Florida Estate Planning Lawyer BlogFlorida Asset Protection Attorneys can help structure the ownership of assets to protect from liabilities and creditors. Often individuals own a bulk of their assets individually or in a Florida Revocable Trust, or in a corporation. The assets and businesses held in these entities can be subject to the claims of creditors if a judgment is obtained against the individual. In touch economic times like these it is more important than ever to protect your assets from the claims of creditors. You should discuss your assets and potential liabilities with a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer who also knows about Florida Estate Planning to make sure they are protected to the extent possible from claims that could cause you to lose the assets or income you have worked hard to create.
Articles Posted in Estate Planning
Is Your Child Trust-Worthy?
The Wall Street Journal has an article on Deciding if Your Kid is Trust-Worthy where they discuss using trust like a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer would use to protect your families assets.
Part of the article is devoted to helping you determine if your child or your children are the best ones to manage your finances or Florida Revocable Trust in the even you become incapacitated or die. These are areas you should discuss your your Florida Estate Planning Lawyer in an effort to determine how best to structure a Florida Revocable Trust.
Tenants in Common without Right to partition and Valuation Discount
When you own Florida property as Tenants in Common, each owner has a right to enter and use the entire property. Often one owner wants to sell their interest while another may not. This can lead to an action for partition where a court will order the property to be sold.
If the owners have an agreement that binds them and the future owners of the property from using a partition to break up or sell the property, the property will and owners will be protected from loosing their rights to use and access the property.
One additional advantage is that these agreements often reduce the value of one’s interest in the property because of the restriction on the ability to partition the property.
Florida wills and property in Puerto Rico
Recently we ran across a situation where an individual in Puerto Rico died with a Florida Will . PR has some unique laws dealing with property and who will receive it under Puerto Rico’s laws that can make a Florida Will or will created in another state invalid or ineffective for transferring property. If you live in PR or have property in PR you should have a lawyer in PR review your estate planning documents to make sure your intentions are carried out.
FDIC Deposit Insurance extended to December 31, 2013
Today it was announced that deposits at FDIC-insured institutions are now insured up to at least $250,000 per depositor through December 31, 2013. On January 1, 2014, the standard insurance amount will return to $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except for IRAs and certain other retirement accounts which will remain at $250,000 per depositor. (This supersedes the October 3, 2008 changes.)
The fertile octogenarian: a reality?
All lawyers who took estate planning in law school learned about the possibility of an 80 year-old woman giving birth to a child. This mental exercise is just one of the unusual circumstances a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer might deal with in the drafting of Florida Estate Planning Documents.
Matthew Curtiss, a Connecticut Estate Planning Lawyer who writes the Connecticut Estate Planning, Probate and Fishing Blog, recently posted a link to a 70 year old woman giving birth. While 70 is not 80, it looks like the hypothetical 80 year-old giving birth could one day be a reality.
Wills and Trusts – What happens with each
Often the decision of whether to use a Florida Will or Florida Revocable Trust depends on issues surrounding distribution of assets, disability, and death. This summary of issues should help you determine which is best for your circumstances.
Privacy
What happens with a Will No privacy. All documents and proceedings after death are public.
What happens with a trust Totally private unless court intervention is required, usually due to improper drafting or lack of funding.
Advantages of Using a Trust for Estate Planning
Estate planning can help deal with the proper use and distribution of your assets upon a disability or your death. Below are several of the advantages of using a Florida Revocable Trust for Disability and Death Planning.
DISABILITY PLANNING
No probate, so everything remains private.
You decide the criteria for your disability and you pick those who will determine whether that criteria have been met.
Efforts to Avoid Probate Can Cause Problems
In Florida all sorts of clerks, customer service people, insurance sales people, brokers, account managers, and other employees of financial institutions give customers advice about how to title accounts and name beneficiaries. In an effort to avoid probate, these seemingly harmless changes can cause many problems with estate plans.
Most new account forms at financial institutions ask you to name a beneficiary. This does not have to be completed and sometimes you are better off to leave it blank than to fill in a name or attempt to name a proper beneficiary.
Often when filling out beneficiary designations people do not understand how a share of the assets will be treated if that person predeceases them. Will the share go to their descendants or to other named beneficiaries and is that what was intended.
Abuse of Florida Durable Power of Attorney
Recently we have begun seeing more cases involving agents who abuse their power of attorney in order to benefit themselves.
Most people do not realize that once they have become an agent for an individual, their duty is to act in the best interest of the individual and not for their own benefit. Sometimes agents make gifts to themselves or change the way bank or stock accounts are title so that the become the beneficiary upon the death of the individual. These actions are violations of the agents fiduciary duty and self dealing. Often what is done interferes with someone’s right to an expectancy as a beneficiary or owner of an account.
In addition to creating liability to the beneficiary or the decedent’s estate, in Florida such actions can also create criminal liability under Florida’s Elder Abuse Statutes. If you have been accused of actions like these it is important to coordinate your defense with a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyer who is familiar with Florida Abuse of the Elderly.