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Estate Planning

Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

Covers estate planning legal issues, cases, and news with a focus on Florida State Law.
By David M. Goldman

Post Frequency: 7.3/day

Last Entry: April 06, 2020 at 17:05:21

Amending Life Insurance Trusts in Florida

Posted on January 29, 2008
Can I amend my life insurance trust? A Florida Life Insurance Trust is an irrevocable trust and can generally not be amended. Although Florida's new trust code does allow for easier amendments of trusts when the primary purpose of the trust will not be accomplished by the current form...

Florida Unrecorded deeds and Estate Planning

Posted on January 28, 2008
Normally a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer would advise against signing a deed conveying a home or other property without recording the deed. What happens if a Florida deed or Florida Enhanced Life Estate Deed is signed but unrecorded? Is the deed valid? What risks are associated with unrecorded deeds? Why would someone want to sign a deed but not record the deed in Florida? A Florida Deed is not invalid just because it is not recorded...

Overriding your will by mistake

Posted on January 27, 2008
When reviewing your Florida Estate Plan be sure that your will does not conflict with other actions you have taken to avoid probate. Assets that have joint ownership, payable on death designations or beneficiaries will not pass to the beneficiaries names in your Florida Estate Planning Documents...

IRA Beneficiaries - Know the Rules

Posted on January 23, 2008
As Baby boomers retire and move to Florida or other states, one of the jobs of an Estate Planning Lawyer is to review the Beneficiaries on IRA and other types of accounts. Denice Glerach a lawyer in Naperville wrote an article discussing this problem and suggesting some solutions for IRA's suggesting that most people do not realize that the money in a traditional IRA account or employee benefit accounts are subject to income taxes by the recipient as well as estate taxes upon the death of the IRA owner...

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Florida Firearm Legislation Has Been Filed

Posted on January 22, 2008
Below is some information I on proposed Florida gun legislation. The following bills have been filed to protect your constitutional and statutory right to have a firearm stored in your vehicle in a parking lot for self-defense and other lawful purposes...

Beware of Trust Mills

Posted on January 22, 2008
Randall Armour of the Santa Clarita Valley Signal wrote an article discussing Trust Mills and gives some advise on how to spot a trust mill and several problems associated with them.1. Trust mills often prepare documents after the client has filled out a simple check-the-box-type questionnaire...

Living Trust Mills Winding Up In Some States

Posted on January 22, 2008
Although there are no current verdicts against Florida Companies, many states have taken action against living Trust Scams / Trust Mills / and Elder Law Planning Seminars. Michael Bonasera of Buckingham Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP and author of the The Ohio Trust & Estate Blog wrote an article titled Living Trust Scams/Trust Mills/Elderlaw Planning Seminars - STAY AWAY! where he mentions a previous posting on this Blog, Florida Estate Planning Lawyers Blog, on a similar topic dealing with a Texarkana Arkansas class action suit...

Gun Licensing and The Supreme Court

Posted on January 19, 2008
Many gun owners are concerned about how the Supreme Court may rule in a case that is before them. A client of mine sent me a video link that shows what has happened in the UK and Australia. We have seen a substantial increase in the number of people looking to establish NFA Gun trusts in the past few months...

Death of Employee and Final Paycheck

Posted on January 17, 2008
A paycheck of a decedent belongs to the Decedents estate. Florida Employers should not cancel nor refuse to issue paychecks for employees who die. Florida Employers should follow their normal procedures. If no one checks on the status of the paycheck, it would be a good idea to send notice to their address that the check is being held for their estate...

Supreme Court Limits Deductions on Trusts

Posted on January 17, 2008
The Supreme Court upheld the limits on income tax deductions for a trustsor estate. The Court ruled against the Knight family (they created Pepperidge Farm). The Court said trusts ordinarily may not deduct the full cost of investment advice on their income tax returns...

Medical Powers of Attorney for Minor Children

Posted on January 16, 2008
Florida residents who have minor children should consider executing a power of attorney which allows another to take care of their minor children medically if they are unable to do so or unavailable at the time. A medical power of attorney for a minor child is just another piece in the estate planning jigsaw puzzle...

Class Action Suit Against Living Trust Sellers

Posted on January 15, 2008
A number of Texarkana residents have filed suit against sellers of living trust documents in a class action accusing the salesmen of exploiting senior citizens. This is similar to what I reported happening in California in December. A Plaintiff says he purchased a living trust after attending a lunch presentation at a restaurant...

Florida Prepaid Funeral Plans and Estate Planning and Elder Law

Posted on January 14, 2008
Part of Florida Elder Law planning and Florida Estate Planning includes planning for funerals. medicare exempts prepaid funeral plans in Florida and many other states. Sam Hasler of the Indiana Civil & Business Lawyer Blog has an article about this...

Leaving IRA Money to a Minor

Posted on January 13, 2008
Fox Business has an article on A New and Smart Way to Leave Your IRA to a Minor where they discuss the importance of reviewing beneficiaries on all acounts including insurance, annuities, and retirement plans. They discuss leaving a percentage of the account rather than a dollar amount as this can cause complications if there are not enough assets in the account...

Who Will Inherit Your IRA?

Posted on January 13, 2008
Vanguard recently sent their clients a notice that they would no longer allow their clients to name different beneficiaries for multiple IRA accounts and would be changing the beneficiaries to whomever was named last. If you have a Florida Estate Plan that uses POD or beneficiary designations, this could significantly change your estate planning...

Ten Florida Estate Planning and Probate Tips - 2008

Posted on January 11, 2008
Florida residents should start the New Year off right, here are ten important Florida estate planning and Florida probate and tips for the New Year. 1. If you don?t have a Will, get one. Florida estate planning and Florida Probate tip #1: Have a Florida Will...

Who Get What in a Florida Probate with No WIll?

Posted on January 11, 2008
The Florida Bar has released consumer information on Florida Probate. One of the most common questions deals with the distributions of a persons estate when is no will in a Florida probate case. Contrary to the belief of some, the decedent?s assets are not turned over to the State of Florida unless no intestate heirs can be found...

What does a Personal Representative do in Florida?

Posted on January 10, 2008
The Florida Bar has released consumer information on Florida Probate. One of the most common questions deals with the personal representative and their role in a Florida probate case. The personal representative is the person, bank or trust company appointed by the court to be in charge of the administration of the estate...

Withholding of Last Paycheck in Florida

Posted on January 09, 2008
There is no requirement in Florida that an employer must tender a final paycheck immediately upon an employee's termination. Generally, after an employee has been terminated, his final paycheck(s) is due on the next regular payday or days. The employer may not hold the final paycheck as "ransom" in an attempt to force the employee to sign a release or other document...

Employment Law and Withdrawn Offers

Posted on January 09, 2008
In Florida, what happens if you receive an offer for a job, quit your present job and then find out that your new job is no longer being offered to you? Depending on the offer, you may have a breach of contract claim, fraud in the inducement, or promissory estoppel...

Wrongful Termination in Florida

Posted on January 08, 2008
Often I am asked about wrongful termination by Florida Employees. While in some states a company must have cause to fire you, Florida is not one of those states. Florida is an at-will employment state. This means that an employer may fire, demote, hire, promote, and discipline employees for almost any reason or no reason at all...

Florida Non-Compete Agreements

Posted on January 07, 2008
After quitting or being terminated, your employer will tell you that you are bound by your non-compete agreement. The reality is that even if the agreement is invalid, most employees don?t have the will or the resources to fight a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement...

Discrimination, Retaliation, & Harassment Law in Florida

Posted on January 06, 2008
In Florida, general ?harassment? is not illegal. Your boss can be a jerk. Harassment because of the employee?s race, sex, age, religion, national origin, color (essentially, shade), pregnancy, disability, marital status, or, sometimes, sexual orientation, is illegal...

Can I Sue my Employer for Defamation?

Posted on January 05, 2008
In Florida an employer is generally immune from suits based upon information given in references. That doesn?t mean that an employer may knowingly give false information. An employer may be sued for defamation if they make knowingly false statements, or with reckless disregard as to their truth, on matters such as theft, dishonesty, termination, criminal behavior, or discrimination...

NFA Trust and Purchase of Class 3 Items

Posted on January 05, 2008
If you live in a Jacksonville or another city in Florida where the Chief law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) will not or easily sign a Form 4, there are several solutions. Class 3 Weapons include suppressors, , short barrel rifles, machine guns, and other destructive devices...

Donating Your Body for research in Florida

Posted on January 05, 2008
Most Florida medical schools will accept donation of bodies (complete with organs). Florida Medical schools will use them for research and instruction. Generally after the body is used, it will be cremated by the school. If requested most schools will return the remains if requested...

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