Video Summary

Are inherited items subject to capital gains? Whenever you inherit property, such as real estate, stocks, or bonds, you as the beneficiary receive the item at the market value as of the date of death, so that if the property that you inherited was worth $100,000 on the date of death, and then you sold it for $100,000, you would not have any capital gains. If, however, you inherited it and the date of death value was $100,000 and you waited several years and it appreciated and you sold it for $150,000, then you would pay capital gains between the difference of the date of death value and the sales proceeds, and those would be long-term capital gains.

So, if you have any questions about probate and what value you have to show on your tax return, give me a call at (727)847-2288.

Video Summary

What recourse do I have if a family of a deceased person sold off items that were supposed to go to me?

Well, I assume that the decedent left a will and also left specific devise or a personal property list designating you to receive the items of personal property, and therefore you know that you were supposed to receive those. It’s very difficult to try and get those items, or to have a remedy unless there’s a probate proceeding involved. So if there’s no probate proceeding involved, you would have to probably establish a probate proceeding and then sue whoever it is who dissipated these items of personal property.

So it’s very, very problematic, and usually the amount of the value of the personal property, although it may have a lot of sentimental value, usually does not justify the cost involved in attorney fees, opening an estate and pursuing the matter. So if you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

How do I get my money from a probate estate released to me?

Well, first off you should be receiving a notice of administration in a probate proceeding that lets you know that you have an opportunity to challenge the will and that will come from the personal representative and the attorney handling the estate. Also, you should receive the inventory, and depending on how many claims there are, the claims period takes approximately four to six months, four months here in Florida, three months from the date of first publication. So you might want to give the administration about six months before you can start anticipating they’re going to start trying to wind up the estate. And also, whether or not they have to liquidate the assets in order to make distribution. In Florida you’re supposed to administer the estate within one year and then you would, if they do, you should receive the petition for distribution and discharge, which shows what the expenses are, the accounting and how much your share is.

Now, if you’re not hearing anything from anybody as far as the estate’s concerned, you may want to contact an attorney and have him contact the personal representative or the attorney, and find out what’s going on or when you can anticipate being paid. There is a procedure or statute that you can file to force the distribution of the assets. I don’t know that I’ve filed one of those, usually I go about that on trying to encourage the other lawyer to get the estate administered or get a reason for that.

So if you have any questions about your probate proceeding, a probate proceeding, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

How am I notified if I’m a beneficiary? If you’re a beneficiary under a will that is going to be admitted to probate, the probate rules provide that you will receive a notice of administration, and you will receive the will and that will set forth that you are a beneficiary under the will. If you’re a beneficiary under a trust after the person who set up the trust and you are a beneficiary then, the trustee is, under the Florida statutes, supposed to send to you a notification, and what I recommend is send you a copy of the trust. Therefore, you then know that you are the beneficiary, that you’re entitled to an accounting once a year which will set forth what assets are in the trust, and then unless you get a distribution, then you no longer any right to receive the trust information.

I’m often asked how can I get a copy of the trust because the trustee isn’t sending it to me, or won’t tell me if I’m in it, if I’m a beneficiary. And that is very problematic because if you don’t know whether you’re a beneficiary or not under a trust, it’s not administrated through the court system and the trust is not public information. So that is a problem when it comes to being a beneficiary under a trust, or knowing whether or not you’re a beneficiary under the trust.

If you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I sue someone for not showing up at a probate hearing? Well, no you cannot because a probate hearing is whenever the judge is going to be passing on something that usually is a contested matter. So if it’s contested and the other party doesn’t show up, that means you will probably win. And so you’ll win by default. Otherwise, most of the probate proceedings in Florida that are uncontested will basically not have to have a hearing or if it’s a hearing is uncontested. If you have the executor or now we call them personal representative is not doing what they need to do, well then you file a petition to have them removed. And then of course, that is a contested hearing. And if they don’t show up, well you’ll probably win. So you do not have a separate lawsuit over someone not showing up for a probate proceeding. If you have any questions about probate proceedings, give me a call at 727-847-2288.