813.252.7529Category Archives: Estate Planning
The Personal Representative’s Duties to Known and Reasonably Ascertainable Creditors
Dealing with debts is no fun, whether the borrower for whose debts you are responsible is dead or alive. Contradictory rules about debt repayment and about the rights and obligations of borrowers and creditors can lead to confusion; just think about all the fine print at the bottom of the credit card statements you… Read More »
Long-Lost Sibling Drama During Probate
Most protracted conflicts between siblings during the probate of their parent’s estate began long before the parents died. In fact, if your sibling rivalry didn’t go away once you had grown up and moved out of your parent’s house, and the probate of your parents’ estate did not turn into a major battle, it… Read More »
Life Insurance and Your Estate Plan: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Life insurance has a reputation for being one of the dullest, most risk-averse things a person could buy. Brash, Entrepreneurship bros everywhere, from multilevel marketing videos on YouTube to the first hour of The Wolf of Wall Street deride the boring schmoes who spend their hard-earned cash betting minuscule amounts of money on their… Read More »
As Long as You Both Shall Live, and Then What?
In many ways, estate planning is simpler if you and your spouse have been together since you were in your 20s. After a marriage of all those years, you and your spouse share a circle of friends and a decades-long relationship with each other’s blood relatives, whether or not you have children together. Virtually… Read More »
Can a Constructive Trust Solve Your Probate Problems?
Florida law recognizes a variety of ways to keep certain assets out of probate. There are rights of survivorship, transfer on death and payable on death accounts, good old-fashioned revocable trusts, and in the case of married couples, tenancy by the entireties. Florida also interprets the legal concept of a “constructive trust” differently from… Read More »
Expensive Jewelry and Your Estate Plan
Probate disputes about items of jewelry that belonged to the deceased person happen more often than you might guess. Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether it is the sentimental value or the appraisal value of the jewelry that is the true cause of the conflict, but this does not make the conflicts any… Read More »
How Flexible Are Probate Courts About Documents Filed Late?
There is a popular saying in civil law that the law favors the vigilant. This is why many legal processes have a statute of deadlines, which is a deadline by which you must file your claim or lawsuit if you want the court to consider your request for money from the party from which… Read More »
The 4 Percent Rule and Your Estate Plan
For as long as you have had an income, you have probably been hearing that you should pay yourself first. This principle applies to estate planning, too. A successful estate plan requires you to have enough money save to last for the rest of your life, at least. The question of how much money… Read More »
UTMA Accounts for Minors: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
If you are a member of the 99 percent, the ways in which your children and grandchildren could benefit from your gifts are obvious, and you don’t have much of a cushion with which to pay fees and taxes associated with these gifts. The annual gift tax exclusion is a godsend to people for… Read More »
The Seven Signs of Undue Influence
Can you challenge someone’s will just because you are upset that they did not leave you as much money as you were hoping to get? Sure, but it is unlikely that the court will change its decision to administer the will as it is written. A will is a legally binding statement of a… Read More »
