Bank of America settled a class-action lawsuit stemming from their acquisition of Countrywide Financial based upon predatory lending practices in eleven states including Florida. The funds provided by this settlement includes lowering of interest rates, lowering principal, no loan modification charges, and waiving prepayment penalties. This new program was launched…
In a recent article I discussed disclaimers, which are a refusal by a person to accept an interest in property. According to the Internal Revenue Code § 2518, the following is a list of requirements for a qualified disclaimer to be effective in Florida. (1) A refusal is in writing,…
Most people in today’s society would be happy to discover that they were being left an inheritance in a Florida Will . However, since inherited property under the estate laws of Florida is a gift, the beneficiary does not have to accept the inheritance. Although declining to accept a gift…
Under ideal circumstances a husband and wife will agree to what the surviving spouse should receive when the other dies. However, many times when this doesn’t happen the surviving spouse receives a portion of the estate they are unsatisfied with. For example, an elderly couple who marries later in life…
Florida has no Estate Taxes, but there may still be Federal Estate taxes due. Before the distribution of assets of the deceased’s estate can occur, the federal government has the ability to take their share of the estate. The Federal Estate tax has been repealed for the year 2010 but…
A valid Florida Living Trust or Florida Revocable Trust includes three typical positions that most individuals can occupy. Each Trust should have a grantor, trustee and beneficiary at the time the Florida Revocable Trust is created. The grantor, sometimes called the settlor, is the person who originally sets up the…
Digital Death Day is the idea that when we die physically, we may want to decide what happens to our digital profiles and accounts, whether that entails deleting or claiming the information. In the physical world individuals tend to leave paper trials so that their heirs may find important documents,…
In many cultures it is important to parents that their children marry into their religion. Orthodox Jews often disinherit their children and will even stop speaking to them if they marry outside the Jewish religion. While public policy will not permit a provision in a Florida Will or Florida Revocable…
In the case of Robertson v. Deeb 16 So.3d 936 (FL. Dist. Ct. App. 2 DCA 2009) the court held that an inherited IRA does not have the same creditor protection that an individual’s IRA by concluding that F.S. 222.21(2)(a) “does not apply to inherited IRAs because the plain language…
It has been a while since I updated my Do it yourself estate planning mistakes but I wanted to point you to some of the previous articles on the unintended consequences that can occur when individuals and family members use fill in the blank forms that are not customized for…