitted him to live there as an employee of Mar-a-Lago.

“Consequently, it has been considered his primary residence and is now shielded by Florida’s homestead laws,” she explained.

Newsweek reached out for email commentary from Trump’s attorney on Thursday.

On February 26, New York Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Donald Trump must pay approximately $354.4 million in penalties for inflating the value of his assets. With accrued interest, the total amounts to around $450 million, as stated by Letitia James’ office in a statement. Additionally, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump were each ordered to pay over $4 million.

Despite being the current frontrunner for the GOP in the 2024 presidential election, Trump has consistently maintained his innocence, attributing the case to political motivations.

Earlier, on January 26, a New York jury mandated that Trump pay $83.3 million in damages to E. Jean Carroll, a retired journalist, over statements made in 2019. Trump had dismissed her allegations of sexual assault in a Manhattan department store dressing room during the 1990s as false. The awarded amount includes $7.3 million for compensatory damages, $11 million for reputational repair, and $65 million in punitive damages.

In May 2023, Trump was instructed to compensate Carroll with $5 million in damages in yet another civil defamation trial, which arose from his denial of her claims in 2022. Despite consistently refuting any wrongdoing, Trump has filed an appeal against the verdict.