Estate planning attorneys often recommend that you transfer your assets into a Living Trust (also called a Revocable Trust). This process is sometimes called "funding" the Trust. By transferring assets into the Trust before death, you can avoid--or at least...
Complex Legal Challenges
Estate Planning
In Florida Elder Law, What is the CARES Assessment?
In the field of elder law in Florida, the CARES program is often discussed. The Comprehensive Assessment and Review for Long-Term Care Services (CARES) is Florida's federally mandated pre-admission screening program for nursing home applicants. Federal law...
What happens if a Will is set-aside or voided?
Beneficiaries, or those excluded from being a beneficiary, of a person's Last Will and Testament sometimes file litigation to challenge the Will. This is usually done based on allegations of undue influence, fraud, coercion or duress. So what happens if the challenge...
Can I prevent my beneficiaries from knowing what other beneficiaries are receiving at my death?
As an estate attorney, I sometimes have clients who want to name multiple beneficiaries but do not want each beneficiary to know what the other is to receive. These clients will often ask, is this possible? When a person executes a Last Will and Testament or a Living...
Don’t Get Caught in the “TIC” Trap!
As more people are living together while not married, they are increasingly buying real estate in joint names. One way this is done is to hold the property as "Tenants in Common"--sometimes abbreviated TIC. One example of how title is held in that case would be as...
In Estate Planning, What’s a Settlor, Grantor or Trustor?
In estate planning, when a person signs a Living Trust or a Revocable Trust (they're the same thing), they are identified using one of several different terms. These include "Settlor", "Grantor", or "Trustor." In Trust lingo, they all mean the same thing and they...
When the Buzzards Start Circling…
Sadly, as an estate attorney I often see families where a person is in their final days before death and the squabbling has already begun. Often these are families where no one expected there to be bickering over the dying person's estate--and yet it happens all too...
Do-It-Yourself: the Estate Planning Disaster!
With today's technology, consumers have plenty of resources to turn to when they think about their estate planning needs. On the internet and through self-help software or forms, many documents can prepared--everything from a Power of Attorney to a Living Trust or...
Why Have a Simultaneous Death Provision in Your Will or Trust?
Often estate attorneys will include a simultaneous death provision in a Will or Trust. These provisions are intended to address what happens if two persons die such that it cannot be determined who died first. For example, what if a mother has a provision in her Will...
In Florida, is an Oral Contract Enforceable?
When an attorney is asked whether an oral contract in Florida is enforceable, the correct answer is that some, but not all, contracts must be in writing. In other words, some oral contracts are enforceable, others are not. Like many states, Florida has a "statute of...