Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

December 21, 2007

Florida and other States: Single Member LLC’s – 2 EIN’s required by IRS if there are employees

A recent update to the IRS website could affect you if your Jacksonville Florida Business is a Limited Liability Company.

Important information for Single Member Limited Liability Companies (LLC) who have or will have employees within the next 12 months:

IRS regulations require a single member limited liability company that is (1) owned by one individual and (2) has or will have employees within the next 12 months to have two EINs. One EIN is assigned to the individual owner (as a sole proprietor) and one is assigned to the LLC. If you do not already have an EIN as a sole proprietor, you cannot use the online EIN application to apply for the LLC EIN. Please call the Business and Specialty Tax Line at (800) 829-4933 between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. local time and an assistor will take your information and assign you the two required EINs. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

APPLY FOR AN EIN ONLINE NOW

December 21, 2007

Waiving Your Homestead Protection: Florida Supreme Court Speaks

by David M. Goldman

While credit is tight and many Jacksonville consumers are facing foreclosure on their homes, and attempts to collect old credit card debts, companies have been trying to use waiver of you homestead to collect debts. For over 100 years Jacksonville residents and those living in Florida have had been able to protect their home from claims of creditors. Arguably the home is one of the most valuable assets a Florida resident has. Recently there has been concern over the ability of a homeowner to waive their right to protection. The Florida courts have allowed people to waive many of their constitutionally protected rights, but up to now a waiver of ones Florida homestead protection was invalid except in the case of a valid pre or post nuptial agreement. This case represented the most recent attempt to allow waiver of ones constitutionally protected homestead protection.

In a case involving the Florida Constitution’s exemption which protects homeowners’ residences from forced sale, the Supreme Court of Florida reaffirms that, while the exemption can be waived in a mortgage, it cannot be waived in an unsecured agreement. The court rejects claims that it should recede from its precedent based on a constitutional amendment, a purported national trend approving such waivers, and recent holdings that other constitutional rights can be waived.

To review the case and the extensive analysis the Florida Supreme Court took read Chames v. Demayo

December 20, 2007

Reducing Estate Taxes with a Family Limited Parnerships in Florida

by David M. Goldman

Stephanie Loomis-Price has recently published her articles entitled Family Limited Partnerships.

In her article, Stephanie offers a detailed outline of the Family Limited Partnership – from consideration of the FLP as an appropriate estate planning tool, through the formation of the partnership, concluding with the administration of the partnership and tax compliance issues.

Family Limited Partnerships are used in Florida Estate Planning when the assets are in excess of the death tax exemption. If you have a large net worth and require structure to help reduce the 45% estate tax rate, you should contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss a Family Limited Partnership.

December 19, 2007

Baby Boomers cause rise in Estate Planning

by David M. Goldman

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.

December 18, 2007

How to Contest a Florida Will

by David M. Goldman

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.

December 18, 2007

Do it yourself Estate Planning: Bad News Part 8

by David M. Goldman

Could you imagine an Estate Planning Lawyer selling wills or estate planning documents with a disclaimer in small print that your documents may not be valid in Louisiana or some other state.

Today I found another example of when using quicken is a bad idea. Paul Rabalais the author of Estate Planning in Louisiana: A Layman’s Guide to Understanding Wills, Trust, Probate, Power of Attorney, Medicaid, Living Wills & Taxes and Your Louisiana Estate Planning Blog wrote an article about how buying Quicken can be the Worst Buy at Best Buy. Apparently there is a small print on their software which says Estate Planning documents Not Valid in Louisiana. I wonder what other states their documents are not valid in. I have examined several trusts created by quicken, and they do not address the new Florida Trust Code that was implemented in 2007.

Some other examples of Do it your self wills and bad news are covered in my articles listed below

Do it Yourself Wills? More bad news and Do it Yourself Wills? a Good Idea or Not?

December 18, 2007

Do I Need a Revocable Living Trust?

by David M. Goldman

Family Estate Planning with Living Trusts in Florida 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.

December 17, 2007

Bad Will can Cost $1 Million dollars

by David M. Goldman

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.

December 17, 2007

How to Collect Child Support Upon the Death of the Primary Caregiver

by David M. Goldman

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.

December 16, 2007

Who should be invloved in Florida Estate Planning

by David M. Goldman

Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer Ideally your estate plan will be created by a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer, yourself and some or all of the following people:

1. Mother and Father 2. Tax Attorney 3. CPA 4. Financial Advisor 5. Trust Officer 6. Insurance Professional 7. Business Valuation Expert 8. Philanthropic Consultant 9. Fundraiser/Planned Giving Officer 10. Family psychologist or family facilitator

The likelihood of involving these people decreases as you go down the list, and increases as the amount of money involved in the plan increases.

Although children or heirs are almost never included in the preparation of these documents. It might be wise to have a meeting with them once they are prepared or in the later states so that the documents can be discussed. This is a time when any disputes of misreading the documents or their interpretations can be resolved.