Like many legal questions, the answer is: it depends. However, in Florida, there is a guide to what attorney’s fees may be in a probate case. It is a sliding scale based on the size of the probate estate and can be found in Florida Statutes Section 733.6171, which states the following:
Continue Reading...How Much Does Probate Cost in Florida?
What Happens if I Die Without a Will in Florida?
If you were to die without a Will or Trust in Florida, you will be considered to have died “intestate.” Your “intestate estate” – i.e. any asset you own that has not been effectively disposed of or transferred to a beneficiary – will be distributed according to Florida intestate succession law.
Continue Reading...
Our last newsletter highlighted a guardianship horror story: https://cramerlawcenter.com/areas-of-practice/estate-planning/more-guardianship-abuses/. So, how do you avoid Kise’s fate?
Continue Reading...
AARP Magazine recently published a lengthy article on a contentious guardianship. If you would like to read the entire article, it can be found here: https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/financial-legal/info-2018/court-ordered-guardianship-separates-family.html. This newsletter will hit some highlights.
Continue Reading...
Too often we encounter skeptics who ask why they would need to have their estate plan reviewed annually, as we do in our LifeLegacy Program. “What could possibly change?” they ask. “Lots,” we answer. Here is just one example of something that has come up that has unintended consequences that are detrimental to most living trust plans.
Continue Reading...
The Florida legislature thankfully has made it more difficult for a spouse to “accidentally” waive their homestead rights through vaguely worded or boilerplate deeds. Typically, constitutionally protected homestead rights only are waived in antenuptial agreements. However, those rights technically could be waived in any valid written contract, including a deed. Because prior cases had held that signing a deed with broader language than you knew could constitute a waiver, new statute F.S. 732.7025 now requires the following language to appear in a deed if it is to constitute a waiver of homestead: “By executing or joining this deed, I intend to waive homestead rights that would otherwise prevent my spouse from devising the homestead property described in this deed to someone other than me.” This is a welcome change.
Continue Reading...
If this isn’t a fundamental human right, I propose to make it one – the right to muddle through. This has been bothering me. America is supposed to be the land of the free, but that freedom becomes precarious when you reach “old age”. Florida’s Guardianship Law permits a Circuit Court Judge to strip you of all of your civil and personal rights. I’ve seen it happen in a 5 minute hearing. 5 minutes! That is all it takes to become a “ward of the state.” Unfortunately, unless we can start a massive human rights campaign right now, “the right to muddle through” is being lost here in Florida.
Continue Reading...
Most people I know are fiercely independent. It seems that the desire to be independent is hard wired into the American experience. Most of our clients express in their estate planning documents this desire to be and to remain independent for as long as possible. Many wish never to leave their homes for some type of institutional living and are willing to devote their life savings to remain “independent”. But what we are seeing as a result is that people are either totally independent or totally dependent. There rarely is an in-between. I strongly believe that if more people would include in their planning a recognition that there can be a transitional period--a period of interdependence-- which can meaningfully delay the onset of total dependence—more people would be able to age in place and be able to stay in their homes for a longer period of time.
Continue Reading...
I recently learned about a Facebook Group called “Elder Orphans” which is a support group for those aging alone. It is a group restricted to those over age 55 who live without the help of a spouse, partner or children. It has attracted over 8,000 members who use the site to discuss common issues and concerns.
Continue Reading...
Good news. The electronic wills and remote notarization bill died again this year. (For more details, see last year’s comments.) https://cramerlawcenter.com/areas-of-practice/florida-electronic-wills-act/. The Florida Bar’s Elder Law Section is continuing to work with legislators to try to come up with a bill that contains adequate protections against exploitation of Florida citizens, or else continue to fight it. I still think it is just a bad idea. Stay tuned.
Continue Reading...