This holiday season, Florida residents are likely to spend time with loved ones near and far. While this is a season to spend quality time with each other, it is also the time of year where it might be suitable to discuss your estate plan and your wishes. Young or...
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Estate Planning
Does the trustee get paid, and if so, how much?
The person who controls a trust is called the trustee. If you’re choosing a trustee, or if you’re a beneficiary of a trust, one concern is how much that trustee gets paid for managing the assets for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The answer depends on the terms of...
How does a divorce affect your estate plan in Florida?
Expecting that you would be together for life, you likely included your former spouse in your estate plan. But with the end of your marriage, it is now necessary for you to cut any emotional and financial ties to your former spouse. Although divorce overrides a will...
Can you create an estate plan if you have Alzheimer’s?
Yes. Even those with severe mental health conditions like Alzheimer’s can engage in effective estate planning. The key here is ensuring that the person creating the estate plan has the requisite mental capacity to create legally binding legal documents. This means...
How is incapacity determined in the context of estate law?
The process of declaring incapacity begins with filing a notice of petition to determine incapacity. In Florida, the court will appoint an examining committee to determine whether the person in question is actually incapacitated. The three examining committee members...
How to confront relatives about undue influence without conflict
Undue influence occurs when someone manipulates a vulnerable or weakened individual to change their will for their own benefit. If you suspect that your loved one may be a victim of undue influence, it's crucial to look for signs and approach the situation with care...
Contesting a will in Florida
Floridians who make wills generally assume that the will prevents after-death conflict among potential heirs. Unhappily, this expectation can easily fail if the decedent did not execute the will as a “free act and deed.” Heirs or other potential beneficiaries often...
What are good qualities for the executor of a will?
It is not something people in Miami love to do, but estate planning is important. People cannot bring their property with them when they pass away and once they are gone, the only control they have over it is based on what was written in their wills. It is important...
Disputes arise when the terms of wills and trusts conflict
It is not unusual for a person in Miami to include both a will and a revocable trust in their estate plan. But life changes, and sometimes, a person adds a codicil to their will or changes the terms of the revocable trust. Soon, the current will and the revocable...
Incapacity planning is important too
It may come as a shock to many, but most of us have not done our estate plan. In fact, according to a Caring.com survey, only about one-third of us have even done a will, but an even smaller percentage than that have an incapacity plan. However, if you are going to go...