Estate Planning

April 15, 2013

A Checklist to Update Your Florida Estate Plan

Updating your estate plan is as important as having one. Many find it easy to procrastinate about updating their estate plan because they do not want to spend the money on a Florida estate-planning attorney. However, a lot of money can be lost through missed estate planning opportunities and family legal battles over out of date estate planning documents. Therefore, updating your estate plan can actually save money in the long run. Many Florida estate-planning lawyers, including the Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC, will actually review your current estate plan free of charge. When updating your estate plan, consider the following points.

Consider whether you need a trust: A trust can be very helpful to achieve your goals, even if you do not have a lot of assets. In numerous situations, a trust or series of trusts in conjunction with other documents can be the best option for even those with modest means. Trusts are often used for the following reasons
- Protect your assets from creditors
- Provide for the car of your family and yourself financially in case you no longer are able to handle your own affairs.
- Provide for children of a previous marriage in the case of your death.
- Avoid probate, keep your assets private, and save money for your beneficiaries
- Protect money for minors, so they cannot spend the money in the trust immediately on thing you may consider unnecessary.
- Protect assets from a future ex son or daughter-in-law.
File an estate tax return if you lost your spouse: A surviving spouse has the option of adding any unused tax exclusion of the deceased spouse to her own $5 million exclusion. This option is known as “portability”. You may thin that you will never need this additional exclusion, but they laws could change and significantly reduce the amount of portability in the future. Portability is not automatic. To get portability, the executor of the estate of the decedent spouse must file an estate tax return, even if no estate tax is due.
Consider whether to give away some of your assets now to save taxes: If you have enough money for retirement, it might be in your best interest to transfer some of it now to save some taxes. If you have a lot of assets, it is a good idea to seek an estate planning attorney to discuss the option of using leveraging techniques that can allow you to give away a large part of your assets gift-tax free.
Update basic estate planning documents: If you have not revised your estate plan in more than five years, then you should have someone look at your current estate plan to make sure it still reflects your intent and is flexible enough to accommodate present uncertainties. Consult an estate planning attorney to discuss whether your current estate plan needs some arrangements.
Prepare for a time when you may not be able to think for yourself: Notwithstanding your present age or health it is important to prepare for the possibility of becoming physically or mentally incapacitated. To prepare for this possibility, you should select someone to be a durable power of attorney for health care as well as financial decisions.
Chose a guardian for your children that are minors or have special needs: Even if you are married it is important to select who will take care of your children if you pass away so that a court is not making this decision on behalf of your children. This can be done by appointing a guardian in your will.
Use beneficiary designations or style accounts to assure you or your spouse has enough money to cover immediate expenses in case one of you suddenly passes away. It is wise to maintain a joint account designated for these types of emergencies because when a spouse dies, the surviving spouse generally does not have immediate access to the decedent spouse’s private bank account. These issues can also be dealt with in various types of Trust documents.

An estate planning attorney can review your current estate plan to assure that your intent has not been frustrated with circumstances arising after the creation of your estate plan. New laws or unconsidered circumstances can easily frustrate at least part of your estate plan’s purpose. For an estate planning attorney in Florida, call the Law Office of David M. Goldman PLLC at (904) 685 – 1200 or click the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the page.

April 3, 2013

How to Use a Florida Durable Power of Attorney

by David M. Goldman

Using a Durable Power of Attorney in Florida

When you have been appointed as an agent by a person to act as an attorney-in-fact for that person, you must keep three important ideas in mind.

Agent Authority

April 2, 2013

General Guidelines for Successor Trustees in Florida

by David M. Goldman

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.

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.
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.
Clear communication between the trustee and the beneficiaries can avoid future misunderstandings.
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.

March 30, 2013

How to Transfer the Decedent’s Property in Florida to Your Name

by David M. Goldman

Below is a summary of the more common ways that property is transferred in the state of Florida when someone dies.

Somebody just died leaving you an interest in a piece of property. To reclaim your interest in the property you must prove that you own it by documenting the transfer from the estate of the decedent to you. The procedure involved varies depending on the interest held on the property by the decedent, and on many other factors.

Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship

March 24, 2013

Florida Pet Trust

by David M. Goldman

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.

March 20, 2013

The Effects of Using a Deed to Transfer Real Estate Property Ownership to Avoid Probate

by David M. Goldman

You can transfer ownership of your real estate property through probate, or by signing an instrument known as a deed.1 Using a deed to transfer ownership of your real estate allows you to bypass probate, but there are some risks associated with this alternative. This blog discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using a deed to transfer ownership of your real estate property.

Advantages of Using a Deed to Transfer Ownership

A transfer by deed can allow you to reserve the right to use the real estate property transferred for the remainder of your lifetime: There are different types of deeds that can be used to transfer property and each one of them serve a different purpose. Some deeds, like the life estate deed, allow you to transfer ownership of your real estate property while reserving you the right to use the property for the remainder of your lifetime.

January 3, 2013

When is IRS Form 706, United States Estate Tax Return, Due?

by David M. Goldman

While personal income tax returns and gift tax returns for taxable gifts made during 2011 are due on or before April 17, 2012, estate tax returns for decedents who died during 2011 are not due on April 17, 2012.

If a decedent who died in 2011 is required to file a federal estate tax return or a generation-Skipping Tax Return, it is due on or before nine months after the decedent’s date of death.

For example, if the death occurred on April 1, 2011, then IRS Form 706 will be was Due on or before January 1, 2012. If they died after April 1st you still have time to file the returns.

November 6, 2012

Estate Tax Law Changes Worry Many Farmers & their Families

by David M. Goldman

John Buchanan has an article in Central Florida’s Agri-Leader which was published on October 24th which discusses the effects of the expiration of the estate tax exemption on farmers.

Many farmers end up loosing farms because of estate taxes and the inability of their families to become liquid enough to pay the estate tax bills. Over the past few years, the estate tax exemption has been high enough that many small farmers have not had to worry about this effect, but that could all change on January 1, 2013.

I was interviewed by John Buchanan about some of the potential solutions that small farmers could use to help insulate against the huge tax changes set to take effect next year.

September 14, 2012

Childless and Aging? Time to Designate a Caregiver

by David M. Goldman

Phyllis Korkki with the NY Times wrote an article dealing with some of the problems our aging society has when they have no children or natural caregivers and ways to help deal with it. In the article, she quotes me in dealing with some ways you can use legal documents that can be prepared by an attorney to deal with giving someone legal rights to help you make decisions if and when you need it.

These documents can also help avoid a guardianship and limit the ability for some to hijack your assets and use them up with unnecessary fees.

Follow this link to the NY Time article or contact us to discuss how we can provide documents to help manage these situations for your, your friends, or your family.

September 10, 2012

Florida Court Finds that Settlor Lacked Requisit Capacity to Execute Trust Amendment

by David M. Goldman

In the Florida case of Jervis v. Tucker, 37 Fla. L. Weekly D349 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)

Bernice J. Meikle executed a revocable trust agreement in 1991, which she subsequently amended by executing a first amendment. Her trust, as amended by the first amendment,

provided that Meikle’s power to revoke or amend the trust would be suspended upon her being “adjudicated incapacitated by a court of appropriate jurisdiction.” The trust further provided that Meikle’s powers could be restored by an order of an appropriate court having jurisdiction over Meikle, or upon the issuance and receipt by the Trustee of a written opinion from two licensed physicians after their examination of Meikle.