Estate planning is the process of preparing a plan to provide for the distribution and management of a person’s estate assets given multiple eventualities.

It ensures that should you become incapacitated, the decisions about your well-being are kept as close to your intent as possible, and that your property is distributed according to your wishes and in the most efficient way after you pass away.

This includes planning to avoid probate, reduce administrations costs, and minimizing tax liability.

Estate planning is also important for protecting beneficiaries from themselves (while they are minors or young adults still learning how to manage money) and from any potential creditors, such as a divorcing spouse, a lawsuit from a car accident, bankruptcy, or a lawsuit from a business partner or transaction.

Not having any estate plan can be expensive and reduce your estate significantly by the associated costs and taxes. It can even delay the transfer of assets to your loved ones and heirs.

The biggest benefit of estate planning is peace of mind—you’ll know your wishes will be fulfilled for the benefit of your loved ones.

Life happens fast, disasters happen, and people get in accidents or get sick. People seldom get everything done on their to-do list before a life-changing event occurs.

The time to make important decisions about your wishes and what will make things easier for your loved ones should something happen to you is today.

No one knows when tragedy can strike so there is no better time than the present. Estate planning is not something you want to be doing from your hospital bed or nursing home. Sometimes this can be too late under the law.

Your family will be dealing with the shock of you being gone and have to make major decisions on the fly. It will be a super stressful time for them. Without a proper estate plan in place, your family is at unnecessary risk of making a decision you would not have wanted or worse, a bad decision that could be further devastating.

Think of a Will as a set of instructions left behind so that your loved ones know how you want your estate to be distributed and what arrangements you would like. It’s a comprehensive document specifying your instructions and who should handle these things.

The death of a loved one is an emotionally draining and overwhelming occasion for those you leave behind. It is extremely difficult for those left in its wake and a time when many important decisions must be made – funeral arrangements, paying outstanding bills, dealing with property and all your “stuff,” in addition to having to make arrangements for children or pets.

Your loved ones will thank you for not leaving them in a position to have to make these tough decisions and allow them to go through the grieving process without having to make these kinds of decisions adding to their stress.

A will is helpful in that it gets your wishes on paper and takes into account any special instructions you might have like gifts to charities. I will alone is NOT an estate plan.

A will should be part of an overall comprehensive estate plan, and an estate planning attorney will make every possible effort to anticipate your needs and provide you with the best options.

Click here to Book a Legacy Planning Strategy Session to learn more.

As defined by law, dying without a will is called intestate. Wills get lost, destroyed, revoked, or could have been done without State specific formalities making them void.

In other words, it’s your current estate plan as determined by the laws of the State of Florida, without any input from you that could result in unintended distribution of your assets. The State, a probate court judge, will determine what is best to do with your stuff, property, pets, and even your children.

When a person dies intestate, the estate of the deceased must go through a formal probate with the courts.

Your children could end up going to the last relative you ever would have considered for the job, or worse, into the state system.

Probate is the court-supervised process of administering your estate upon your death. If you die without a Will, your estate must go through probate before all your money can be distributed to your heirs.

…AND IF YOU DIE WITH A WILL…your estate (your family) MUST still go through the formal probate court process!

The only way to avoid probate is with a revocable living trust.

What’s so bad about probate? The stress and uncertainties of any legal matters that your family will endure aside, the three big ones are TIME, MONEY, and SUNSHINE!

• Even simple probate actions can take over 7 months to complete. Many estates can take years. Prince’s estate took over 6 years.
• Getting the probate process started is an immediate cost to your loved ones and heirs. Attorney fees, court fees, publishing fees, taxes, etc, can add up quickly. It can ultimately end up costing your family as much as 5-7% or more, of the estate assets.
• Zero privacy. Probate is a public process making the wishes in your Will available for the world to see.

Although a Will is subject to the probate process, a living trust is designed to bypass it completely – nosey neighbors, ex-spouses, family members, etc..

A trust agreement is a legal agreement created by a grantor to ensure a grantor’s assets go to specific beneficiaries, under certain terms and conditions. The grantor can establish these conditions as they see fit.

Also known as a Living Trust, it is separate from you as the person. A trust is an entity created and governed under the state law in which it was formed. A trust involves the creation of a fiduciary relationship between a grantor, a trustee, and a beneficiary for a stated purpose.

You as the trust creator place your assets in the trust, serve as the initial trustee and authorize a successor trustee to administer those assets for the benefit of the trust creator or beneficiaries when you no longer can.

A trust can eliminate the need for the assets it holds to be probated in a public court. Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable and some trusts can reduce estate taxes.

Revocable living trusts are more common as you might imagine by the name meaning you as the settlor are free to revoke it or amend it as you see fit. They enable all property and assets properly funded therein to pass outside of probate with little effort from the beneficiaries.

Irrevocable living trusts on the other hand, cannot be revoked but provide some additional protections over a revocable living trust such as assets placed into a irrevocable trust are shielded from creditors. If you are sued, the trust assets can be ordered liquidated by a court to satify any judgments.

Click here to Book a Legacy Planning Strategy Session to learn more.

Estate plans are either a will-based plan or a living trust-based plan.

Both a will and a living trust are legal documents.

While a living trust offers many of the same coverages as a will, the two legal documents cover different periods of the grantor’s life. A revocable living trust covers an individual’s assets while they are alive, when they are incapacitated, and when they are deceased. A living will only covers the individual’s assets after they have passed away.

The primary difference between a last will and testament and a trust is how assets are titled when you pass away, and what has to occur to retitle the property thereafter.

A living trust allows you to appoint a chosen individual that you trust to manage your assets should you become incapacitated and distribute them to your family at your death. A living trust is almost always preferable to a will because it is designed to avoid the time, expense, and publicity of probate, which a will cannot avoid.

It comes as a surprise to many of my clients that wills do not avoid probate court … they guarantee it!

If you establish a will or a trust, you will name a personal representative / executor (will) or a trustee/co-trustee/successor trustee (trust). This could be either a person you trust, an institution, or a combination thereof, who will have the administrative duties relating to the settlement of the estate and protecting the beneficiaries.

A person or institution named to manage property or money for someone else is a fiduciary. The law requires a fiduciary to manage that property and money for the benefit of the designated beneficiary, not themselves. The property or money IS NOT theirs.

The role of a fiduciary comes with legal responsibilities which means certain duties and responsibilities. Violating them comes with legal consequences.

All fiduciaries are expected to act diligently and in good faith to protect the estate and estate assets. The basic fiduciary duties that could lead to legal action include:

1. Act only in the beneficiaries interest;
2. Keep accurate records;
3. Keep all trust property separate from your own;
4. Manage all trust property and money in the trust carefully.

It is important that you carefully choose someone trustworthy and honest.

Our office will provide initial guidance to your personal representative/executor of your will, or your successor-trustee should something happen to you.

To learn more, click here to

It is important that you carefully choose someone trustworthy and honest. 

Our office will provide initial guidance to your personal representative  of your will, or your successor-trustee should something happen to you.

To learn more, click here to Book a Legacy Planning Strategy Session.

Also known as SNTs, Special Needs Trusts are an essential component of estate plans when you have beneficiaries with disabilities. Drafting SNTs require a working knowledge of both estate planning and asset-tested government benefit programs. An experienced estate planning attorney should be consulted for SNTs.