28-Year-Old Woman Says 55+ Community Is Trying to Kick Her Out of Late Father’s Home

A 28-year-old Jacksonville woman says she is fighting to stay in the home her late father left her after the homeowners association in his 55-and-older community sued to remove her and asked residents to help cover the legal bill.

Bethany Michel‘s father, a disabled veteran, died in October 2023, and she inherited his home in the Arbor Mill community in Oakleaf, according to a report News4Jax published Tuesday, July 14. Michel moved in during 2020 to care for him during the Covid-19 pandemic after restrictions at his assisted living facility made it hard to manage his dialysis care, according to the report.

“I 100 percent am being forced out,” Michel said, per the outlet. “They’re trying to rip my office away from me, too.”

Arbor Mill’s governing documents require every occupied home to have at least one resident 55 or older, per the report, and the community is structured to comply with the federal Housing for Older Persons Act. Michel said the home’s builder had assured her family she would be “grandfathered in” after her father’s death, though she said she has never seen documentation of that arrangement, the outlet reported.

Less than three months after her father died, Michel received notice that she no longer met the age requirement, according to the article.

“My dad’s biggest concern was something would happen to him,” Michel said, according to the report. “His dying wish was that this house would be left to his daughter.”

She added, “Every upgrade we made, he said, ‘This is going to be for you one day.’ It’s so sentimental. I sleep with the same pillow in the same bed that he did every day.”

The HOA had proposed a $155,000 special assessment, and proposed asking each of the community’s roughly 155 homeowners to pay about $1,000 toward legal costs, per the report. Neighbor Bob Stadler opposed the charge: “I can’t afford $1,000, and a lot of people around here are on a fixed income.” He added, “If she wants to stay, let her stay. If she wants to move, let her move. But don’t force her out.”

The board considered the proposed special assessment during a meeting and in a TikTok video posted afterward, Michel said residents stood outside in “90°+ Florida heat” for nearly two hours believing they would have the chance to vote on the proposal, only to learn once the meeting began that “the 155 homeowners would not be voting” because “the decision rested solely with the five board members.” She added that residents were limited to public comment while the board cast the only votes, writing, “Residents deserve to know how decisions affecting their homes and finances are being made.”

In another TikTok video posted on Thursday, July 16, Michel stated that the event did not feel like a genuine opportunity for residents to address the board. “After sitting through that meeting, I don’t believe it was truly an opportunity for the community to address the Board. It felt like the decision had already been made before anyone walked through the door,” she wrote in the video’s caption.

She explained that many residents who spoke directed their comments at her rather than the board, adding she was “repeatedly harassed” for recording the meeting while others recorded her instead.

Michel plans to release more footage from the meeting in the coming days and share additional material with members of the media. “This isn’t about one meeting anymore,” she wrote. “It’s about transparency, accountability, and showing people what can happen behind the scenes.”