Category Archives: Probate
DIVORCE AND BENEFICIARIES
Back in July, 2017, I wrote about Florida’s law terminating beneficiary designations when spouses obtain a divorce. The idea under Florida law was to cut the cord completely between spouses in subjects that may have been forgotten during the settlement process of their divorce. Those areas that usually get forgotten are life insurance contracts,… Read More »
Personal Property and Estate Administration
One of the hardest thing’s families have to do when a parent passes is the distribution of their tangible personal property. This is especially true when there is more than one sibling or individual involved when trying to determine who should get what items of Mom and Dad’s. Unless Mom or Dad have a… Read More »
WHY DOES PROBATE FEEL LIKE IT TAKES SO LONG?
The answer to the above is that it does not take any longer to perform the administration of an estate by means of probate or trust administration. The length of an estate administration is generally extended because of having to settle tax issues or family feuding. Under normal circumstances the time line to complete… Read More »
Notice of Administration
Many of my clients often ask why is it necessary to send out a Notice of Administration to everyone who may have an interest in an estate. The reason deals with something called due process. In two recent cases the lack of notice gave a person not named in a Will the right to… Read More »
Deeding Property to Avoid Probate – Bad Idea
Following the holidays there are a number of clients who come to see me and ask to have their children added to their property for the purposes of transferring such property at their death. In essence, they are looking to avoid probate. What they don’t realize is that such changes are fraught with potential… Read More »
Worried Your Estate Will Go to the State When You Don’t Have a Will
I often hear clients come into my office worried that if they don’t have a Will their assets will go to the State of Florida and not to their beneficiaries or heirs. They are often surprised to learn the likelihood of that happening is very remote. However, it is possible within the State of… Read More »
Wills, Divorce and Life Insurance
Have you ever wondered what happens to the outcome of a person’s Last Will and Testament following the divorce of a married couple? Even more interesting is what happens to a named spouse as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy when a couple divorces. The answer is fairly simple. Florida law treats the… Read More »
Gifting Prior to Death
If you have ever thought about giving something, make certain that the gift is either memorized in a Will, delivered directly or symbolically to the person receiving such gift. The problem in gifting is whether the gift was actually delivered and all ties to it were relinquished by the former owner during life or… Read More »
Protecting Tangible Personal Property
Your estate will consist of your real, intangible and tangible personal property. Real property is fairly obvious, it’s the dirt that you own. Your intangible personal property consists of cash, stocks and bonds. The tangible personal property of your estate is defined as that which can be felt or has physical form and substance…. Read More »
Separate Writing Outside a Will
When a Last Will and Testament is prepared for someone, there usually comes a moment when that person gets home and suddenly remembers that they forgot to include a specific heir loom they wanted to devise to a family member or other individual outside the family. Fortunately, Florida’s Probate statutes provide a mechanism to… Read More »
