Building Your Brighter Tomorrow With Proven Immigration And Estate Planning Strategies
It is possible that Florida residents will have debt when they pass away. However, it is generally not a surviving family member’s responsibility to pay off student loan, credit card or other balances that remain after a loved one dies. Generally speaking, the deceased person’s estate is responsible for paying his or her debts. If…
Some people in Florida may want to use both a will and a trust in their estate planning. A will can appoint an executor and a guardian for minor children. While a will can also be used to pass assets, a trust gives an individual more control over how those assets are passed. Assets passed…
In Florida, a Trustee has an ongoing legal obligation to inform the Trust beneficiaries of the administration of such trust. The Trustee must keep accurate records of all the income, disbursements and expenses of the Trust. Those records should be kept in a safe place by the Trustee and will be relied upon in preparing…
Many parents or other relatives set up special accounts for minor children at financial institutions called UMTA accounts. These are a way to save for a child’s future and sometimes have tax advantages for the donor. The donor then becomes the custodian of such account. These accounts are for use of the child exclusively and…
In Florida, a personal representative, also sometimes called an administrator or an executor is authorized to receive a fee for their services in handling an estate. In family based estates, sometimes the personal representative will elect to waive their fees. The statutory fee is based upon a graduated scale of the assets in the estate…
When a person dies in Florida, a family member or another appointed person will be responsible for starting the probate process. If the deceased individual left a will, the first step in the probate process is to read it. The will may contain important information such as the existence of a trust as well as…
Some people who have both a will and a trust as part of their estate plan might wonder whether they should appoint the same person as executor and successor trustee. In some cases, state law may limit this. For example, in Florida, a non-resident executor must be someone who is related by either marriage or…
A power of attorney is a legal document that gives a person the right to act on behalf of another. In Florida estate planning circumstances, powers of attorney are often utilized to name another person as agent for financial, medical or other decisions. The person who gives these powers is referred to as the “principal.”…
A power of attorney authorizes another individual to act on a person’s behalf financially and legally. Some people in Florida may have heard that this is an important document to have in case they become incapacitated. The solution to this might seem to be a springing power of attorney, which becomes effective when a person…
Estate plans and wills come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are relatively straightforward because there was one spouse and one child, while others will be more complicated because there was more than one marriage with several children and stepchildren involved. This is to say nothing of the even larger number of grandchildren who…
