Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog
Next time you attend a Living trust seminar in Jacksonville Florida or where ever you live, you may want to think twice. This week Family First Advanced Estate Planning, and insurance company, and a life insurance company who targeted low cost estate planning to seniors settled with the Attorney General of California.
An article on Kristen Howe’s Blog states:
I caution everyone to remember the old saying “If something looks too good to be true it probably is.” If someone is offering to write a revocable trust and a will for you for free or for just a few hundred dollars, you have to ask yourself why. The two big lessons to be learned from this case are:
1. Do not let anyone who is not an attorney write an estate plan for you. There are just too many complexities in this area of the law to trust it to someone who is not educated.
2. Do not take investment advice from anyone who sells any kind of investment product. Period. It doesn’t matter what it is, life insurance, annuities, mutual funds.If they make their living selling it they cannot possibly give you objective investment advice about it. If you believe you have been victimized by Family First, another trust mill or by annuity fraud, you should report the crime to the local district attorney or the Department of Insurance. You may also file a complaint with the Attorney General.
Although this problem did not involved lawyers the general ideal of seminars where you are told that everyone can benefit from a Florida Living trust have problems also. You should only consider a Florida living trust if you meet with a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer and determine that your finances and needs require and justify a living trust.