When a person passes away in Florida and has a will, probate is the legal process that takes place to transfer their assets to their beneficiaries. Beneficiaries are the people or entities the deceased person named in the will. Probate overview The process begins when...
Estate Administration
What is a lady bird deed?
You may have heard the term Lady Bird deed and wonder what exactly it is and how it differs from a regular deed. A lady bird deed is a deed with a life estate. It is also sometimes called an enhanced life estate deed. It lets a property owner maintain control of a...
Formal and summary probate administration
Probate is the necessary legal process to distribute the deceased’s property to any beneficiaries named in a will or according to Florida’s intestate succession laws. It can be a long process, but it does not have to be as long as many people think. There are two main...
Know the time limits to object after notice of administration
In Florida, probate and estate administration has many layers and responsibilities to the personal representative. One of the key roles is serving a notice of administration on specific people. This is critical because if there are issues with the estate plan and a...
Florida’s elective share protects spouses from being disinherited
Prior to the enactment of elective share laws in Florida, a surviving spouse could be totally disinherited by the other spouse. This could be done on purpose through a will or trust, or it could be the result of a mistake in a will or poor advice. To avoid these...
Handling probate proceedings in Florida
When you die, your estate will go through probate. Probate is the legal process in which your property is passed on to your heirs. Your estate will go through probate if you have a will or if you die intestate (without a will). There are two basic probate proceedings...
Probate—Lady Bird Deeds
When estate planning, probate is a four-letter word. You want to avoid it, if at all possible. Why? Because it is essentially litigation, which, as we all know, is expensive. And, one such way to avoid Tampa, Florida, probate is through Lady Bird Deeds. Lady Bird...
What if my online will did not include a guardian?
Have you done an online will? If so, you were probably surprised with the ease and the low cost. However, what you may not know is that your new estate plan is likely incomplete. Specifically, it likely lacks any Florida trust instruments, and if you have kids, it may...
What happens to unclaimed estate property?
A personal representative for a Florida estate has several responsibilities, including identifying and locating heirs, distributing assets, paying debts and filing taxes. There are times when heirs cannot be located, or after being located, they refuse to receive the...
Estate administration and taxes
Estate administrators have important duties after a person dies. In addition to paying debts and distributing assets, administrators must also take care of the federal taxes of the decedent and their estate. General duties Probate and estate administration duties...