Recent Blog Posts
How Does Bankruptcy Affect A Florida Probate Estate?
During the administration of a Florida probate estate, the personal representative (executor) is responsible for gathering the estate’s assets and paying any creditors to whom the decedent owed money. These debts and other estate administration expenses must be satisfied before any distribution is made to the estate’s beneficiaries. If there are insufficient assets to… Read More »
What Is “Disposition Without Administration” In Florida?
Probate is the formal legal process for administering the assets of a deceased individual. In Florida, there are several different methods for accomplishing probate. The first is formal administration, which is where the court appoints a personal representative to open an estate. The formal administration process typically lasts several months and is what most… Read More »
How Florida’s “Slayer Statute” Prevents Killers From Inheriting From Their Victim’s Estates
There’s a popular trope in crime fiction about a person killing their spouse “to collect the insurance money.” In reality, a person cannot inherit anything from a person that they murdered or otherwise killed in an unlawful manner. Most states, including Florida, have what is commonly called a “Slayer Statute” to prevent this sort… Read More »
What Property Is Exempt From Creditor Claims In A Probate Estate?
Debts do not necessarily die with the debtor. A decedent’s creditors may file a claim for payment against their probate estate. The estate is then normally required to pay such creditors to the extent possible from the estate’s assets after other, higher-priority expenses are paid. But not all probate assets are subject to creditor… Read More »
Can Your Health Care Surrogate Demand Your Doctors Provide Treatment Against Their Own Medical Judgment?
In 1990, the Florida Supreme Court issued a decision, In re Guardianship of Browning, which established the constitutional right of privacy extended to a person’s decision to “refuse medical treatment regardless of his or medical condition.” The Browning court specifically held that the guardian of an adult patient who was legally incompetent and suffered… Read More »
What Happens If A Business Owner Dies And Leaves A Warehouse Full Of Unsold Inventory?
Many Florida residents dream of owning and running their own business. But what these people often fail to consider is the need for business succession planning. That is, what will happen to their business if they become incapacitated or die unexpectedly? If a business is structured as a corporation, then as far as the… Read More »
How Do You Fund A Florida Revocable Living Trust?
The process of creating a revocable living trust begins with signing a trust instrument, i.e., a document spelling out the terms and conditions of the trust, including who will serve as trustee and who are the trust’s beneficiaries. But this is just the first step. Indeed, the trust instrument is little more than a… Read More »
What Is An Estate’s Responsibility For A Decedent’s Business Assets?
A person’s death may not just leave personal assets for their estate to deal with, but also business assets. How the law deals with this latter class of assets depends largely on how the business itself was structured during the deceased owner’s lifetime. In some cases, the personal representative of the probate estate will… Read More »
Why You Need To Pay Attention When Changing The Beneficiaries Of Your Life Insurance Policy
Even if you have a will and a living trust, there may still be some assets that fall outside of these estate planning documents. For example, a life insurance policy is often governed by separate laws with respect to beneficiary designations. This means that even if you change the beneficiaries in your will or… Read More »
How Creditor Claims Can Lead To Years Of Probate Litigation
Although the phrase “probate litigation” is most commonly associated with legal proceedings where someone contests a will or there is a fight among the potential beneficiaries of an estate, another common source of such legal disputes is creditor claims. After all, when a person dies, they often owe other people money. If the probate… Read More »