The Florida Bar has released consumer information on Florida Probate where they describe many of the issues related to Probate in Florida. They discuss the following:
1. WHAT IS PROBATE?
2. WHAT ARE PROBATE ASSETS?
3. WHY IS PROBATE NECESSARY?
Florida Continues to have no State Death Tax. Only 24 states have some form of death tax as the state death tax credit has been phased out.
The Top Estate Tax rate for 2008 is 45% and is scheduled to remain at $45 percent through 2009. This estate tax rate applies to assets in excess of $1.5 million.
The 2008 Estate Tax Exemption is $2 Million dollars and is set to increase to $3.5 million dollars in 2009. Many believe there will be new legislation this year which could change the numbers in the future.
Accidental disinheritance is a growing problem. It’s a problem, in part, because there are too many death-disposition instruments now that dispositions are slipping through the cracks to the wrong people.
Paul Rabalais wrote about this on Your Louisiana Estate Planning Blog where he describes some of the more common ways people are disinherited. He mentions several life events that cause unintended consequences.
1) Failing to update your will yearly.
2) Ineffective wills 3) Divorce 4) Remarriage 5) Conflicting disposition instruments.
Starting January 1, 2008 every non-spouse designated beneficiary will have the option to rollover an inherited IRA and stretch distributions. To take advantage of this opportunity your Florida estate plan must be setup correctly to qualify for this rollover opportunity. You are not entitled to a rollover, you must prove you meet the technical legal requirements. Let’s take a look at why your family would not qualify for the new IRA rollover opportunity.
The IRS has very specific rules for how a trust can qualify as a see through trust and treated as a designated beneficiary. The top level bullet point requirements are:
The trust must be valid under state law;
More about Anna Nicole’s will According to Jay MacDonald , You can accidentally disinherit your heirs,
Here are the 7 ways to disinherit your kids which Mr. MacDonald discusses:
1. Failure to update a will 2. Faulty will 3. Stepparent succession 4. Ademption 5. Misunderstanding survivorship 6. Mirror-image grant 7. Failure to prepare a will
Although children have no legal right to inheritance throughout most of the United States, many states do provide protection against accidental disinheritance. Because she was born after the execution of Anna Nicole’s will, Dannielynn will likely be considered a pretermitted child that was accidentally disinherited, and thus will likely inherit the bulk of Anna Nicole’s estate.
The Wills, Trusts, & Estates Professors Blog has an summary of an article by RDA Legal Communique that Estate Planning and Estate Administration are two of the hot areas of law. Many Florida Resident have not properly planned for their families or the plans they have are out of date.
If you need Estate Planning In Florida, contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to find out what your benefits may be from a properly prepared Estate Plan.
If you feel that something is wrong with a Florida will because you are left out or your distribution doesn’t seem fair, is there anything you can do?
If you believe a Florida will is not valid, you may be able to contest it. Proving a Florida will is invalid is a difficult process but not impossible. You must have some right to property to contest a Florida Will. You can not contest a will for someone when there is no indication that you would be a beneficiary.
Often wills contain no contest clauses voiding a persons interest if they contest the terms of the will. In Florida will contest provisions are invalid and ignored. If there was no will and you would inherited or become a beneficiary of their estate than you may have standing to contest the Florida Will.
A Living Trust is a tool used by Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyers to hold assets for the benefits for one or more beneficiaries. Often the initial beneficiaries are the people who create them. In this case, a person or couple can use the assets of the trust just like they would do with their own assets. The big advantage to a Florida Living Trust is that upon the death of the creators of the trust, the assets have a predefined beneficiary.
This enables properly created trust assets to avoid the delays and costs associated with a Florida Probate. Florida’s new trust code requires that to be eligible to create a Florida Trust, you must some nexus or connection with the state of Florida.
Some additional benefits of a Florida Revocable Trust are that the way in which the assets are distributed are not public like with a will or assets that pass under the state’s intestate statutes.
A recent article on Your Louisiana Estate Planning Blog, For Families With More Than $2 million of Assets: Bad Wills Can Cost You $1,000,000 talks about how poorly drafted wills can quickly cost your over $1Million in estate taxes. I see several clients a month that would have tax bills in excess of 1 Million dollars upon their death.
For those of you who have assets in excess of 2 million or expect to have assets in 2011 in excess of 1 million dollars, did you know that almost 1/2 of your estate will go to pay the tax bill?
If you have substantial assets and want to leave them to your family instead of the government, talk to a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer about how to structure your assets.
In Florida as with many other states, current child support payments and past due child support payments are an asset of the estate of the decedent. When there is back child support due and the primary caretaker passes away, the personal representative or executor of the estate may take action to collect the payments from the other parent.
Even though it is the estate who is going after the payments, these payments are for the benefit of the child and not available to creditors or other beneficiaries.
If you are trying to collect back child support from a parent and there is an estate involved, you should discuss this with a Jacksonville Estate Planning Attorney who works with a Jacksonville Family Attorney.
Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog