Normally a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer would advise against signing a deed conveying a home or other property without recording the deed.
What happens if a Florida deed or Florida Enhanced Life Estate Deed is signed but unrecorded?
Is the deed valid?
As Baby boomers retire and move to Florida or other states, one of the jobs of an Estate Planning Lawyer is to review the Beneficiaries on IRA and other types of accounts. Denice Glerach a lawyer in Naperville wrote an article discussing this problem and suggesting some solutions for IRA’s suggesting that most people do not realize that the money in a traditional IRA account or employee benefit accounts are subject to income taxes by the recipient as well as estate taxes upon the death of the IRA owner.
Several options are mentioned Leaving the IRA to a charity – Should eliminate the income tax and estate tax.
Leaving the account to a trust to defer income tax and protect it from creditors.
Randall Armour of the Santa Clarita Valley Signal wrote an article discussing Trust Mills and gives some advice on how to spot a trust mill and several problems associated with them.
1. Trust mills often prepare documents after the client has filled out a simple check-the-box-type questionnaire. Little or no counseling or advice is given to the client and the client may meet with a “paralegal,” CPA or financial adviser, but not with an attorney.
2. The cost of the documents is a good indicator of whether or not you are dealing with a trust mill. Trust mills usually charge from $300 to $700 for their documents. Just remember, you get what you pay for — in this case, not very much!
3. Trust mills often provide documents for limited purposes such as avoiding probate or estate taxes.
Although there are no current verdicts against Florida Companies, many states have taken action against living Trust Scams / Trust Mills / and Elder Law Planning Seminars. Michael Bonasera of Buckingham Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP and author of the The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog wrote an article titled Living Trust Scams/Trust Mills/Elderlaw Planning Seminars – STAY AWAY! where he mentions a previous posting on this Blog, Florida Estate Planning Lawyers Blog, on a similar topic dealing with a Texarkana Arkansas class action suit.
I thought I would start a list of Living Trust Scam Articles and resources on my blog.
1. Texarkana Arkansas Living Trust Seminar Class Action suit
2. California Living Trust Mill Judgment 3.Texas Bar story reported by Professor Beyer of Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog- Living trust Scams and Senior Consumer
The Supreme Court upheld the limits on income tax deductions for a trustsor estate. The Court ruled against the Knight family (they created Pepperidge Farm).
The Court said trusts ordinarily may not deduct the full cost of investment advice on their income tax returns. These expenses are only deductible when they exceed 2 percent of adjusted gross income of the entity. These are the same as with individuals.
The case dealt with a small dispute and involved the Trusts income tax return.
Florida residents who have minor children should consider executing a power of attorney which allows another to take care of their minor children medically if they are unable to do so or unavailable at the time.
A medical power of attorney for a minor child is just another piece in the estate planning jigsaw puzzle. Like many estate planning documents, it isn’t for everyone. However, if you are like my family and your children spend a lot of time in the care of another loved one, a MPOAMC is an important piece.
Contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to create a medical power of attorney for your minor children.
A number of Texarkana residents have filed suit against sellers of living trust documents in a class action accusing the salesmen of exploiting senior citizens. This is similar to what I reported happening in California in December.
A Plaintiff says he purchased a living trust after attending a lunch presentation at a restaurant. He states the document was misrepresented and that if he dies with only these estate-planning documents, his estate will still need to be probated because the living trust failed to factor in his real property in Arkansas.
The living trust sellers are facing allegations of “masquerading as qualified financial advisers, estate planners, lawyers, and paralegals” to “exploit and prey” upon senior citizens with the creation and selling of “unnecessary and often useless” living trusts.
Part of Florida Elder Law planning and Florida Estate Planning includes planning for funerals. medicare exempts prepaid funeral plans in Florida and many other states. Sam Hasler of the Indiana Civil & Business Lawyer Blog has an article about this. He has an article dealing with the these by a cash purchase and funding them by insurance policy.
Setting up a prepaid funeral trust means going to the funeral home and selecting the sort of funeral you want. Before going to the funeral home, you should read the Federal Trade Commission’s Funerals: A Consumer Guide. The FTC’s Funeral Home Rule requires a funeral home to display a price list that includes all goods and services the funeral home will provide to the buyer. The funeral trust funds whatever the buyer selects.
I know no one likes to consider Florida Wills, Florida estate planning or funerals, but not doing can leave your survivors making the choices and may leave them in the same position as the Randolph family.
Fox Business has an article on A New and Smart Way to Leave Your IRA to a Minor where they discuss the importance of reviewing beneficiaries on all acounts including insurance, annuities, and retirement plans.
They discuss leaving a percentage of the account rather than a dollar amount as this can cause complications if there are not enough assets in the account.
“If you don’t name someone in your will to act as “financial guardian” for your granddaughter, then your IRA will end up in probate court with a judge making the decision. And it might not be the person you’d want. (Your son-in-law, for instance.)”
Florida residents should start the New Year off right, here are ten important Florida estate planning and Florida probate and tips for the New Year.
1. If you don’t have a Will, get one.
Florida estate planning and Florida Probate tip #1: Have a Florida Will. If you don’t have a Florida Will, get one. In particular, married couples with children from prior relationships should always have a Florida Will. Otherwise, the state will decide who gets the money at death.
Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog