Like many deaths, the death of the legendary pop star Prince came as a shock and surprise for the world. What shocked estate planning attorneys even more so is the possibility that Prince may have died without a will or an estate plan, which could have huge ramifications for his…
Trust Funding Trust funding is one of the most important aspects of an estate plan or asset protection plan. Attorneys, and clients, hear so much about trust funding, but rarely is it truly understood or implemented properly. Given how important trust funding is, it is a wonder why most estate…
Sandwich Generation “The Sandwich Generation” is an interesting phenomenon occurring in the estate planning world. The term was coined to refer to the group of adults in the world today that must juggle the responsibilities of caring for their own families, including children, along with the responsibility of caring for…
Incentive trusts are important to consider with estate planning. One of the best tools in estate planning for encouraging positive behavior is through an “incentive trust.” An Incentive trust is a trust like any other, which rewards the beneficiaries when they meet certain objectives or goals in their lives. Many…
I just finished my new book Protect your IRA : Avoid the 5 Common Mistakes! Here is the Table of Contents The 3 Reasons Most People Experience Confusion with Their IRAs Don’t Just Focus on the Taxes Avoid the 5 Common Mistakes Common Mistake #1: Trying to Avoid Income Taxes…
Florida Homestead for Non U.S. Citizens is possible for two types of Florida Homestead exemptions. The first homestead exemption is tax based. If you live in your home and you or your spouse or dependent child is a permanent resident of the state of Florida on January 1s you are…
Florida Asset Protection Trusts: Can they be changed? In Florida, both revocable and irrevocable trusts are valuable estate planning tools that permit individuals to organize and protect their assets from creditors. The Florida Asset Protection trust is not used by many estate planning lawyers. Asset Protection is an important part…
News and Important information for Seniors and their Families. In this issue, we discuss the following topics. How to Bulletproof your estate plan Trying to treat siblings equally The importance of taking the emotional value of family heirlooms into consideration Taking previous loans or gifts into consideration Proving you’re of…
The Florida District Court of Appeals recently applied a little known doctrine called the Doctrine of Dependent Relative Revocation in the case of In Re Estate of Murphy to save an estate from passing through intestacy. The owner of the estate was Virginia Murphy. Mrs. Murphy died in 2006 and…
One issue that occurs in estate planning is whether or not a charitable pledge can be enforced on a person’s estate after death. Wealthy individuals often make pledges to their favorite charitable organizations during their lifetime, only to die before fulfilling the pledge. Executors are then placed in the difficult…