Do I Need to Amend My Trust Because of the Secure Act? Last month, in our last blog, we addressed the basics of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act’) and how retirement plan beneficiary designations will be impacted for individuals who die…
What if Your Beneficiaries Predecease You? When preparing a will, people assume that the beneficiaries that they name will outlive them. Unfortunately, testator’s live beyond the life of their beneficiaries all the time. What happens to the gift left for someone who is now deceased? The original common law understanding…
Estate Planning with Digital Assets: Should I Give My Passwords to My Personal Representative (PR)? Much of our access to information is protected by passwords. In the context of estate planning and probate, passwords can lead to expensive complications and third-party subpoenas. For this reason, an important aspect of modern…
Are Actions Taken Before Appointment as Personal Representative Valid? Yes, if the Actions Were Beneficial to the Estate Florida law states that the duties and powers of a personal representative commence upon appointment. You may be named as personal representative in a decedent’s will, you are not legally considered a…
ESTATE PLANNING: CRYPTO CURRENCIES AND DIGITAL ASSETS Although we all unquestionably live in a digital age at least for the past two decades and the legislatures are adopting new laws every day to reflect this reality, digital estate planning remains one of the areas where relying on state-made laws might…
When devises are actually not part of the estate Many unexpected things can happen in the period between the execution of a will and the actual death. For example, a decedent may devise the family house in Key West to her granddaughter. Several years after executing the will, the decedent…
Ademption: When devises are actually not part of the estate Many unexpected things can happen in the period between the execution of a will and the death. For example, a decedent may devise the family house in Key West to her granddaughter. Several years after executing the will, the decedent…
Estate Planning: Income Tax Strategies Law firms have had to take a spike in income tax rates, a decline in the estate tax rate, and an increasing annual estate tax exemption threshold into account in devising estate planning strategies. There has been a decreasing gap between the income tax…
The importance of a Semicolon – Does property partially used as primary residence and partially for business purposes qualify as Homestead? Does property partially used as primary residence and partially for business purposes qualify as homestead under Article X, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution? Surprisingly, the answer apparently rests…
Is Investing Homestead Sale Proceeds Okay? Florida Constitution provides protection from forced sale to homestead property from most creditors. Art. X, § 4, Fla. Const. The protection covers not only the physical homestead property but also the proceeds from the sale of the homestead, provided the proceeds are reinvested in…