Every trustee of a Florida Trust may have a fundamental duty to keep the trust’s beneficiaries informed of the administration of the trust. Florida Statute Section 763.0813 provides that a trustee must keep the qualified beneficiaries of the trust “reasonably informed of the trust and its administration.” The statutes do…
Estate planning is important to prepare for potential memory loss. Studies show that memory loss is one of the most common ailments that an older person experiences as they begin to age. Memory loss is often a sign of early dementia, and those that suffer from dementia may not be…
Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal held on October 26, 201 that an estate planning attorney must break the attorney-client privilege for deceased client must by testifying in a will contest trial for undue influence. The trial court ordered the attorney to testify, and the attorney refused. The attorney appealed…
In March, the Florida governor approved a new law called the Florida Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which allows the loved ones of a decedent to access any digital assets he or she may have owned before death. This allows loved ones to access the recently deceased’s text messages,…
One question the most frequent questions our Jacksonville estate planning lawyers receive is how long does a probate case in Florida take? Often the best answer to how long a Florida Probate Case takes is “it depends.” The answer usually depends on how vast and complex the decedent’s estate is…
The general rule in estate planning is that if something is not in writing it usually will not be legally valid. For instance, Florida law requires a Will or trust must be in writing to be effective. However, one question we often receive is if a promise to create a…
Florida Trust Code & the Florida Long Arm Statute There are many estate planning benefits for creating a revocable or irrevocable trust in Florida. Trusts can help our Jacksonville clients avoid probate, efficiently manage assets, save money on estate taxes, and protect assets. A person can create a trust in…
I have recently become acquainted with a bank who does business very different than traditional banks. As we do Trust funding for many of our estate planning, elder law, and asset protection packages, we have the opportunity to interact with many banks around the area. One of the recent banks…
Remarriage Protection Many lawyers proclaim to have remarriage protection in their estate planning documents, but few estate plans deal with these issues completely. A traditional trust that deals with remarriage will include language that permits or limits the surviving spouse rights to benefit in the event of future marriage. While…
Like many deaths, the death of the legendary pop star Prince came as a shock and surprise for the world. What shocked estate planning attorneys even more so is the possibility that Prince may have died without a will or an estate plan, which could have huge ramifications for his…