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Tagged: Probate

Don’t Keep Your Original Will in a Safe Deposit Box

April 25, 2019Jeffrey A. Cramer Estate Planning, Probate, Wills Probate, Safe Deposit Box, will
Safe Deposit Box with Will

Don't keep your Will in a Safe Deposit Box! Never! Please! This may seem like a good idea to keep the Will safe, but let me assure you, it is not. In an estate where the family was never informed of the Will’s location, we recently had to get into one to retrieve the ORIGINAL Will, which the state of Florida requires be filed. A copy of the Will is not sufficient. We did not have a key, so we had to get the court to order our entrance and then drill, yes DRILL, into it to get it opened. This caused several weeks of delay and thousands of dollars of additional costs to the family because of this blunder. Go to the bank now and remove yours... and more importantly, tell the person you’ve appointed to be your Personal Representative exactly where you are keeping it!

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Three Common Misconceptions Regarding Probate in Florida

January 2, 2019Clayton Miller Probate Probate
common misconceptions

In my experience at the Cramer Law Center, probate is one of the most misunderstood areas of the law among clients who seek our assistance. Three common misconceptions are:

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Big Changes

June 16, 2018Jeffrey A. Cramer Clients, Estate Planning, Guardianship, Probate, Trusts, Wills Big Changes, Estate Planning, Florida Estate Plannning, Guardianship, Jacksonville Estate Planning, Location, Moving, Probate, Wills
petros

Change is underway at Cramer Law Center. First, we are moving in 2 weeks to new offices at 4655 Salisbury Road, Suite 100A. (The move will take place the week of June 25). If you enter from Salisbury, we will be in the third of 3 buildings in the “Quadrant at Southpoint” office complex. You also can enter from Belfort Road. If you turn in at the entrance to the Borland-Groover Clinic and keep going past the clinic, we will be the first of the Quadrant buildings. I believe the official designation is “Quadrant II.” This location near I-95 and JTB is more centrally located than our present offices. Although traffic during rush hour is bad everywhere in Jacksonville, at least there is more than one way in and out of the new offices—as contrasted to our present location. We will have a map up on our website as soon as we relocate.

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Further Assault on the Homestead Citadel

September 26, 2017Jeffrey A. Cramer Estate Planning, Probate, Wills Equitable Lien, Florida homestead, homestead, Homestead Owners, homestead property, Probate, Unjust Enrichment, Wills
Homestead

In our last newsletter, we discussed the latest statutory assault on the homestead citadel Assault on the Homestead Citadel. In this newsletter, we will discuss a recent case law assault on Florida’s broad homestead protections.

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Married or Not Married? That is the question.

July 26, 2017Jeffrey A. Cramer Areas of Practice, Estate Planning, Probate, Trusts, Wills Elective Share, Estate Planning, Inhertance Rights Under Florida Law, Jacksonville Estate Planning, Last Will, marriage, Probate, probate attorney, Surviving Spouse, Trusts
Jewish Wedding

As most of you know by now, a legally married surviving spouse has all sorts of valuable inheritance rights under Florida Law.  Often, the question of whether or not a decedent was validly married at the time of his or her death is the main question in a contested estate.  The recent case of Cohen v. Shushan  involves this very question.

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Whose Property is it Anyway?

January 10, 2017Jeffrey A. Cramer Areas of Practice, Estate Planning, General Law, Probate, Trusts, Wills Estate Planning, Estate Planning Attorney, Florida trust lawyer, Florida will lawyer, inheritance, Jacksonville Estate Planning, Jacksonville probate attorney, Jeweler, Jewelry, Jointly Owned Property, Probate, probate attorney, Rolex Watches
rolex

Here is a new twist to follow our recent series titled “Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law, Part 1”, “Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law, Part 2”, and “Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law, Part 3”. A case illustrating the difficulties in determining jointly owned versus individually property is the Connell case. In that case, the decedent was an elderly retired jeweler who liked expensive jewelry. While shopping with his wife, (a woman he married only eleven (11) months prior to his death), Mr. Connell bought a $60,000.00 men’s Rolex watch and a $20,000.00 men’s diamond ring. On both occasions he used funds from a checking account titled jointly with his wife; his wife knew of these purchases and did not object. Mr. Connell wore the watch and ring every day. Shortly before his death, he was hospitalized and gave the watch and ring to his wife for safekeeping. She put them in her purse. After Connell’s death, his son/personal representative asked the wife to return the watch and ring. She refused and the lawsuit ensued.

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Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Law Part 3 (Joint Safe Deposit Boxes)

December 13, 2016Jeffrey A. Cramer Estate Planning, General Law, Probate, Safe Deposit Boxes, Trusts Estate Planning, General Law, NIne Tenths of the Law, Probate, Safe Deposit Box, Trusts, Wills
Safety Deposit Box

A frequent question which arises in probate matters is who owns the contents of a safe deposit box. The fact that a safe deposit box is leased to a husband and wife creates no legal presumption that property contained in the box is owned jointly by the husband and wife. The same principle applies to any safe deposit box owned jointly with (or with access permitted to) several people. For example, in one case the mere presence of bearer bonds in a safe deposit box leased to a husband and wife did not automatically become the property of the surviving spouse, but rather were deemed to be assets of the estate of the deceased husband.
In a different case, bonds located in a safe deposit box leased to a husband and wife were held to be jointly owned, upon proof that the bonds were purchased with funds kept in a joint bank account, were kept in the joint safe deposit box, each spouse had signed the lease to safe deposit box, each had a key and each had complete access to the box.
When the safe deposit box is leased in two or more names, the right of the co-lessee to enter the box is not affected by the death or incapacity of a co-lessee unless the lease contract expressly provides to the contrary. Nor is a co-lessee required to inventory anything removed from the safe deposit box post-death. Because the mere presence of property in a safe deposit box is not conclusive proof of ownership, the personal representative literally may be in a race to the bank to inventory and secure contents before a co-lessee can access and remove property from the box. If the co-lessee gains access to the box before the personal representative, it may become impossible to prove either the contents in the box or the value of those contents. As you can see, personal representatives must be very careful in dealing with safe deposit boxes - - - and have a good pair of track shoes.

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Paternity Claims in Probate

September 27, 2016Jeffrey A. Cramer Areas of Practice, Estate Planning, General Law, Probate Estate Planning, Florida Estate Plannning, Jacksonville estate planning attorney, Jacksonville estate planning lawyer, Jacksonville probate attorney, paternity, paternity probate, Probate, probate attorney, probate lawyer
Paternity Determination

If a man dies in Florida without having his own will or trust prepared, he is considered to have died intestate. In other words, his estate will be distributed according to the “will” the state wrote for him. Under the state’s will, any children he had while legally married are automatically considered to be his legal heirs. But what if he fathered a child out of wedlock? Children born out of wedlock must file a paternity action to have themselves legally declared a “child” of the decedent, if they want to share in the estate. What if they wait until after the alleged father’s death to make a claim? Well, if they are adults now, it likely is too late.

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Probate Judges Can’t Always Be Superheros

May 13, 2016Jeffrey A. Cramer Estate Planning, Newsletter, Probate contested probate, court, Estate Planning, judges, Probate, probate estate, probate judge

Let's face it: Probate can be stressful, contentious, lengthy, and tiresome. It's rarely a positive experience for a family to sort out a recently deceased loved one’s estate. If you've been through the process, you may have wished for a superhero to swoop in and save the day, solving the complicated problems in a flash.

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Florida’s Avalanche of Probate Cases

April 25, 2016Jeffrey A. Cramer Estate Planning, Newsletter, Probate avoid probate, Estate Planning, Florida probate attorney, Probate, revocable living trust
Probate Case

The State of Florida recently released its annual statistical report on probate caseloads for the past year. The report goes a long way in explaining just why it's so often a painfully slow process to resolve a probate case.

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