For same sex couples, having effective estate planning documents and correctly titled property is very important. Without documents expressing the wishes of the couple, there may be undesirable results in the event of a death or serious illness of a partner. If the couple’s wills are not executed properly, upon…
The situation may arise where a person who had a will prepared dies and then the will cannot be found. If a family member dies and you cannot find their will to admit to probate, the court will presume that your relative intend to destroy the will and that your…
Many questions may arise when a person passes away and the person’s professional association holds some assets. The professional association may be a corporation, which is a separate legal entity from the person. In this case the personal representative will not have automatic entitlement to the business assets. This remains…
Some residents of Miami-Dade or Broward County may currently serve as guardian for a ward or may become an appointed guardian in the future. A ward means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. A person may need a guardian because they become incapacitated or because they are…
A trustee has many important duties. They have obligations to beneficiaries and to the trust. Their duties may be altered by the trust, by the creator of the trust or even by the beneficiaries. A trustee should be chosen carefully to ensure they can fulfill the purposes of the trust.…
What if an accident or illness made it impossible to manage your financial affairs? Would your loved ones have to go to the Dade County or Broward County courthouse to get the authority to handle your affairs? No one likes to consider such grim possibilities, but the truth is that…
The living will is an important estate planning tool. Because this form of “will” is used while an individual is still alive (but no longer able to make decisions) it is dubbed the “living will.” The purpose of a living will is to allow you to make decisions about life…
Various types of lawsuits have different requirements for venues. A venue deals with the locality of the lawsuit or where the lawsuit will be filed or commenced. Typically, the venue is a county or district and is chosen based on the subject matter of the case or the where the…
No matter how good a person’s intention may have been in creating a trust, as with any matter involving money and property, disputes often occur. Beneficiaries in Fort Lauderdale may contest the actions of the Trustee located in Miami. As with other legal disputes, it is often desirable to resolve…
In addition to utilizing a trust to provide for your family, you can also create a trust to benefit a charitable organization. To qualify as a charitable trust, the benefiting party must be a charity pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Naturally, such entity must operate solely…