Tag: estate-planning
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The New Homestead Trap: Surviving Spouses Are Trapped by Life Estates They No Longer Want or Can Afford
Florida’s homestead laws are causing problems for surviving spouses. The cost of living in their homes has gone up, including property taxes, insurance, and special assessments for hurricane damage. Many surviving spouses can’t afford to live in their homes anymore and want to move, but they’re trapped because they can’t sell or change their life…
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The Robertson Case: A Beneficiary by Any Other Name Is Still a Beneficiary
In a recent court case called Robertson v. Deeb, the court decided that an inherited individual retirement account (IRA) does not have the same protection from creditors as originally thought. This decision could affect many people in Florida who are beneficiaries of IRAs. It’s important to know that state laws can impact retirement accounts, so…
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Estate Planning: Death Soon After Divorce
During a divorce, it’s common for people to want to change their will and other documents right away. But in Florida, the law already protects divorced people from their ex-spouse inheriting their assets, even if they forget to update their will. However, it’s important to make sure beneficiary forms for things like life insurance and…
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Morey v. Everbank: Three Drafting Tips to Avoid a Troubling Decision
In the Morey case, a court decided that life insurance money was not protected from the insured person’s debts, even though Florida law usually protects it. This is important for trusts and estates because it affects how people’s money is handled after they die. Carlton Morey set up a trust to pay for his last…
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Trust Protectors Under Current Florida Law: A Passing Trend or Valuable Planning Tool?
Trust protectors are an important tool in estate planning, especially for long-term trusts. They can help make changes to the trust as needed, to accommodate changes in tax laws and the lives of the trust beneficiaries. They have been around for a long time and are not just for offshore trusts. Trust protectors can provide…
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Danger Will Robinson: The New Frontier of Remote Online Notarization and Electronic Wills
In June 2019, Florida passed a law allowing notaries to perform notarial acts remotely using audio-video technology and enabling the execution of electronic wills. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2020, with the electronic wills provisions becoming effective on July 1, 2020. The law includes details on how to become an online notary,…
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Homestead Planning Under Florida’s New Safe Harbor Statute
The new law allows a spouse to give up their rights to their home in a simple way, using specific language in a deed. This doesn’t give up other protections, like protection against creditors, and doesn’t affect other inheritance rights. It became a law on July 1, 2018. Homestead rights protect a surviving spouse from…
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Failure to Deliver: The Problem with Pocket Deeds and a Review of Alternatives
A “pocket deed” is a deed that is not actually given to the person it’s meant for until the person who owns the property dies. The problem with this is that if the owner dies before giving the deed, the transfer of property is not valid. Both the delivery of the deed and the acceptance…
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Fiduciary Duty: A Foundational Tenet Trending Back Into the Forefront
In the next 15 years, a lot of older people in the U.S. will pass on their money and assets to their families, which will be the biggest transfer of wealth ever in the country. Most of this money is owned by people over 60 years old, and they are expected to pass on $4.1…
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Taking the Quick Out of Quitclaim Deeds
The Dingle v. Dellinger case is a reminder for attorneys to be careful when preparing transfer deeds for real estate. In this case, the attorney made a mistake in the deed, and the people who were supposed to receive the property sued the attorney for negligence, even though they weren’t the attorney’s clients. This case…
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The Disproportionate Impact of Heirs Property in Florida’s Low-Income Communities of Color
Heirs’ property is when multiple people own a piece of land together, often because a family member died without a will. This can make it hard for people to sell or take care of the property. It affects African-American families more, especially in the southeastern United States. In Florida, when someone dies without a will,…
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Florida Irrevocable Grantor Homestead Trust: Having Your Cake and Eating it Too Second Course
The FIGHT is a way for people in Florida to pass on their homes to their family without having to worry about certain restrictions. But it’s important to understand the tax implications of using a FIGHT, because it could affect estate, gift, and income taxes. Basically, using a FIGHT means that the home will still…
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Florida Irrevocable Grantor Homestead Trust: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too â First Course
The saying “you can’t have your cake and eat it too” means you can’t have two good things at once. But in Florida, using a special trust called a Florida Irrevocable Grantor Homestead Trust (FIGHT), you might be able to keep the benefits of homestead protection without some of the drawbacks. The FIGHT is a…
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Transferring Real Property into Limited Liability Companies in Florida: Benefits and Considerations
Transferring real property into an LLC in Florida can protect your personal assets if there’s a problem with the property. This means that only the assets owned by the LLC, and not your personal assets, are at risk. However, there are some things you need to consider before making this transfer. If an LLC has…
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Understanding the New Florida Community Property Trust, Part II
When a married couple in Florida sets up a joint trust to hold their assets, if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse can change how their share of the trust is handled. But if the surviving spouse is the trustee, they might make mistakes that could cause problems, like giving away too much or not…
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Understanding the New Florida Community Property Trust, Part I
The Florida Community Property Trust Act provides benefits to married couples by allowing them to have joint ownership of assets in a special trust. This can bring tax advantages when one spouse passes away. Before this act, joint ownership in Florida was more limited. In community property states, assets acquired during marriage are generally considered…
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Protectors and Directors and Advisers: Oh My! The New Florida Uniform Directed Trust Act
In 2021, Florida passed a new law called the Florida Uniform Directed Trust Act, which deals with trusts where someone other than the trustee has power over parts of the trust. This is becoming more common, so it was necessary to create new laws to govern how these types of trusts work. In the past,…
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What Distributions Can Be Made From a Marital Trust?
Since 1981, the unlimited marital deduction has been used to defer estate taxes until the surviving spouse’s death. One way to do this is by using a marital deduction trust. But when a large part of the couple’s estate is in this trust, other methods are needed to lower estate taxes for the surviving spouse.…
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Step Two in Any Divorce Proceeding: See an Estate Planning Attorney
After filing for divorce, it’s important for the client spouse to meet with an estate planning attorney. This is because the client spouse’s goals and wishes for their estate may have changed during the divorce, and their existing estate planning documents may need to be revised. For example, if they previously planned to leave everything…
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Every Divorcing Client Needs Estate Planning
In short, if you’re getting a divorce, it’s important to see an estate planner. This will help make sure that your assets and plans for the future are in order. If you don’t have a plan in place and something happens to you during the divorce process, your family might face complications. Even if you…
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Estate Planning Issues in a Divorce Situation II: An Update and Standing Orders
In 2012, Ms. Brunner wrote an article in a journal about the rights of married couples in the process of getting a divorce and after the divorce is finalized. The article discusses how automatic orders in divorce cases may give more rights to the spouse who files for divorce than to the spouse in a…
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Poor on Paper: An Overview of the Ethics and Morality of Medicaid Planning
Judy and Anne are both retired school teachers who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. In the US, only Anne, who spent all her money throughout her life, will be able to receive long-term care at a nursing facility subsidized by Medicaid because she is poor. Judy, who saved her money her whole life, will…
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The Medicaid Institutionalized Care Program, the Simple Estate Plan, and the Elective Share: Why the Qualified Special Needs Trust Was Born
In short, the legal firm hired a new attorney who is really good at their job. In 1999, the Florida Legislature made major changes to the law that gives a surviving spouse the right to claim a share of their deceased spouse’s estate. This was to prevent one spouse from being disinherited. However, if one…
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Twelve Ways of Proving the Negative and Overcoming the Carpenter Presumption of Undue Influence
The Carpenter presumption in Florida law says that if someone who benefits from a will was involved in making the will in certain ways, it’s assumed they unduly influenced the person who made the will. There are seven things that can make this assumption stronger, like being there when the will was made or knowing…