Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

You have heard it all before again and again. The reason for the repetition is . . . there really are 7 estate planning documents that should be prepared before one dies.

A Jacksonville Estate Planning lawyer will provide you with story after story that have no happy endings. These stories begin with people who talked about contacting a lawyer to have legal documents prepared, but never did.

The documents you need to consider today are:

1. Last Will and Testament: This document allows you to name a guardian for your minor children in the event of your death, distributes your property to the people you want to inherit, allows you to donate to charity, among other provisions.
2. Living Will: If you remember the Terri Schiavo Florida case, you will recall 7 years of court battles regarding life-prolonging procedures keeping Terri alive, after being diagnosed as in a persistent vegetative state. If a Living Will (which allows you to declare what, if any life-prolonging technology you desire) was in place, this costly, exhaustive and emotional fight would never have happened.
3. Do-Not-Resuscitate Order (DNR): This document is state specific and it must be prepared in strict compliance with Florida Law. If prepared properly, it alerts medical professionals not to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a patient when he/she stops breathing or the heart stops beating in specific medical conditions (end state renal disease, terminal cancer).
4. Designation of Health Care Surrogate: This document allows you to name the person(s) you want to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are incapacitate or too ill to make these decisions yourself. If this document is not in place, the default health care substitute chosen may very well be someone you do not want to serve.
5. Authorization to Release Health-Care Information: We have all heard of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). This federal privacy rule provides protection for personal health care information. This law is so strict that if you have not executed a HIPAA Release even your health care surrogate or proxy will be unable to obtain and review your records.
6. Trust Documents: There are numerous trusts for different types of situations. In general terms, a trust is utilized whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another. For a listing of the various trusts available and their purpose, visit Jacksonville Trusts Attorney.
7. Letter of Instruction: This document can be as simple or detailed as you desire. It can contain directions as to your burial and cremation wishes, organ donation wishes, and who you would like to care for your pets.

Don't let another day pass, contact a Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer.

In Florida a Will must be in writing, signed by the signed by the testator and authenticated by two witnesses. Florida does not recognize holographic wills that are valid in another state if they do not meet the above requirements. Other than holographic wills, Florida will recognize a will that was validly created in another country.

Therefore a foreign will other than a holographic will is valid in Florida and holographic wills created in anther state or country which are signed by the testator and authenticated by two witnesses are also valid in Florida.

There are three ways in which a will can be contested in Florida.

1. Undue Influence;


2. Testamentary Capacity;


3. Failure to Execute with the Required Formalities.

The above example would involve Failure to Execute with the Required Formalities.
Florida Statute 732.502 defines the requirements that a testator must follow to create a valid will. Carefull attention need to be paid to a will that was not executed in Florida, or an old will to make sure that the requirements were followed at the time the will was created and not necessarily the current requirements.

In addition, a foreign will could be challenged under testamentary capacity. To have the proper testamentary capacity to make a will in Florida you must be of sound mind and either an emancipated minor or more than 18 years of age. Sound mind is having the mental ability to understand the making of a will, knowing what your assets are, and being able to choose who is going to receive them. You do not have to understand it later, but only have a lucid moment at the time you execute the document. If there is a question about mental capacity, it is a good idea to ask questions, and document the answers at the time the will is signed to create evidence of mental capacity for any future dispute.

The third type of will contest deals with undue influence. This happens when a beneficiary or another person causes a person to change a will to the detriment of another person. These are very hard cases to prove but do occur. Often a family member, caregiver, friend, or neighbor with access to a person can cause them to change a will with undue influence.

If you are considering contesting a will in Florida, you should discuss your situation with a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to determine what your options are.

Jim McDermott and the House Democrats introduced a bill to extend the estate tax beyond 2012. The proposal would reduce the current estate tax exemption from $5 million to just 1 million and raise the estate tax rate from 35% to a top rate of 55%.

The bill also contains restrictions on Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts :

• Minimum 10 year term;


• Annuity payment cannot be reduced from one year to the next during the first 10 years of the GRAT term; and


• The remainder interest at the time of the transfer must have "a value greater than zero.''


• The bill contains no guidance regarding the parameters of the "greater than zero" requirement.


• Effective for transfers made after the date of enactment.

The bill would also limit discount on minority interest in companies or investments:

• For the transfer of an interest in an entity which is not actively traded, no valuation discount would be allowed with respect to "nonbusiness assets";


• For the transfer of an interest in an entity which is not actively traded, no discount would be allowed by reason of the fact that the transferee does not have control of the entity if the transferee and the transferee's family members have control of the entity.


• Effective with regard to transfers after the date of enactment.

"It really is a question of clarity," for both families and planners, McDermott said. "The question is how to bring fairness into it."

Under McDermott's proposal, co-sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel , the exemption for married couples would drop to $2 million from current level of $10 million. A surviving spouses could still claim the remainder of their partner's exemption if some remains unused after death. The rate and $1 million exemption would be adjusted for inflation, beginning at the 2000 level.

The bill would also unify the estate and gift taxes. That means a taxpayer would only have a single exemption of $1 million for their estate and most gifts. The legislation also includes several provisions from Obama's last budget proposal to end targeted estate tax breaks.

While there are not many days left this year, it might be beneficial to make larger gifts today to lock in the 5 Million dollar gift exemption in place now. To discuss how this could change your existing estate tax planning, contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss your specifics.

12 Laws of Christmas - Day 1 Create a Will for $25

Have you been in need of a Florida Will or have a family member that is in need of a new Will? Have you considered using an online service but been afraid of what you might create or what mistakes you may make? Now, you can have a lawyer create a will for only $25. This is not a will that you would find at staples or in a form book, but a fully customizable will based on your needs and desires.

The Apple Law Firm has decided to do 12 great specials for our new and existing clients. Most of the specials will only be valid for the day they are mentioned, but we will honor this special as long as you contact us about it by December 25th and pay for it by the end of the year.

If you want to be the first to find out about the special offers by the Apple Law Firm for the remaining 12 Laws of Christmas, be sure to check this blog daily or subscribe to our blog updates.

The eligibility requirements for Medicaid have changed for Florida as of 1/1/2012. There were changed in the income criteria, maximum amount of assets, and maximum equity in your homestead property.

Florida Medicaid Income Limits as of 1/1/2012.

The Applicant's income limits have increased from $2022/ month to $2094/month. If the applicane for Medicaid has income in excessof $2094, they may use a Qualified Income Trust or Miller Trust to help the appllicant qualify for Florida Medicaid Benefits under the Medicaid Asset Test.

Florida Medicaid Asset Limits as of 1/1/2012.

For an individual who is not married, the Applicant can only have $2000 in countable assets. This number is unchanged from 2011.

For an Applicant who is married, their Spouse's Asset limits have increased from $109,560 in 2011 to $113,640 as of 1/1/2012.

If you have more than the maximum assets, we can talk about how to convert countable assets to exempt assets, spend the money appropriately or plan for gifting, loans, or Medicaid compliant Annunites to allow you to qualify even if you have signifiantly more assets than the maximum.

Florida Medicaid Homestead Equity Limits as of 1/1/2012.

An Applicant for Florida Medicaid can have $525K in homestead equity. This value has increased from the $506K which was allowable in 2011. If your home has more than the maximum value of equity, there are ways to reduce the amount of equity to allow you to qualify for Florida Medicaid.

if you or a family memeber will be looking for Florida Medicaid Benefits, you should consult with a Florida Medicaid Lawyer before you apply for coverage to protect excess income or assets and allow you to qualify properly. Many of these techniques can still be used even if the family member is already in a nursing home.

As you or your family members age, it is important to review your Florida Estate Planning Documents with somone who is familiar with Elder law and estate planning because many of the techiniques used for estate planning can cause problems when applying for Florida Medicaid Benefits

What is a Florida will?

A will is a written instrument, signed by the decedent and at least two witnesses in each others presence, that fulfills the requirements of Florida law. A will names the beneficiaries for the testator's probate assets. The testator can also designate guardians for minor children and a personal representative to administer the estate. If a will was validly executed in another state, Florida courts will recognize the document as a will except in the case of a holographic will. Holographic wills are wills written entirely in the testators own handwriting and in most states witness signatures are not required. However, Florida law requires that holographic wills be witnessed and signed in the same manner as any other Florida will.

What if there is not a Florida will?

In Florida if someone dies without a valid will they are said to have died 'intestate'. If they have a will when they die, they die 'testate'. If a person dies without a will, Florida statutes direct how their assets will be distributed based on whether the decedent had a spouse, children, children from outside the marriage, parents, siblings and so on. If a person dies without a will or any living relatives then his or her property will escheat to the state (become the property of the state).
If a person dies intestate, the decedent's probate assets will be distributed to the decedent's heirs in the following order of priority:

a) If the decedent was survived by a spouse but was not survived by any lineal descendants, the surviving spouse receives all of the decedent's estate.
b) If the decedent was survived by a spouse and was survived by one or more lineal descendants (all of whom are the descendants of both the decedent and his or her spouse), the surviving spouse receives the entire intestate estate.
c) If the decedent was survived by a spouse and survived by one or more lineal descendants (at least one of whom is not also a lineal descendant of the surviving spouse), the surviving spouse receives one-half of the probate assets, and the decedent's lineal descendants share the remaining half.
d) If the decedent was not married at his or her death but was survived by one or more of his or her lineal descendants, those descendants will receive all of the decedent's estate. If there is more than one lineal descendant, the decedent's estate will be divided among them 'per stirpes' which is the manner prescribed by Florida law. The easiest way to understand per stirpes is to divide the assets at the first generational level where there is a survivor. If any of those individuals pre-deceased the decedent, their share will be split between their descendants, if any. If there are no surviving descendants, their share will not be counted when making the division between their siblings. Basically if you predecease your parents, your children will divide your share of your parent's estate. If you have no children or descendents, your share will go to your siblings.
e) If the decedent was not married at his or her death and had no surviving lineal descendants, the decedent's probate assets will pass to the decedent's surviving parents, if they are living, otherwise to the decedent's brothers and sisters if living, otherwise to the decedent's nieces and nephews.
f) Florida's intestate laws will pass the decedent's probate estate to other, more remote heirs if the decedent is not survived by any of the close relatives described above.

Do I need the original Will in Florida?

In Florida only an original will can be admitted to the court unless there are extenuating circumstances.

What happens if I cannot find the original Will?

A Will that cannot be found that was last seen in the hands of the testator is presumed to have been destroyed by the decedent. If a will has been destroyed by the decedent it is presumed that the decedent intended to revoke the will. It is possible to admit a copy when the original cannot be found and people can testify to its validity. This process is not guaranteed because you have to overcome the presumption that the testator destroyed the will intentionally.

Is a Will valid in Florida?

In order for a will to be admitted to court, it must be a validly executed will under the statutes governing Wills. For a Florida will to be valid, it must be signed at the end by the testator and two witnesses, who each in the presence of the other witness the testator's signature. It is not necessary that the testator sign their name, an X is sufficient. If the will was validly created in another state, Florida Courts will generally recognize the will.

If you are having problems getting a copy of a will or would like your Florida will reviewed to make sure it is valid and does what you want, you should contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss your situation.

After you die, you may have money, property, and other assets that were in your own name. Generally the assets which did not automatically become someone else's upon your death are part of your probate estate. Many individuals attempt to make sure that there are no assets in their probate estate when they die. This is often done with the help of a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer and can often include Florida Revocable Trust as well as reviewing ones beneficiary designations.

A will is where you would typically define who will be the personal representative or the Executor of your estate. While the many estate plans in Florida will not need a PR or executor, many individuals do not fully plan to deal with all of their assets and a Florida executor is needed. Generally the executor is someone in whom you can put the utmost trust. Your Executor will be the person in charge of making sure all your assets including your money are gathered, kept safe and distributed according to state law and your desires. There are certain people who will get paid before any distributions are made. Generally, the PR, court costs, and lawyers are paid first, then the burial expenses are paid (up to $6000 is a priority claim). After these bills are paid, the creditors are paid and only after the bills are paid, do the beneficiaries receive what is left from the probate estate.

Florida Statute 733.707 discusses the priority that claims are paid. In general they are paid in the following order:

Class 1 - Costs, expenses of administration, and compensation of the personal representative and their attorneys fees

Class 2 - Reasonable Funeral, interment, and grave marker expenses, whether paid by a guardian, the PR or any other person not to exceed $6000. (Additional costs are treated as an unsecured creditor.

Class 3 - Debts and taxes with preference under federal law.

Class 4 - Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last 60 days of the last illness of the decedent, including compensation of persons attending the decedent.

Class 5 - Family allowance.

Class 6 - Arrearage from court ordered child support.

Class 7 - Debts acquired after death by the continuation of the decedent's business, but only to the extent of the assets of that business.

Class 8 - All other claims including those founded on judgments or decrees rendered against the decedent during the decedent's lifetime, and any excess sums allowed in the Class 2 and Class 4 claims.

After paying the expenses in Class 1 - Class 7, if the estate is insufficient to pay all of the Class 8 claims, the Class 8 claims shall be pro-rated. If the probate estate does not have sufficient assets, any revocable trust's assets can be used.

How your Executor determines your heirs, should have been designated by you while you are alive through a will. The will is governed by Florida state law which mandates your Executor has a fiduciary duty to distribute your money and assets to whomever you state in your will should get the money or assets. The fiduciary duty is one of the highest duties one person can owe another. The fiduciary duty imparts on the person owing the duty (your Executor) the obligation of good faith, impartiality, honesty, and diligence. This basically means your Executor must act as if he or she was you making the decision while you were alive.

While many of you may be thinking that fewer Florida Probate cases will involve federal estate tax returns in 2011, the opposite is actually true. It seems with the new $5 Million estate tax exemption that most estates will not need to file a tax return. What most people do not realize is that by failing to file an estate tax return in 2010 (Form 706) the spouse of a decedent will lose the portability of the unused portion of the estate tax exemption that is available to the surviving spouse. Form 706 was just released by the IRS and if you know someone who passed away in 2011, you should have them ask their CPA or Tax Attorney about the benefits of filing a Form 706 and the risks and potential tax liabilities if one is not filed.

Who gets make the funeral arrangements for our parents? Why was Dad or Mom Cremated? How can I stop my mom, step-parent, parents significant other, or sibling from the improper disposition of my relatives remains?

These are all questions dealing with the same issue: Who gets to make the decision about the disposition of a person who has recently died? As a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer we always talk to our clients about the importance of discussing your desires with those who will make the decisions, but what if someone takes over and does something that was not wanted? Can it be stopped? In most cases, the damage may be done before you have knowledge of what is happening, but in some cases there is time to stop arrangements. Florida statutes define the legally authorized person who can make the decisions regarding disposition of a body. In doing so there is a priority list that starts with the decedent, as it should.

That means if you make arrangements regarding your disposition, your decisions should be followed - as long as they are known, and able to be learned of prior to alternative arrangements being carried out.

Next a person listed on your Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data (DD Form 93) for those who die while serving in military service.

If there are no documents, the surviving spouse, even if not living as husband and wife, an adult child, a parent, an adult sibling, an adult grandchild, a grandparent, and if you exhaust that list it can be any person in the next degree of kinship. The Florida Statutes even provide that if there is no family member, the guardian, the personal representative, the attorney in fact, health surrogate, a public health officer, medical examiner, county commission, or basically any one willing to assume the responsiblity as the legally authorized person.

If the decision is made my someone in a class of people (one of several adult children) to cremate a body, the funeral establishment can rely on that one person as long as the person represents that she or he is not aware of any objection to the cremation by others in the same class or any person in a higher priority class.

A Florida Estate Planning Lawyer can help educate you on how to property draft documents to make sure you understand how to address these issues properly, while you can and before it causes problems between your family members. Does your Florida Estate Planning address the following?

How do I make sure my wishes are carried out? and
How to I educate those whom will make the decision as to how to make sure that my wished are carried out?

I recently updated the Free Florida Probate Handbook to deal with many of the changes from this year's legislature. If you have a preivous copy or would like an undated verstion please let us know by requesting on this page.

Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPT) have become the latest rage in estate planning and asset protection. We have generally found that there are better ways of protecting assets from creditors by using traditional estate planning that has case-law history.

In a recent US bankruptcy case, a DAPT was invalidated and the 10-year bankruptcy statute of limitations in regards to trusts was upheld. This was an Alaskan case using an Alaskan DAPT but similar results should be expected in other jurisdictions.

If you are interested in Florida Asset Protection or Asset Protection in Jacksonville, contact a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer to discuss your circumstances and options that are available to help protect your assets from creditors or increase the ability to negotiate with creditors.

DCF will reject Medicaid planning involving trusts and personal service contracts where a power of attorney is executed after 10/1/11 and the DPOA does not specifically authorize the ability to execute trusts or personal services contracts.

If you are using forms for a POA or DPOA, you should have them reviewed by an attorney as the may not be valid with the recent law change. In addition, the forms may not let you accomplish what needs to be done in regards to planning for a nursing home or Medicaid eligibility.

Here is a link to the article I previously mentioned on the Trust Advisor Blog where they interviewed me on my thoughts on Steve Jobs Estate.

Today there is much speculation about what Steve Jobs' will reading will reveal about his life. Steve Jobs has always been very quiet and protective about his personal life and we all know that he has been very good at protecting business secrets.

I was interviewed today about what Steve Jobs's will and the potential huge estate tax that will be paid. I think if you look at how he managed his life and businesses, it is likely that if Steve had a will, it will not be read and there will be no probate. I believe that none or almost none of his assets will pass under a traditional probate and that there will be no boom to the economy from his huge estate. Steve was married at the time he died and as such jointly held assets or those in a joint trust will probably not be subject to any estate taxes.

It is unlikely that we will hear anything in the next few months and may never know about Steve's estate.

Forbes is reporting that Steve Jobs's estate will probably not owe taxes also

I received an email regarding a video on Death and Estate Taxes. While most of these seem to be SPAM, this one actually had some decent background information that many of you may find valuable. The video states that 2% of the US population are subject to Death Taxes. I think the actual number is closer to 0.3% at the current level and it was as high as 2% when the estate tax exemption was 2 Million.

Continue reading "Intro to Death Taxes" »