Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

A Florida Will is one of the most basic estate-planning documents. A Will allows the grantor to devise his or her property with very limited encumbrances; however, there are issues that are better addressed with other estate-planning documents - like a Trust. If you are debating whether to use a Trust or a Will, then this blog will help you. However, it is wise to seek assistance from an estate-planning attorney before making a decision.

What is a Will?
A Will is a written instrument, signed by the decedent and at least two witnesses in each other 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 testator's 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 is a Trust?
A Trust is a relationship created at the direction of an individual, in which one or more persons hold the individual's property subject to certain duties to use and protect it for the benefit of others. The creators of a Trust may control the distribution of their property during their lives or after their deaths through the use of the instrument. There are many types of Trusts and many purposes for their creation. A Trust may be created for the financial benefit of the person creating the Trust, a surviving spouse or minor children, or for a charitable purpose.

TRUST VS WILL
Some common reasons to use a Trust over a Will include:

• A. Are you seeking to avoid probate?
  You must first open probate to carry out the instructions in a Will. A Trust, however, can provide a way to bypass probate because the Trust owns the property the day it is transferred to it. Therefore, the dead of the settlor does not impact ownership in the property.
• B. Are you seeking to plan for mental disability or special needs?
  If you have special needs or dependents with special needs, a Trust can be customized to meet these needs. A Will, on the other hand, allows you to transfer property but does not allow you to exercise substantial control over your heirs' use of property.
• C. Is privacy one of your main goals?
  If a Will is probated, then all records of the proceeding are publicly available. Therefore, a Will is probably not a viable option if your primary goal is privacy.
• D. Do you have a blended family?
  If you have children that are not children of your spouse, then a Will might not be the best option to leave them your property. A Trust is more flexible than a Will and can be a better option for blended families.
• E. Do you own real property in more than one state?
  If you leave property in a Will located in another state, then it might be necessary to hire an attorney in the other state to have the property transferred. A Trust, however, can provide you the option to pass property located in another state without the need of incurring the extra expense of hiring the out-of-state attorney.
• F. Are you looking to protect assets from creditors?
  Some trusts can protect assets from your creditors as well as make the assets exempt form the claims of medicaid.

The choice between a Trust and a Will might not be as straightforward as it seems. Minuscule details in your case might easily pass unperceived but still have a tremendous impact on your decision. Your best option to make an informed decision is to contact an estate-planning attorney. For an estate-planning attorney in Florida, call the Apple Law Firm at (904) 685 - 1200 or click the "Contact Us" tab at the top of this page.

Every trust needs at least one trustee to administer the trust and to carry on its terms. If a person designated as a trustee ceases to act as one, then a vacancy in the trust occurs and it might need to be filled. Succession of trustees is perhaps one of the most common occurrences in the administration of a trust. A succession of trustee can be done by the terms of the trust, by the beneficiaries, or by appointment of the court. The overriding concept is that if one trustee ceases to act for any reason, the result depends upon the circumstances of each case. This is why it is wise to consult an estate-planning attorney to analyze all the factors affecting your case and assist you with this issue.

1. When does a vacancy occur?
A vacancy in a trusteeship occurs in the following circumstances:
· A person designated as trustee declines the trusteeship.
· A person designated as trustee cannot be identified or does not exists.
· A trustee resigns.
· A trustee is disqualified or removed.
· A trustee dies.
· A trustee is adjudicated to be incapacitated.

2. When does a vacancy need to be filled?
A vacancy in a trusteeship must be filled if the trust has no remaining trustee. If one or more co-trustees remain in office, however, then a vacancy in a trusteeship does not need to be filled.

3. Priorities in filling a vacancy in a trusteeship of a non-charitable trust.
A vacancy in a trusteeship of a non-charitable trust that is required to be filled must be filled in the following order of priority:
· By a person named or designated pursuant to the terms of the trust to act as successor trustee.
· By a person appointed by unanimous agreement of the qualified beneficiaries.
· By a person appointed by the court.

4. Priorities in filling a vacancy in a trusteeship of a charitable trust.
A vacancy in a trusteeship of a charitable trust that is required to be filled must be filled in the following order of priority:
· By a person named or designated pursuant to the terms of the trust to act as successor trustee.
· By a person selected by unanimous agreement of the charitable organizations expressly designated to receive distributions under the terms of the trust.
· By a person appointed by the court.

5. Appointment of an additional trustee or special fiduciary by the court.
The court may appoint an additional trustee or special fiduciary whenever the court considers the appointment necessary for the administration of the trust. This is so whether or not a vacancy in a trusteeship exists, or whether or not a vacancy is required to be filled.

The Apple Law Firm has experienced estate-planning attorneys that can apply the law to your particular circumstances to effectively assist you in a succession of trustee. Remember that the results in a succession of trustee depend upon the circumstances of each case. Moreover, the answer might not be as straightforward as it appears. For example, even if the terms of the trust designate a person to act as successor trustee, those terms might be invalid or the designated person might not qualify as a trustee. To contact the Apple Law Firm, dial (904) 685 - 1200 or click the "Contact Us" tab at the top of the page.

The management of a revocable living trust is intended to be a simple, private, inexpensive matter handled by the Settlor and those people the Settlor chooses, without court intervention. It is always a good idea to seek professional advice when taking over the management of another persons trust. Generally the roles, responsibilities, and duties can be explained quickly and stop many problems before then create harm.

The following are general guidelines that you should supplement with the specifics of the trust you will be managing; these guidelines are not intended to be specific advice for any particular situation. These guidelines apply to successor trustees who find themselves in charge of a trust.

There are three situations in which you may have assumed the title of Trustee: 1) The Settlor has been determined to be incapacitated as defined in the Trust; 2) The Settlor has died; or 3) The Settlor has resigned as the Trustee and either appointed you as the Successor Trustee or named you the Successor Trustee in the Trust document.


An Overview
Regardless of why or how you came to be trustee, all successor trustees should keep a few general ideas in mind.

1. You are handling someone else's property, not your own. When you act as a Trustee you should follow the rules and laws that apply to the trust. These rules and laws come from two sources. The first source is the trust document. In that document you will find many paragraphs that describe what you are allowed to do, what you are required to do, and what authority you have to exercise your own discretion in making decisions. The second source is the state and federal laws that apply to the trust.

   A successor trustee should immediately familiarize himself or herself with the trust document, and any amendments to the trust, to be certain that the successor trustee knows what is expected and what is required by way of management, distributions, reporting, accounting, and any other specific duties that the trust might place on the trustee.

2. You will be required to account for and explain your decisions and activities in the management of the trust. You will be required to provide regular accountings to the beneficiaries of the trust, and may be required to make certain reports to the tax authorities. Detailed records will make that reporting a lot easier. Your records might include detailed checking ledgers much like you would keep for your own checkbook. The records should show the check number, date, amount paid or received, whom the payment was from or to, and the purpose of the payment. Another good idea is to keep a journal or log book of activities for the trust, in which you would make notes about what you have done and why. You should have a good initial accounting where you list the assets at the time you took over the job.
3. Clear communication between the trustee and the beneficiaries can avoid future misunderstandings.
4. Avoid self-dealing. Do not have your spouse or family provide services for the trust if they will be paid for their work. If you feel that you must be involved people who you have a close relationships with, you should only do so after a full disclosure of the terms and circumstances and obtaining written approval from each of the beneficiaries. A small degree of formality now can avoid a major misunderstanding later when the trustee and the beneficiary may have quite different recollections of an arrangement.

Continue reading "General Guidelines for Successor Trustees in Florida" »

We often get questions regarding the creation of Pet Trusts in Florida. Florida Statutes have provided for pet trusts for many years but they do not always make sense. I have attached a document which you can use to help gather information that will be necessary to determine if a Florida Pet trust is right for your family or you should be looking to add separate provisions to your Florida Will or Florida Revocable Trust to deal with taking care of your pets in the case that you are unable to. Which ever way you decide to go, we provide free Pet Trust provisions or instructions with all of our estate plans when they are requested. This means that there are no additional charges for standard instructions or basic Pet Trusts with any estate plan we draft. Obviously if your situation requires a more complex plan there will be charges associated with it, but we love animals and want to make it easy and inexpensive to take care of your pets.

To begin the process download the Florida Pet Trust Document, take a few minutes to complete it and return it to us with your estate planning objectives.

Florida is a rather unique state in rights associated with homestead exemptions from forced sale. In a nutshell, it is nearly impossible for creditors to force the sale of a homestead (a situation famously highlighted by OJ Simpson, who purchased a large estate in Florida in part to avoid creditors).

Florida's homestead exemption also protects spouses and children of decedents: a spouse cannot transfer the property by will if survived by a spouse or minor child. While this rule often plays a positive role for families of decedents, certain cases show potential perils. Those cases primarily involve "blended families"; i.e., situations where a person late in life remarries. Florida's homestead exemption seems to presume that the surviving spouse will also be a biological parent of the surviving children, but that is not always the case. Blended families can be a lightening rod of litigation, as highlighted by the case of Aronson-v-Aronson.pdf.

This case is the third time the parties have been in the appellate court. These parties have been fighting for over a decade. Here's the story: a Mr. Aronson died after creating a revocable trust. Under the terms of the trust, his wife Doreen would take a life estate in the Key Biscayne condo the two of them shared. After that, the condo would go to Mr. Aronson's sons. However, in the time between creating the trust and dying, Mr. Aronson deeded the same condo directly to Doreen.

This created some problems, as there were basically two conflicting deeds. The first time through litigation, the court held that once deeded to a revocable trust, the individual could no longer validly deed the property to anyone else. The court then reconsidered, and completely reversed itself. Instead, under the new rule, the condo was not ever a valid trust asset because it was an invalid devise of homestead property. Basically, the moment Mr. Aronson died, his homestead transferred to his wife as a life estate, and thereafter to his surviving sons (so, basically, the law coincided with the terms of the trust anyway).

If this sounds confusing, don't worry. It took ten years of litigation to figure all this out, and that involved a Florida Appeals Court having to reverse itself before getting the law right. Although this is confusing, much of the litigation in Aronson could have been avoided had Mr. Aronson used a qualified attorney to help him with his estate planning. Still, do not forget the endless array of possibilities that may arise in blended family situations.

Finally, it's worth noting that some of the law in this area changed in 2010 (many years after Aronson's litigation began). Now, instead of automatically taking a life estate, a surviving spouse has six months to opt out of the life estate and take a 50% share as a tenant in common of the homestead property. This option may be more beneficial for certain parties, and anyone in this situation should consider talking to an estate planning attorney for advice.

If you are in a similar situation, or if you have any estate planning questions, contact a Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer at Apple Law Firm.

In Florida a Will does more than you may at first realize. Florida Wills are not just for leaving specific items to specific people. The main function of a Florida will is to provide for the distribution of property owned by you at the time of your death in whatever manner you choose.

Wills take on various degrees of complexity and can be used to achieve a wide range of financial and family objectives. If a will provides for the outright distribution of assets, it is sometimes characterized as a simple will. Wills can also establish one or more trusts to help manage the assets after you are gone. A will in Florida may also leave assets to a trust that was created while you were alive (known as an inter vivos trust), in which case it is called a Florida pour over will. In either case, the purpose of the trust arrangement is often to ensure continued property management and creditor protection for the surviving family members, to provide for charities, and to minimize taxes.

Aside from providing for the intended disposition of your property., there are a number of other important objectives that may be accomplished in a Florida will.

• A will allows you to designate a guardian for your minor children if you survive the other parent so that the state does not decide who will raise the child. • A will lets you designate who will inherit which of your assets. • A will lets you specify when your children will receive what and under what conditions. Otherwise, a teenager could end up receiving his entire inheritance before he's mature enough to handle the responsibility. • It lets you name a Personal Representative of your estate and can allow you to save money by waiving the probate bond or PR fees, which will otherwise be required. • It can permit a business to continue operating. • It can save you some money in taxes.

While a will in Florida can help with many things, it does not do everything. For instance, a will does not govern the transfer of certain types of assets, called non-probate property, which will automatically pass to someone else upon your death. For example, real estate and other assets owned with rights of survivorship or with enhanced life estate deeds pass automatically to the surviving owner(s) or named beneficiary. Likewise, an IRA or insurance policy payable to a named beneficiary passes outside the will. While a Florida homestead also passes outside a will, often a probate is necessary to clear the title.

A trust can do almost everything a will can but has additional flexibility and can help in the case you become incapacitate. A Will in Florida will have no effect on assets if you become incapacitated.

If you have other questions about wills or trusts in Florida contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer at the Apple Law Firm PLLC today at (904) 685-1200.

If you have more than 1 million dollars or 2 million dollars of January 2013, you may find that part of your estate will be subject to an estate tax of 55% and in some states subject to additional estate taxes and or inheritance taxes. (Florida does not have either state tax).

Many estate plans have been written with formulas that remove a portion of the assets when the first spouse dies. Those formulas are often based on the current federal estate tax exemption. They either pass the amount of the exemption to the spouse, and remove the excess or remove the amount of the exemption and give the rest to the spouse.

In 2010, these formulas were often broken because there was no estate tax. One family who had sold their stores to Best Buy a few years before was affected by this issue.

The lawyers scrambled to try to fix it at the last-minute but someone failed to comply with the requirements of witnesses and a notary for the modification to be valid. The surviving spouse would have lost the entire estate to the children because of the way the formula worked out.

This type of mistake can make a huge difference in the estate planning outcome and as a result we should each have our estate plan reviewed on a regular basis. Over the past few years there has been less need for life insurance trusts to stop the value of the insurance from being included in one's estate. With 2013 changes, irrevocable life insurance trusts will become more important than they have been in many years.

While life insurance is generally not subject to income tax, it value is added back into one's estate for estate tax purposes. This means that for many of us who have life insurance, it could be subject to a 55% tax and not provide as much to our family as we would like.

An ILIT or irrevocable life insurance trust can remove the life insurance from your estate so that it is neither subject to estate tax nor income tax.

Most parents want to love and treat all of their children the same, but when it comes to estate planning, not every child should be treated the same. In fact, insisting on treating all children exactly the same in an estate plan can often lead to disastrous consequences.

Each of your children is unique, and their circumstances may grow increasingly different, especially as they become adults and acquire jobs and extended in-law families. Each child should accordingly be treated as a unique individual.

Here are a few ways that wise parents might consider treating their children differently in an estate plan, but sill equally:

1. Not naming all of your children as successor executors.
2. Gifting the annual gift exclusion of $13,000 outright to some children while putting it in trust for another child.
3. Leaving one child's inheritance outright while leaving another child's inheritance in trust--possibly even skipping a generation to help children or grandchildren.
4. Some children will benefit from structured payments and others can deal with a lump sum of money or assets

The fact of the matter is that all of your children will be different people, with different strengths and weaknesses. While one child may love the trust and challenge that comes with being named executor, another might feel crushed under the weight of responsibility. One child might take an outright inheritance and invest it for retirement, while another child may want to do that, but have an ex-spouse or creditors who would seize an unprotected sum of money, leaving the heir with nothing.

Regardless of how you leave assets to a child or loved one, you should consider the ability you have to help them protect the assets from the reach of current or future creditors. There are new affordable asset protection trusts that can help protect assets from your creditors as well as your families creditors after you are gone.

Every parent knows that it is impossible to treat all of their children exactly the same. But it is possible to know your children, to be aware of their circumstances, strengths and weaknesses, and give them an equal inheritance in different ways.

While there are many mistakes people can make while planning their estates, a recent column on Forbes.com, lists some of the errors most frequently encountered.

1. Not having a Florida Estate Plan

Not having a will or trust means that at your death the distribution of your assets will be dictated by the inheritance laws of the state where you were domiciled, likely Florida. These "intestacy laws" leave a percentage of assets to various members of your family. While there's a small chance that the laws will accomplish what you wanted, that's unlikely. Your will applies to the disposition of your "probate assets," those things that are not following a beneficiary designation. Non-probate assets will pass by operation of law or contract. For example, whoever the beneficiary designation was when you originally began your 401(k) or IRA will override either your will or the laws of intestacy. This could easily lead to distribution of your assets to people you may not anticipate.

2. Failure to take advantage of the estate tax exemption

As every good Florida estate planning attorney will tell you, making lifetime gifts is a simple and effective estate tax minimization strategy. Giving away assets at no gift tax cost will allow the corpus of the trust and any future appreciation to avoid estate tax upon the death of the donor. Using the exemption equivalent amount during your life is better than leaving it till your death. The reason to act now is that the current estate tax structure is set to expire at the end of 2012. Beyond the annual exclusion gift limit of $13,000, the federal exemption amount for transfers during life and death has increased to $5,120,000 per person for 2012, far and away higher than it has ever been. If you're able and willing to do so making such gifts before the end of the year is a good idea.

3. Leaving assets outright to your children

There's a growing consensus that among those with the means assets should remain in trust even for adult children as long as possible to serve the goal of asset protection. The question of a trust often does not hinge on legal capacity or maturity, though they can sometimes be factors. The question is instead how do I protect the people I leave my assets to from creditors, potential creditors and ex-spouses. Whether or not to leave assets in trust for adult children depends on many factors; not the least of which is personal preference. However, in our incredibly litigious society, leaving some assets in trust with easy access is certainly an idea worth considering.

4. Going it alone rather than relying on professionals

While many people are increasingly turning to the Internet to help prepare their wills and trusts and dozens of websites cater to such customers, doing so can be a recipe for disaster. Proper estate planning is complicated and cumbersome and requires a well thought out plan. Websites can provide you with documents but no actual advice that fits you in the context of your specific personal and financial circumstances.

If you have questions about probating an estate or about a will or a trust, contact the Apple Law Firm PLLC today at (904) 685-1200.

Source: "7 Major Errors In Estate Planning," by Rob Clarfeld, published at Forbes.com.

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Joseph Percope has written an article The Impact of Co-ownership on Florida Homestead in the Florida Bar Journal that discusses the tree kinds of homesteads defined in a 1997 Florida Supreme Court case: The tax exemption; The Protection from Creditors; and The restrictions on alienation of homestead property in Florida.

While most are primarily concerned with their tax breaks, as a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer we often deal with the second two more often in our planning. We see families attempting to avoid probate by adding kids on to deeds all the time. We also see parents who own part of their children's homes. The problem begins when in either of these situations one or more of the owners does not live in the home. The home or at the ownership of the person not living in the home is subject to the claims of their creditors.

When no ownership percentage is specified, Florida will apply equal percentages of ownership to each person named on the deed. If a single person adds their child onto their deed as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, 50 percent of the equity in the home will be exposed to the creditors of the child who is not living in the home.

Once a creditor takes an ownership in the home, it is possible to force the sale of the home.

While these types of deeds are rarely a good idea because of the tax and basis considerations, many have not considered the additional risk due to the creditors of co-owners who do not live in the home or qualify for the second type of homestead (the constitutional protection from creditors)

The same scenario applies to those who try to use a traditional life estate deed to avoid probate. ( a Florida Enhanced Life Estate Deed does not have many of the problems that a traditional life estate does.

If you are trying to avoid probate in Florida and would like to also have protection for your homestead from creditors, not have adverse tax consequences, not lose stepped up basis, and/or not create a disqualifying transfer of assets for Medicaid purposes, you should contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss how to protect your homestead and the options available that deal with your circumstances and goals.
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Florida statutes define probate assets as those assets subject to a probate administration. There are several types of Probate in Florida which are discussed in our Free Florida Probate Handbook that you can request.

Often it is easier to define which assets are not subject to probate.
In Florida any asset with a surviving joint owner, valid payable on death designation, or contract clause which defines what happens to the asset upon death are not subject to probate. Often these include life insurance policies, annuities contract or retirement account with a transfer on death clause, jointly owned bank accounts, real estate with and valid beneficiary designation clause. One of the most common items that is not subject to probate is a Florida homestead. While a homestead is not devised through probate typically, title companies will often require it to be dealt with in a Florida probate to issue title insurance. The good news is unless you messed up your will or other documents, a Florida Homestead will not be subject to the claims of your creditors or the creditors of your beneficiaries if it is their homestead.

a Florida Probate can be expensive so it is wise to review your estate plan with a Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer to see if any of your assets will be subject to a Florida Probate and if a probate in Florida can be avoided.

A Florida Asset Protection Lawyer is of most use when you do not have any potential liabilities. When you have a known creditor, you have to be concerned with fraudulent conveyances and fraudulent transfers. Generally if you participate in a fraudulent conveyance or transfer the court can undo a transaction within 4 years of its occurrence.

A Fraudulent Transfer occurs when you transfer an asset to put it outside the reach of a creditor.

A Fraudulent Conveyance occurs when you transfer an asset for less than full value and this causes harm to a potential creditor.

There are many ways of protecting assets as part of an overall Florida Estate Plan but careful consideration must be taken of your present situation and circumstances. Some of the tools used by Florida Asset Protection Lawyers include creating Florida Asset Protection Trusts, Domestic asset protection trusts, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, Florida LLLPs, and different forms of ownership.

In addition to how the assets are structured there can be different ways in which you spend "at risk" money and save money that is not at risk. If you would like to learn more about Florida Asset Protection, contact us to discuss your circumstances and objectives with a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer.

Note: Asset Protection is a complex practice area and as such we do not offer free consultations in this area. A typical consultation takes 2 or more hours.

For those working with Jacksonville Elder Law Attorneys the Florida news that a daughter living with her elderly mother was accused of stealing her mother's money to fuel a gambling and drug addiction was not a shock. In attempting to ascertain the Florida elder mother's mental state, the investigators turned to her doctors.

The medical insight gleaned from treating physicians can lead to tougher charges against those who use their position of trust to scam the elderly. However, many doctors' are hesitant to get involved in the Florida legal proceedings of their elderly patients.

In Florida counties, where the population of elderly over the age of 60 often exceeds 25%, many law enforcement financial crimes units are seeking volunteer licensed physicians. These doctors assist in determining the mental and physical state of a victim at the time of the perpetration and fraud.

Jacksonville Elder Law Attorneys have experience with numerous elderly who are victims of financial exploitation. Jacksonville's elderly victims are described by Florida Statutes as a "person of 60 years of age or older who suffers from infirmities of aging manifested by advanced age or organic brain damage, or other physical, mental, or emotional dysfunction. . . that the ability of the person to provide adequately for the person's own care or protection is impaired."

Many cases of Florida elderly abuse and exploitation are by home health care providers, relatives, guardians, and even opportunistic friends and neighbors.

A Jacksonville Guardianship Attorney can talk to you about the elders in your life who may need assistance. Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyers have the experience to advise of ways to protect your loved ones before they become victims. Some of these strategies encompass having a trust prepared and consulting with a Jacksonville Medicaid Law Attorney.

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

Today there is a big hole in most estate plans. Most estate plans do not deal with the property and licence rights that almost all Americans have accumulated with their online lives.

What online assets should be concerned with?

• Email Accounts - Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Comcast, AOL ...
• Social Networking Sites - Facebook, Linked In, Google +, Twitter, MySpace ...
• Online Storage Accounts, iCloud, Carbonite, Drop Box, mac.com ...
• Financial Accounts - Bank accounts, Stock Accounts, Home Loans, Student Loans ...
• Photo Storage Accounts - Kodak, Flicker
• Personal or Company Websites and Blogs
• Online Businesses Accounts - Amazon, Walmart.com, Go Daddy.com, other online merchants.
• Auction Sites - Ebay
• Music and Application Accounts - iTunes, Amazon, Android ...
• Virtual Property - Second life, World of Warcraft, other role-playing identities
• Payment services - PayPal

Some of the major issues in dealing with Digital Assets we must first determine if we are dealing with a license or a property right. By definition, most licenses expire upon death so the right to asset does not exist when you die. Next you must determine how you will deal with these assets upon your death or prior to your death to preserve access, right of use, limit risks to users for damaging the estate for improper use, and transfer the assets. There are attempts to deal with these issues with software alone, a will, a trust, software and a will, and software with a trust.

One of the problems in dealing with these issues with software alone is that their may be no legal right for the person to access the items and the software may be in conflict with other legal documents like a will or trust.

The next major problem occurs with a legal document only. These can be broken down into two areas. First, the legal document may have no effect on an asset. IE a Will cannot generally transfer a license as it does not exist upon death. Next, the individual is unlikely to keep the legal documents up to date with instructions on how to access the account. In addition, the individuals are unlikely to update passwords as they change. The trend is to require monthly updates to the more secure sites.

What seems to be the best solution: A DAP Trust with integrated software that allows you to update and create beneficiary designations within the trust on the Fly.

If you have a Florida Estate Plan that does not address your digital life or would like to create a DAP Trust for your Digital Assets, Contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer who is familiar with Digital Asset Protection.