Living Trust / Revocable Trust

November 14, 2007

Why Do I Need Estate Planning?

Mitchell Port a California lawyer posted a link to an article on the California Tax Attorney Blog about an article on the State Bar Website which provides information on estate planning. Although this is a California bar website, many of the same issues and considerations are important to Florida residents interested in Florida Estate Planning. Much of the information is also found on The Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog which primarily deals with Florida issues.

1. What Is Estate Planning?

2. What Is Involved in Estate Planning?

3. Who Needs Estate Planning ?

November 13, 2007

Discussing Your Estate Planning With Your Children.

by David M. Goldman

Leanna Hamill with the Massachusetts Estate Planning and Elder Law Blog wrote an article on Estate Planning titled Should You Discuss Your Plans with Your Children?

In the article she discusses the fact that clients often wonder if they should share their estate plans with their children. In giving her expected advice of IT DEPENDS, Leanna explains some of the reasons why one should and should not disclose their plans. These deal with the way the property is split between the beneficiaries, who will be the PR, Executor, or Trustee, unfit children, issues of disinheritance, and special provisions for one child.

For more insight on these issues read her article or speak with your Florida Estate Planning Lawyer about your particular situation. While you may have not considered the ramifications and ways to approach your specific issues, an Experienced Florida Estate Planning Attorney has.

November 6, 2007

FLORIDA ESTATE PLANNING AND THE RECENTLY DIVORCED CLIENT

by David M. Goldman

Wills

•A new Florida will is almost always advisable for the divorced client, especially if there are minor children.

•Florida Statute section 732.507 generally provides that after the dissolution the provisions for the former spouse in the will are treated as if the former spouse died at the time of the dissolution of the marriage.

• A subsequent marriage, birth, adoption, or divorce will not revoke a Florida Will.

November 5, 2007

IRA’s and your Florida Living Trust

by David M. Goldman

Jacksonville IRA distributions lawyer One common mistake that people make when they have a spouse or children is to transfer their retirement accounts into their Florida Living Trust.

Generally, retirement accounts are not subject to probate because you can name beneficiaries. If you name individual beneficiaries, each beneficiary is given the most flexibility in the way they take and report the proceeds from the IRA.

If you name a Florida Living Trust, the beneficiaries might have to take all of the distributions in the year after death. This can happen when one of the beneficiaries is a charity or not an individual.

November 4, 2007

Florida Domestic Partners Estate Planning: More important than you would think

by David M. Goldman

In Florida Domestic Partners need the help of a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to handle their complex situations. Domestic partners are considered any two people no mater what sex who live together and what each other to benefit in the event of the subsequent death of the other.

Without a valid Florida Will or Valid Florida Estate Planning Documents the domestic partner will not receive any portion of the others estate upon their death. The Florida intestate statutes do not provide any benefits for a domestic partner.

If one creates an invalid Floria Will using software or a form, the Florida statutes provides benefits to the spouse and children of the deceased. Although the decedent’s desires may not be complied with completely. Their family, who is usually the intended beneficiary, will receive the proceeds from the estate. This is not true with domestic partnerships. The domestic partners will receive nothing from the decedents estate.

November 3, 2007

Who Should Help Me with My Estate Planning Documents?

by David M. Goldman

Jacksonville Estate Planning Jacksonville meeting Can I do it myself?

It is possible for a person to do his or her own Florida estate planning with forms or books bought at a stationery or bookstore or from the State Bar. At the least, a review of such forms can be helpful in preparing you for doing estate planning. If you do review such materials and have any unanswered questions, however, you should seek professional help form a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer.

Will documents I prepare myself be valid?

November 2, 2007

Review Your Estate Plan. (And Your Parents)

by David M. Goldman

Jacksonville Estate Planning Documents, Jacksonville Family Estate Planning If you or a member of your family was to have a crisis are you prepared? That is the question you should ask your Florida Estate Planning Lawyer or Attorney on a regular basis. Often we only look at significant events in our lives and do not consider the effects that a significant effect in our parents or children’s lives will have upon us.

When you review your Florida Estate Plan you should also review or remind your parents and adult children to review their plans also. There are changes in the laws which may prompt updates to your estate planning techniques. In addition, significant changes in your life including births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and changes in assets should trigger an estate plan review.

Generally when an Florida Estate Planning Attorney creates Florida Estate Planning Documents their duty is over once the documents are prepared. The obligation is up to you to seek a regular review of these documents.

October 29, 2007

Successor Trustee: Duties and Responsibilities

by David M. Goldman

You have just been asked to be a successor trustee for a Florida Living Trust. What will your trustee duties and responsibilities be? Do you want to accept? Are their downsides? I ran across an interesting article and have applied some of it to Florida law. This note will help you to understand what some of the common issues are and will help you to discuss your options with a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer. Remember that all Florida trusts are different, and that many of your duties, responsibilities may not be contained in the document. Therefore your document will need to be analyzed with the New Florida Trust code.

First Lets discuss some of the background information that will be necessary to understand your duties and responsibilities.

A Trust is a legal entity. When assets are contributed to the trust, the trust separates the legal ownership (possession) from the beneficial ownership (the principal and income). Often trusts look very much like wills because they include instructions for whom your your assets will benefit after our death. Some trusts are created during the life of the person who creates them ( the settlor or grantor) and some are created after their death (testamentary).

Florida Living Trusts work by separating the equitable ownership (the trustee)from the beneficial ownership (the beneficiary).

Who are the people involved in a Trust? The grantor (also called settlor, trustor, creator or trustmaker) is the person whose trust it is. Married couples who set up one trust together are co-grantors of their trust. Only the grantor(s) can make changes to his or her trust.

The trustee manages the assets that are in the trust. Many people choose to be their own trustee and continue to manage their affairs for as long as they are able. Married couples are often co-trustees, so that when one dies or becomes incapacitated, the surviving spouse can continue to handle their finances with no other actions or steps required, including court interference.

A successor trustee is named to step in and manage the trust when the trustee is no longer able to continue (usually due to incapacity or death). Typically, several are named in succession in case one or more cannot act. Sometimes two or more adult children are named to act together. Sometimes a corporate trustee (bank or trust company) is named. Sometimes it is a combination of the two.

The beneficiaries are the persons or organizations who will receive the trust assets after the grantor dies.
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October 26, 2007

How to change a WIll

by David M. Goldman

Clients often bring in Florida Will to amend which have been marked up several times. Usually, once there are so many changes that they cannot tell what the last change is, the decide to redraft or amend their will.

With a Florida Will, or a will drafted in another state, a Florida Resident cannot simply cross off part of a page or change the language on their own. The result will be that the court will look to see if they can determine what the original language was, and enforce it.

The reason for this is all Florida Wills, Florida Revocable Trusts, and Codiles (an amendment to a will) must comply with the Florida statute of wills. This requires that two people who witness each other and the person who is creating the will all witness each other signing the document.

October 22, 2007

Florida Statute of Wills: Wills, Revocable Trusts, Codicils

by David M. Goldman

When making a Florida Will, Florida Revocable Trust, or Codicil to a Florida Will there are several technicalities that must be complied with for the documents to be valid.

1) Who can make a Florida Will, Florida Revocable Trust, or Codicil to a Florida Will:

The answer to this can be found in section 732.501, Florida Statutes, where it states: Any person who is of sound mind and who is either 18 or more years of age or an emancipated minor may make a will.