Jacksonville FL, St. Augustine, Orange Park, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach
Posted On: January 31, 2008

Second Marriages: Estate Planning and More

Jacksonville Florida Lawyer WeddingWhen considering getting married for the second time, or to someone with a prior family it is important to consider Estate Planning, Long-Term Care, the family home, Social Security, Alimony, Survivor's Annuities, and College Financial aid as an article on Forbes has reported.


Florida Estate Planning becomes very important when there are children from outside the current marriage. A spouse in Florida is entitled to a 30% share of all assets unless there is a prenuptial or post nuptial waiver.

in addition aFlorida Revocable Trust or prenuptial agreement might not keep a spouse from being responsible for long-term care and can have an effect on Florida Medicaid Planning and Eligibility

The Florida Supreme court has said that a spouse may wave their rights to a family home, but the constitutional rights of the Florida Homestead are very strong and should be considered.

Social Security
needs to be considered an the benefits from former will be affected by remarrying before the age of 60. After age 60 you may be able to collect benefits from a new spouse if those benefits are higher.

Alimony and Survivor's Annuities will likely end if you remarry.

College Financial Aid might be affected if the income of the family changes.

For more information on Florida Estate Planning Contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer.

Posted On: January 31, 2008

Estate Planning for Non-U.S. Citizen Spouses

How is a Florida Estate Plan different if you or your spouse is not a citizen of the United States? The Connecticut Elder Law Blog reported in an article that if non U.S. citizens have a completely different set of estate tax rules to contend with.

If the U.S. citizen dies first, then the estate tax could become due at that point and the government does not wait until the death of the second spouse like when both are U.S. citizens. Michael Keenan states that the a common approach is to use a QDOT to deal with this issue.

if you or your spouse is not a U.S. citizen you should contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to understand how this can affect your estate planning.

Posted On: January 30, 2008

New Blog Florida Child Injury Legal Blog

Jacksonville Child Injury LawyerOne of the Lawyers in my office, David Wolf, has followed my lead and started to create a legal blog dealing with Florida Child Injury issues. David's blog is the Florida Child Injury Lawyer Blog. David covers everything from Florida Automobile Accidents, Florida Child Safety, Florida Crimes Against Children, Florida Dog Bites, Florida Homeowner Claims, Florida Home injuries, Florida Playground injuries, Florida wrongful death ....

Often when there are injuries to children I am involved in setting up Florida Guardianships. In Florida when a child receives more than $15,000 in settlement of a claim, most courts will require the creation of a Florida Guardianship.

Posted On: January 30, 2008

Reasons to Create a Living Trust

Mark Jakubik of the Pennsylvania Estate Planning Lawyer Blog posted an article Reasons to Prepare a "Living Trust" where he has compiled a good list of reasons. They are:

* Avoiding probate. Since the property is no longer in your name as an individual, but is now in your name as trustee, there is no reason to go through probate. This is a savings of 5%-10% of your gross estate. An additional benefit is that it will only take weeks instead of years to transfer your property to your heirs.

* The trust will remain private. Unlike a will, which has to be filed as a public record in the probate court, the trust remains a private document even after your death.

* With certain provision in the trust, you can completely avoid or reduce estate taxes. This can mean savings of literally thousands of dollars.

* You avoid the potential of a guardianship hearing because you have already named someone to take your place if you are unable to handle your affairs. In addition, you can set up your trust to allow your family Doctor to make the decision of whether you can handle your own affairs. The alternative is to allow a judge to do this in a public hearing.

* If your heirs are too young or immature to handle the money you will leave them when you die, you can use a trust to determine when they will receive the money and how much they will receive each time. For example, you can leave instructions that say, when my child reaches 30, he gets 1/3 of the property. When he reaches 35, he gets another 2/3. And when he reaches 40, he would receive the final 1/3, or the remaining balance of the estate.

* The trust is less open to attack than a will. This means that your wishes have a better chance of being carried out.

* In the context of a second marriage, the trust is an excellent way to protect both the surviving spouse and the children from your previous marriage.

* If you have property in another state the trust will eliminate the probate in the other state.

* Transferring property through a trust allows your property to receive a stepped up basis. This could greatly reduce the amount of capital gains tax your heirs will pay.

* Setting your finances in order will give you peace of mind.

Not all of the numbers are the same for Jacksonville Florida Living Trusts. Please contact a Jacksonville Living Trust Lawyer to discuss your needs.

Posted On: January 29, 2008

Non Compete Agreements and Bankruptcy

I was recently asked about violations of a Florida non-compete agreement and the effect of a personal bankruptcy filing. I found a case which seems to address this issue on point. The case law is that as long as the debtor does not prove that the contract damages are tortuous and that he debtor caused willful and malicious injury the claims are discharged under the bankruptcy code as any other claim is.

This issue was raised by a company who failed to present evidence in a ex-employee's bankruptcy case that was sufficient to show both that the conduct was tortious and that the acts were both willful and caused a malicious injury to the company.

It would seem to reason that an ex-employer who failed to raise these issues during the bankruptcy would also denied a claim against the ex-employee.

If you are a company who has a cause of action against an ex-employee or an ex-employee who has filed bankruptcy and involved in a suit over a non-compete or Florida non-solicitation issue you should contact a Florida employment Lawyer who deals with Florida Non-Compete law.

Posted On: January 29, 2008

Amending Life Insurance Trusts in Florida

ILIT Florida Life insurance Trust and Jacksonville Estate PlanningCan I amend my life insurance trust?

A Florida Life Insurance Trust is an irrevocable trust and can generally not be amended. Although Florida's new trust code does allow for easier amendments of trusts when the primary purpose of the trust will not be accomplished by the current form. An example of this might be when the trust's beneficiary dies. This type of judicial modification is not certain and would depend on the circumstances and the court's willingness to agree.

One other way to modify a life insurance trust (ILIT) is to let the policy expire and create a new life insurance trust. Sometimes this is not practical because of a change in the health or age of the individual.

Most estate planning lawyers will plan for such contingencies in the original documents to avoid the necessity to modify, or create new trusts in the future.

Each set of circumstances is unique you should contact an Estate Planning Lawyer to review your needs and circumstances in dealing with changes with a Life Insurance Trust.

Posted On: January 28, 2008

Florida Unrecorded deeds and Estate Planning

unrecorded Florida Deed and Jacksonville Estate PlanningNormally a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer would advise against signing a deed conveying a home or other property without recording the deed.

What happens if a Florida deed or Florida Enhanced Life Estate Deed is signed but unrecorded?
Is the deed valid?
What risks are associated with unrecorded deeds?
Why would someone want to sign a deed but not record the deed in Florida?

A Florida Deed is not invalid just because it is not recorded. There is the potential for claims from other people if they record a deed before you record a deed. In Florida, when a deed is recorded there are taxes that must be paid on any outstanding mortgage. For every $1000 of mortgage a fee of $70 is charged. While this may not seem like much, if the loan is $100,000 the fee will be $700 and if the loan is $500,000 the fee is $3500. Often people want to transfer the ownership of their property but expect to pay off outstanding loans prior to their death. To save the fees, clients often ask about waiting to record the deed. We would generally advise against such actions as in Florida the first person to record a deed, who does not have notice of a prior deed, and who pays for the property will be considered the owner.

As people age, they may forget that they signed a prior deed, and sell the property to someone else. If that person records before you do, your claim or right to the property would be invalid. In addition, as people age, they are sometimes taken advantage of and do things against their will. Although there may be a claim for undue influence, these are very hard and expensive to prevail on.

Another potential problem could arise if your father's estate plan distributes the real estate to someone other than you. If your dad's will bequests the property to your sister and you go to record your deed, you might find yourself on the business end of a lawsuit involving the estate.

There is always a chance the rules relating to recording a deed change. The current sales disclosure form that must be filed with deeds needs to be signed by both parties.

Unrecorded deeds can be useful under certain limited conditions, such as death-bed planning. However, personally, I would generally be reluctant to advise using an unrecorded deed. When clients ask about them it is important to let them know the risks associated with them.

Each set of circumstances is unique and sometimes the use of an unrecorded deed in Florida is worth the risk. You should contact an Estate Planning Lawyer to review your needs and circumstances prior to executing an unrecorded deed.

Posted On: January 27, 2008

Overriding your will by mistake

Jacksonville Florida WillWhen reviewing your Florida Estate Plan be sure that your will does not conflict with other actions you have taken to avoid probate.

Assets that have joint ownership, payable on death designations or beneficiaries will not pass to the beneficiaries names in your Florida Estate Planning Documents. Often a person's will leave assets split equally among their heirs. When a bank account, IRA, CD, or life insurance policy names someone else as the owner, the asset is not counted as part of the estate and the asset will not be split how the will designates.

This can reduce the amount of assets that other beneficiaries receive compared to the person who is the joint owner or beneficiary of the bank account, IRA, CD, or life insurance policy.

One solution to this problem is the use of a funded Florida Revocable Trust or Florida Living Trust. The technique would be to name the trust as the beneficiary and have the trust make the distributions as you want.

For more details on these or other techniques you should contact to a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer or have your attorney review all of your account designations along with your Florida Estate Planning Documents.

Posted On: January 23, 2008

IRA Beneficiaries - Know the Rules

As Baby boomers retire and move to Florida or other states, one of the jobs of an Estate Planning Lawyer is to review the Beneficiaries on IRA and other types of accounts. Denice Glerach a lawyer in Naperville wrote an article discussing this problem and suggesting some solutions for IRA's suggesting that most people do not realize that the money in a traditional IRA account or employee benefit accounts are subject to income taxes by the recipient as well as estate taxes upon the death of the IRA owner.

Several options are mentioned
Leaving the IRA to a charity - Should eliminate the income tax and estate tax.
Leaving the account to a trust to defer income tax and protect it from creditors.
Structuring the trust correctly to reduce or defer income taxes by spreading the distributions.
Using a Conduit trust or an accumulation trust as the designated beneficiary to qualify as a designated beneficiary to help protect the assets. and
Not missing real people with charities was beneficiaries because charities are not considered to have a life expectancy.

You review the beneficiaries on your estate planning documents and all accounts on a regular basis.

Posted On: January 22, 2008

Florida Firearm Legislation Has Been Filed

Below is some information I on proposed Florida gun legislation.

The following bills have been filed to protect your constitutional and statutory right to have a firearm stored in your vehicle in a parking lot for self-defense and other lawful purposes.

House Bill 503 by Greg Evers (R) (CO-SPONSORS) Mitch Needelman (R)
Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008:
Creates "Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008"; prohibits public or private entity from prohibiting customer, employee, or invitee from possessing any legally owned firearm that is lawfully possessed & locked inside or locked to private motor vehicle in parking lot; prohibits such entities from violating specified privacy rights by verbal or written inquiry or by search to ascertain presence of firearm within motor vehicle; prohibits certain actions by public or private entity against customer, employee, or invitee; prohibits employer from conditioning employment upon agreement by prospective employee that prohibits employees from keeping legal firearm locked inside motor vehicle; prohibits employer from attempting to prevent or prohibiting any customer, employee, or invitee from entering parking lot of employer's place of business when customer's, employee's, or invitee's motor vehicle contains legal firearm; prohibits employers from terminating employment of or otherwise discriminating against employee, or expelling customer or invitee, for exercising specified constitutional rights; provides specified immunity from liability; provides for enforcement of act; provides for award of costs & attorney's fees.

Senate Bill 1130 by Durell Peaden (R) Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008: Creates "Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008"; prohibits public or private entity from prohibiting customer, employee, or invitee from possessing any legally owned firearm that is lawfully possessed & locked inside or locked to private motor vehicle in parking lot; prohibits such entities from violating specified privacy rights by verbal or written inquiry or by search to ascertain presence of firearm within motor vehicle; prohibits certain actions by public or private entity against customer, employee, or invitee; prohibits employer from conditioning employment upon agreement by prospective employee that prohibits employees from keeping legal firearm locked inside motor vehicle; prohibits employer from attempting to prevent or prohibiting any customer, employee, or invitee from entering parking lot of employer's place of business when customer's, employee's, or invitee's motor vehicle contains legal firearm; prohibits employers from terminating employment of or otherwise discriminating against employee, or expelling customer or invitee, for exercising specified constitutional rights; provides specified immunity from liability; provides for enforcement of act; provides for award of costs & attorney's fees.

WHY THESE BILLS ARE NEEDED

These bills will stop business entities from searching private vehicles and violating the constitutional rights of customers and employees.

Your Second Amendment rights are at the very heart of this issue. In addition to prohibiting searches of private vehicles in parking lots, these bills also prevent businesses from asking customers or employees to disclose what personal private property is stored in private vehicles and prevents action against customers and employees who refuse to divulge that private information. Furthermore, it prohibits action against a customer or employee based on information provided by a third party.

Some Florida businesses are trying to ban firearms in cars in parking lots used by customers and employees. They are discriminating against people who exercise their constitutional rights – they are violating the constitutional rights of gun owners and Florida law.

Corporate giants have been trampling constitutional rights. Some are even attempting to coerce and intimidate gun owners into giving up their constitutional rights as a condition of employment.

Your Rights are in Danger!

Carrying firearms in a vehicle for hunting, target shooting or protection of yourself and your family obviously means you can leave that firearm locked in the vehicle in a parking lot when you go grocery shopping, to the doctor's office, to a movie theater, to visit a sick friend in the hospital, to rent a movie, to the shoe store or anywhere else normal people travel to conduct business.

Florida law, the U.S. Constitution, and the Florida Constitution clearly and unequivocally give law- abiding citizens the right to have firearms in their vehicles for lawful purposes.

How can anyone justify telling a woman who is being stalked that she can't have a firearm for protection? In many cases police tell these women to get a gun for protection because police can't be there to protect them -- and calling 911 is nothing more than government sponsored dial-a-prayer.

A business owner or manager has no more right to say you can't have a firearm in your private vehicle than they have a right to say you can't have a pair of sunglasses, an umbrella, a Bible or a baby seat.

Such an anti-gun political exercise is not good business sense. They want your money, but don't respect your rights.

Businesses are not allowed to discriminate against employees and customers because of race, religion, political party, color of eyes, hair or weight. And they certainly can't discriminate because of the exercise of lawful self-defense. And, make no mistake, these gun ban policies are blatant discrimination against people who chose to exercise a constitutional right and take responsibility for their own safety.

To find contact information for your State Senator and State Representative, please click here.

Posted On: January 22, 2008

Beware of Trust Mills

Randall Armour of the Santa Clarita Valley Signal wrote an article discussing Trust Mills and gives some advise on how to spot a trust mill and several problems associated with them.

1. Trust mills often prepare documents after the client has filled out a simple check-the-box-type questionnaire. Little or no counseling or advice is given to the client and the client may meet with a “paralegal,” CPA or financial adviser, but not with an attorney.

2. The cost of the documents is a good indicator of whether or not you are dealing with a trust mill. Trust mills usually charge from $300 to $700 for their documents. Just remember, you get what you pay for — in this case, not very much!

3. Trust mills often provide documents for limited purposes such as avoiding probate or estate taxes.

4. A major problem with trust mills is the lack of proper assistance in funding the trust. Most mill trusts created are not properly funded and the documents do not provide a way of funding the trust after death without probate. A trust must be properly funded to work.

Some common issues not dealt with by Trust Mills are:

Failure to fund, mentioned above.
Failure to consider retirement funds and insurance policy funds which could lead to increased estate taxes, distributions, and income tax.
Failure to address issues such as incompetency, children from prior marriages and tailoring management and distribution of assets for beneficiaries who may be unable to properly manage their inheritance.

For more issues with Trust Mills and what other states are doing to stop them from harming their citizens see this article.

Posted On: January 22, 2008

Living Trust Mills Winding Up In Some States

Although there are no current verdicts against Florida Companies, many states have taken action against living Trust Scams / Trust Mills / and Elder Law Planning Seminars. Michael Bonasera of Buckingham Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP and author of the The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog wrote an article titled Living Trust Scams/Trust Mills/Elderlaw Planning Seminars - STAY AWAY! where he mentions a previous posting on this Blog, Florida Estate Planning Lawyers Blog, on a similar topic dealing with a Texarkana Arkansas class action suit.
I thought I would start a list of Living Trust Scam Articles and resources on my blog.

1. Texarkana Arkansas Living Trust Seminar Class Action suit
2. California Living Trust Mill Judgment
3.Texas Bar story reported by Professor Beyer of Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog- Living trust Scams and Senior Consumer
4. Michael Bonasera wrote an article titledLiving Trust Scams/Trust Mills/Elderlaw Planning Seminars - STAY AWAY! where he Ohio's history with Trust Mills and cites a case Ohio Trust Mill Case of Cleveland Bar v Sharp Estate Services, Inc. which seems to have ended Trust Mills in Ohio.
5. Beware of Trust Mills when Estate Planning - by Randall Armour, CA Lawyer- reported on by Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

If anyone has heard of additional Living Trust Scam / Trust Mill or Elderlaw planning Seminar articles please contact me and let me know and I will update the list.

Posted On: January 19, 2008

Gun Licensing and The Supreme Court

Many gun owners are concerned about how the Supreme Court may rule in a case that is before them. A client of mine sent me a video link that shows what has happened in the UK and Australia.

We have seen a substantial increase in the number of people looking to establish NFA Gun trusts in the past few months. Many are concerned with who the next president is and all seem concerned with the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court where a states ability to limit gun ownership is at issue.

Posted On: January 17, 2008

Supreme Court Limits Deductions on Trusts

The Supreme Court upheld the limits on income tax deductions for a trustsor estate. The Court ruled against the Knight family (they created Pepperidge Farm).

The Court said trusts ordinarily may not deduct the full cost of investment advice on their income tax returns. These expenses are only deductible when they exceed 2 percent of adjusted gross income of the entity. These are the same as with individuals.

The case dealt with a small dispute and involved the Trusts income tax return.

The trust reported that it spent $22,241 on investment advice and deducted all of it on its tax return. The Internal Revenue Service said the expenses could be deducted only to the extent they exceeded the 2 percent floor. The discrepancy was $4,448.

The trust sued in U.S. Tax Court, which ruled for the government and the case was affirmed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before being heard by the Supreme Court

The case is Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 06-1286.

Posted On: January 17, 2008

Death of Employee and Final Paycheck

Florida Paycheck Lawyer AttorneyA paycheck of a decedent belongs to the Decedents estate. Florida Employers should not cancel nor refuse to issue paychecks for employees who die. Florida Employers should follow their normal procedures. If no one checks on the status of the paycheck, it would be a good idea to send notice to their address that the check is being held for their estate. This gets more complicated with direct deposit where the funds could go to the wrong person. The decedent could have a joint account with someone who was not the same person who would take under the will.

If you have questions about receiving or what to do with the earned but unpaid income of a decedent in Florida you should contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer who is familiar with Florida Business Law.

Posted On: January 16, 2008

Medical Powers of Attorney for Minor Children

Florida residents who have minor children should consider executing a power of attorney which allows another to take care of their minor children medically if they are unable to do so or unavailable at the time.

A medical power of attorney for a minor child is just another piece in the estate planning jigsaw puzzle. Like many estate planning documents, it isn't for everyone. However, if you are like my family and your children spend a lot of time in the care of another loved one, a MPOAMC is an important piece.

Contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to create a medical power of attorney for your minor children.

Posted On: January 15, 2008

Class Action Suit Against Living Trust Sellers

A number of Texarkana residents have filed suit against sellers of living trust documents in a class action accusing the salesmen of exploiting senior citizens. This is similar to what I reported happening in California in December.

A Plaintiff says he purchased a living trust after attending a lunch presentation at a restaurant. He states the document was misrepresented and that if he dies with only these estate-planning documents, his estate will still need to be probated because the living trust failed to factor in his real property in Arkansas.

The living trust sellers are facing allegations of "masquerading as qualified financial advisers, estate planners, lawyers, and paralegals" to "exploit and prey" upon senior citizens with the creation and selling of "unnecessary and often useless" living trusts.

Defendants are accused of fraud, unauthorized practice of law, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy. The suit alleges that the defendants created and sold the living trusts as part of a scheme to gain access to senior citizens' financial information in order to sell annuities and other financial products.

According to the original complaint, the scheme begins with advertisements that persuade senior citizens to attend a free lunch or dinner. At these meetings, the "unlicensed" living trust defendants conduct presentations and distribute materials that misrepresent the impact of probate fees and estate taxes in order to create fear that the senior citizens need to buy a trust to prevent heirs from losing their estate.

These presentations include references to celebrities such as Elvis and describe the large amounts these celebrities have paid in estate taxes. The plaintiffs state these presentations do not include information about the federal estate tax exemption, the sliding scale of the exemption amount, or the possibility of the elimination of future estate taxes.

Further, the presentation does not tell senior citizens with estates larger than the exemption amount that the purchase of these living trusts will not automatically eliminate all estate taxes. The forms and decisions made by the defendants fail to take into account the entire senior's asse