Month: <span>March 2018</span>

All of us would like pass on a little something to our children or other loved ones. We save and save to make life a little easier for the people we care about. The last thing anyone wants is to give a large portion of their hard-earned money to the government in the form of probate fees. Nor do we want our loved ones, especially our spouses and children to wait months, even years to receive a penny.

Avoiding the delays and costs of probate is much easier than you think. Here are some basic tips to keep more of your estate in the hands of the people who matter most.

Read more “Ways to Avoid Probate”

Foreign Nationals Must Plan, Even for Small Estates

We have found many foreign nationals unprepared for the consequences of their failure to do property estate planning for their United States assets.  This is in relation to their assumption that their estate plan documentation in their home country will be valid in Florida, as well as the lack of estate tax planning.

Read more “Estate Planning for Foreign Nationals”

The Probate Court Process
Probate is a court-supervised process for identifying and gathering the assets of a deceased person (decedent), paying the decedent’s debts, and distributing the decedent’s assets to his or her beneficiaries. The Florida Probate Code is found in Chapters 731 through 735 of the Florida Statutes, and the rules governing Florida probate proceedings are found in the Florida Probate Rules, Part I and Part II (Rules 5.010-5.530).

In Florida, generally a person is required to hire an attorney to assist them with filing a probate court case.

Read more “What is Probate?”