A common question our Jacksonville Homestead Lawyers receive is “When A Spouse Dies, Does The House Automatically Transfer To You?”

One of the more common Florida probate questions our clients ask the Jacksonville homestead lawyers at The Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC is whether a house automatically transfers to the living spouse when one spouse dies?  The answer often depends on many factors; there is no simple yes or no answer.

Florida does offer some of the best homestead laws in the nation.  Before explaining the great homestead benefits that Florida offers, let’s see how the law devises a property when one spouse passes away.  Remember a home may or may not be a homestead.  For this article, we will use the situation where the home is a homestead unless otherwise noted. The relevant homestead law comes from Article X, Section 4 of Florida’s Constitution.
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Estate Planning for Millennials

Millennials are growing up and doing so fast, and as we all know, young adulthood is full of important milestones.  Florida millennials are now graduating from college, landing their first “adult” jobs with benefits such as 401k matching, life insurance, and pension plans.  This generation is now starting to make big decisions such as buying homes and starting families.  Now is the time that millennials should start to begin estate planning.

Estate planning has the stigma of being something that only the elderly and the terminally ill consider.  However, estate planning is much more effective when started at an early age.  No one can predict the future, and every person benefits by having a will, trust, and a power of attorney.

The great thing about estate planning is that you can adapt and change the plan as needed.  You don’t need to wait until you are married and have children to create the plan.  Moreover, you still have many friends, loved ones, and relatives that you may wish to pass assets or control your financial and health care decisions if you become incapacitated.  If you ever become married, divorced, or have children the estate plan can always be modified.

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Estate planning has many benefits, with one of the best being that it allows our clients to have peace of mind.  This peace of mind comes from knowing that your family members can be taken care of if something happens to you.  This type of estate planning is especially important if you have minor children.

Parents are often so busy that they don’t have time to think about planning for their death or incapacity.  A parent’s time is often spent thinking about getting kids to school, helping with homework, and providing a good lifestyle for their children.  Unfortunately, tragedy can strike without warning, from an unexpected illness, on a highway, or as a result another catastrophe.

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The following article by the Senior Directory is aimed at helping you learn options regarding the various payment options for Long-Term Care in a Nursing Home. It is not a Do-It-Yourself guide.  Before doing anything drastic with your assets, consult a Florida Elder Law Attorney who can work out the particulars for your individual situation and make sure everything is filed correctly.

How much does Long Term Care at a Nursing Home cost?

National averages price long-term care facilities at about $250 a day. That comes out to $90,000 a year, which is just for basic care.  Start adding in amenities, like Memory Care for Alzheimer’s patients, and that number quickly starts to rise.  In North Florida the average cost can quickly increase from around $9,700 a month to $20,000 or even $30,000 a month.

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Jacksonville Probate: How to Handle Missing Beneficiaries

Jacksonville probate attorneys often deal with a beneficiary that is alive, but no one knows this person’s address.  If a beneficiary goes missing or cannot be found, then there are a few options including using professional heir search companies.

The first place to start is the Florida Rules of Probate, which requires formal notice to be sent to a number of different parties affected by the probate of the estate.  The rule can be found under Florida Rule of Probate 5.040.  The rule states the formal notice can be sent to the following parties:

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Jacksonville Estate Planning For Single Parents

One of the best aspects of Jacksonville estate planning is that every plan can be tailored to a person’s life and specific needs.  In Jacksonville, Estate planning is important for every person, but it is even more important when you are a single parent because estate planning can directly benefit minor children.

There are several issues that single parents need to consider with their Jacksonville estate planning attorneys.  These are some of the common issues that single parents should consider.

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Florida Asset Protection Trusts and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts Can Be Effective Prenuptial Agreements

Planning for a divorce is never easy or fun, but divorce is an unfortunate reality in today’s world where almost half of all marriages end in divorce.  Without legal planning, a spouse seeking a divorce is likely entitled to an equitable portion of the marital property.  The traditional way to protect property from a divorce was through a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement; now there may be a better alternative by using a Florida asset protection trust.

So what happens if there is no legal planning?  If the married couple fails to plan for the dissolution of marriage adequately, then the division of marital property will be left to the discretion of a judge during the process of an expensive and time-consuming divorce process.
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One issue that has come before the Supreme Court is what is actual fraud, and does actual fraud included fraudulent transfers.  Stated in another way, is it fraud to accept a fraudulent transfer.  For a long time the answer depended on the judicial circuit.  Now the Supreme Court has provided a firm answer.

So before we can determine the importance of the Supreme Court’s decision it is important to understand what actual fraud is in the context of bankruptcy law.  The bankruptcy code bars the discharge of “any debt… for money, property, [or] services… to the extent obtained by… false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud.”

So how does the reception of fraudulent transfers fit within this definition of actual fraud?

The first step in answering this question is to determine how fraud is defined.  The modern law concerning fraudulent transfers comes from the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA), which was adopted in most states including Florida.  The UFTA defines fraudulent transfers against present and future creditors as “a transfer made under obligation incurred by a debtor if made with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud any creditor of the debtor.”

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In Florida it can be crucial to do Estate Planning For Second Marriage

More and more Americans are getting remarried which is causing estate planning to become more complex.  People are living much longer than in the past, which means that the rate of remarriage is occurring at a much higher frequency.  A second marriage adds new obligations and rights for the new people in your life, while still keeping the obligations from your first marriage.

The effect of multiple marriages is that it could create multiple claims on a person’s estate.  Many estate planning issues can be resolved with careful planning.  Here are some key issues for estate planning for a second marriage.

1. Length of the New Marriage

The first issue that is common in estate planning is the duration of the subsequent marriage.  For instance, say a person has a spouse with early Alzheimer’s.  This person also has a retirement plan that named his children outside the marriage as beneficiaries.  The couple has been married for eight years, and the person would be destitute without the spouse’s IRA.  It may be time to think about changing the estate plan to include the new spouse, which would desperately need the funds from the retirement plan.

2. Children from the First Marriage or outside the current marriage

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A Durable Power of Attorney is an important document, but sometimes having one can cause problems.

A recent Florida court ruling scored a major win in the fight against elder abuse. The case established that a health care proxy does not have the authority to waive the right to jury trial and bind a person to a contract.

The case is Hugh Moen v. Bradenton Council on Aging LLC, where the defendants, the nursing home, filed motions to dismiss and to compel binding arbitration.  The plaintiff, Moen, was the personal representative of the estate of Norma Silverthrone, appealed the order granting the motions to dismiss.  The appeals court sided with the personal representative.

Background on The Case

Norma Silverthorne was admitted to a nursing home in 2013.  Her daughter, Susan Moen, accepted a health care proxy designation on her mother’s behalf. Norma never executed a durable power of attorney in her daughter’s favor.  Susan signed the nursing home’s admission agreement, which contained a “Voluntary Arbitration Agreement.”
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