Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

April 6, 2023

Florida Estate Planning and Elder Law – What is the difference?

Florida Estate planning and Florida elder law planning are two distinct areas of law that often overlap, as they both involve preparing for the future and ensuring the well-being of individuals and their families. However, they have different areas of focus.

Florida Estate planning lawyers primarily deal with the management and distribution of an individual’s assets upon their death. Key components of estate planning include:

1. Wills: Legal documents that outline how an individual’s assets should be distributed after their death.
2. Trusts: Legal arrangements that enable a third party (the trustee) to manage assets on behalf of the beneficiaries.
3. Power of attorney: A document that allows someone (the agent) to make financial and legal decisions on behalf of another person (the principal).
4. Healthcare directives: Documents that outline an individual’s medical care preferences and appoint someone to make healthcare decisions if they become incapacitated.
5. Tax planning: Strategies to minimize estate and gift taxes.
6. Probate: This is the legal process by which a deceased person’s estate is administered and distributed. Estate planning often aims to avoid or minimize probate, as it can be time-consuming and costly.

March 28, 2023

Estate Planning for Families Facing Addiction

by David M. Goldman

Addiction is a serious illness that effects millions of families. Over 7,000 people died from overdose in Florida in 2020, the second most of any state (Statistics from Riverside Recovery, Tampa). Aside from illicit drug use, addictions to gambling, alcohol, or prescription medications can be just as dangerous and no less destructive in the lives of those who struggle with them and their families.

Our natural instinct is to care for our family and loved ones as best we can for as long as we can. For families facing struggles with addiction, Estate Planning can often be more complex than for those without. In many cases, families want to avoid the unsupervised transfer of large lump sums of cash or valuable assets, which can have the potential of doing more harm than good in the beneficiaries’ life.

Families who struggle with a loved one’s addiction know the potential dangers of temptations that can come with having access to cash or transferable assets in that person’s life. Especially during an already very stressful time in their lives. Fortunately, in Florida, you are able to utilize Trust Agreements as part your estate plan which can protect your family’s cash and valuable assets while still providing for essential needs, ongoing care, and even treatment as needed, of loved ones facing addiction after you’re gone.

January 20, 2022

Estate Planning in 2022

by David M. Goldman

After a year of speculation, 2022 begins with no new federal estate and gift tax legislation. The significant changes to federal estate and gift tax laws were not implemented by new legislation. Those changes included a substantial reduction in the estate and gift tax exemption among altered tax treatment for grantor trusts and even a proposal to eliminate the different tax treatment of grantor trusts and elimination of step-up in basis for assets at death.

Keep in mind that the current estate tax exemption levels will expire after 2025, even without legislation. After 2025, the federal estate and gift tax exemption will be cut from more than $12,000,000 to $5,000,000 per individual (plus an inflation adjustment between 2018 and 2025).

Despite all of the lurking uncertainty, some positive developments for taxpayers beginning in 2022. They include:

December 16, 2021

Thought about gifting in 2021 and 2022

by David M. Goldman

There are many reasons you might consider giving your adult children a portion of their inheritance now while you’re alive and well. Maybe you’ve seen your nest egg grow thanks to a robust stock market, and you have more in savings than you thought you would at this stage of your life. Perhaps you and your spouse enjoy excellent health and have received nothing but good checkups for years, so you’re not overly concerned about medical expenses. Or maybe you just want to be there to experience how your financial assistance helps your children pursue their dreams and achieve their goals. Do you really want to set the stage for the family drama that could unfold by violating the “fairness principle?”

Of course, you could tell the recipient of your gift, along with your other adult children, that the gift will be deducted from the recipient’s inheritance when you pass away. This might solve the problem, but then again, it might not. As you’ve no doubt learned by now, your “kids” may be grown up, but that doesn’t mean sibling rivalries and other powerful emotions from childhood simply disappear.

While many parents would like to help their adult children financially as much as possible, before acting on your generous inclinations, you should consider a number of potential problems.

April 20, 2021

The 99.5% Act – Time to Rethink Your Estate Plan?

by David M. Goldman

While many do not think all of the “For the 99.5% Act introduced by Bernie Sanders plan on March 25, 2021 will become law, there is certainly concern over the gifting and estate tax portions which would seem to affect more than just the upper 1/2 percent of the US population. This is the first attempt at legislation following Joe Biden’s election that could lower the federal estate tax exemption. There are many changes and various dates when the changes would take place:

For those who die or make gifts after December 31, 2021.

Reduce the U.S. federal estate tax exemption from over $23 Million to $3.5 million for U.S. citizens and U.S. domiciliaries;

March 19, 2021

How to Select a Senior Living Arrangement for Your Elderly Loved One

by David M. Goldman

How to Select a Senior Living Arrangement for Your Elderly Loved One

Moving an older loved one into a new living arrangement is an emotional process. However, feelings aside, there are many practical steps we must take before a decision is made. From how to pay for custodial services to the kinds of help they need now, and in the future, there are lots of details to sort out. This guide, presented by the Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog, can help you navigate this process.

Paying for long-term care

Even if your loved one is still perfectly capable of caring for themselves, there is never a wrong time to think about how money matters will play out. Medicare does not cover custodial services, only medically necessary and just for a short time. Although all states do have indigent Medicaid programs, your loved one likely does not qualify if they have any cash or liquid assets. For many seniors, the equity in their home is at least part of their nest egg. To find out how much you can expect, research local home prices (houses in Jacksonville sell for an average of $235,000). It’s also helpful to know the average cost of skilled nursing, assisted, and independent living. If you have obtained guardianship, you may need to look into selling their home if they are no longer in a position to care for it for themselves.

April 6, 2020

Surge on wills: Fearing death by COVID-19, people ask lawyers to write their last wishes

by David M. Goldman

The Miami Herold is reporting the there is a surge in people asking for wills to be written.

The article states:

Lawyers are being bombarded with requests to write wills, update estate plans and prepare health surrogate or “pull the plug” documents as people are confronted by the realization that they could be diagnosed with COVID-19 and dead within days.

April 1, 2020

Have You Lost Your Job because of the Coronavirus?

by David M. Goldman

Have you lost your job because of the Coronavirus?

As an essential business, we are open and available to meet by phone by calling (904) 990-8000 or video conference
We have a Certified Online Notary on staff.

April 1, 2020

Why Estate Planning matters during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and what you can do to prepare.

by David M. Goldman

Why Estate Planning matters during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and what you can do to prepare.

On March 17th, the outbreak of Coronavirus has grown to at least 4,226 cases, and numbers are still growing. According to the CDC, Florida alone is ranging from 101-200 reported cases, and the elderly is a suspectable target. The elderly and those with any underlying medical problems such as high blood pressure, heart problem, and diabetes are more like to see an increase in this serious illness. As Coronavirus continues to sweep through the nation, this leaves many individuals with the feeling of uncertainty. Many advisors are continuing to tell individuals to “stay the course” and ride this rollercoaster out. This advice leaves people uneasy when looking back from the lessons that were learned in 2008. Time is valuable right now to take action for this pandemic. We have an obligation to prepare and protect our loved ones in this infectious crisis. While this topic is always a hard conversation to have, estate planning is now more than ever a critical tool that can be used to assure that your wishes are carried out in the event of death or incapacity. There are four essential estate planning documents that can help ease the uncertainty of this pandemic and provide a plan for the Coronavirus.

A Healthcare Durable Power of Attorney: A Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives someone you choose the ability to have the power to act on your behalf and make decisions. This can be done through a Healthcare Durable Power of Attorney, which is essential during an outbreak like Coronavirus. This will ensure that you receive the healthcare needed if you become ill. Until May 1, we are offering a free Healthcare power of attorney with COVID-19 specific provisions. See this article.

March 31, 2020

Important Questions we all want to know about Estate Planning

by David M. Goldman

In Florida, an estate plan provides you a plan for what happens to your assets at your death. Another crucial part of your estate plan, specifically your will, is where one nominates who will be the guardian of any minor children. Although the court will decide what’s in the best interest of the child(ren), having an estate planning document that details your preference in place will hold considerable weight. Estate planning is important for anyone with legal capacity, whether it may entail power of attorney or medical care or extend to a full-featured plan, which would include trust and a will. Today, with the current situation with COVID-19, it is more important than ever to have a Medical Power of Attorney that permits the use of experimental, non-FDA-approved medications for the treatment of COVID-19.

While preparing a will or a trust is essential, it is also important to consider coordinating beneficiary designations on life IRAs, insurance, retirement plans, etc. A will should also include planning during your lifetime and in case of your incapacity. Often the creation of an estate plan involves an array of topics such as asset protection and qualification for public benefits for the client, or the client’s loved one. Often, spouses will take it upon themselves to devise a plan online without the proper instruction; let’s go through a scenario.

Here, we have Tyler and Debra, who created an online package plan. In this package, they prepare a trust and retitle the brokerage account and house into the name of the trust. The couple also prepares wills. While preparing, each document language states that it will include everything left to one another at the death of the survivor and divided assets among their three children. Tyler and Debra felt they had a great plan in place and would have no concerns involving probate. One thing they did not consider is that they could not change the ownership of Debra’s IRA during her lifetime. The first mistake was not checking the beneficiary designations on the IRA. Before Debra married Tyler, she had a boyfriend known as a beneficiary of her IRA. This caused Debra’s previous boyfriend to obtain the bulk of the IRA asset, not her current husband, Tyler. This situation happened even though Debra named Tyler as the primary beneficiary of all her assets in her will and trust. Situations like these always happen and demonstrate why revisiting your plan and making changes to previous beneficiaries is vital.