When Should I Update My Will, Trust, Or Other Estate Planning Documents?
Video Summary
When should I update my Will, Trust or other estate planning documents? You should update those when there’s a change in circumstances. Some of the circumstances would be in the event that you have more grandchildren or you have a problem with the death of one of the beneficiaries, a death of a child, the circumstance of one of the beneficiary changes, such as if they have a dependency problem or you need to set up a special needs trust for them or the circumstances of the beneficiary. Also, if you relocate to another state, well, you will want to have the Trust reviewed to see if it complies with the Florida law and have it controlled by the state where you are now residing. One of the big things that you need to look at your Trust is when it was set up, what the tax laws were. Many of the older Trusts have a provision to try and take advantage of the unified tax credit so that they split it up into two Trusts, a marital Trust and a credit shelter Trust. Well, now they’ve raised the estate tax limitations of approximately $14 million, which eliminates the problem of having to have two Trusts to take advantage of the credit shelter, and it can have some ramifications as far as how the credit shelter is dispersed to the spouse. So, these are some of the reasons why you want to look at your will or trust because of the change in circumstances if you lose a spouse, would be another one. Death of beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Do the Powers of Attorney and Healthcare Directives Fit into My Estate Plan?
Video Summary
How do the powers of attorney and healthcare directives fit into my estate plan? Well, these are items that are documents that are valid during your lifetime. The power of attorney, as well as your healthcare directives. They terminate upon death, where upon your will or your trust or other documents control what happens to your assets with your power of attorney. This is authorizing an agent, someone to act on your behalf. Some people say, well, I have power over someone. No, you are an agent for that person, and they continue to have the rights to deal with their property but authorize the agent under the power of attorney to also deal with their assets. Usually, you set these up called a durable power of attorney. The reason they’re durable is the power of attorney is still valid even if you become incapacitated and the person that deals with your agent does not have to verify that you are competent. You read about all the bad players on powers of attorney, and that they’re effective immediately, and they have the power to look at your estate as far as that’s concerned. Although they don’t have legal rights, they must act in your behalf, and so that’s the power of attorney. They should not have self-dealing. In other words, they should not use the power of attorney to transfer or convey assets from your name into their name under healthcare directives. It basically is to authorize a HIPAA waiver and to allow someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you are in the hospital. Also, the living will or dying declaration sets forth who you wish to make the ultimate decision to disconnect life support the statute set for three circumstances where you’re directing and authorizing your healthcare surrogate to disconnect life support. If you have a terminal condition and states condition or permanent vegetative state, and this takes place whenever you’re on a respirator, you’re not going to make it and you’re unconscious and they don’t believe you receive consciousness. So if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Guardianship, Videos
If I Set Up a Trust, How Do I Fund It Properly?
Video Summary
If I set up a Trust, how do I fund it properly? You need to retitle your accounts or assets in the name of the trustee of your trust. Usually it’s your revocable trust, such as Roland d Waller as trustee of the Roland d Waller revocable trust dated July 4th, 2025. So, all the assets need to be titled in the name of the trustee of the trust, not just the name of the Trust. Since that is just a document, the trustee is bound by the provisions of the Trust, so it’s fairly easy to go to your banks and sign a new signature card and move your, or change the account, or move the accounts into the name of your name As trustee with real estate, you need to have deeds prepared to transfer the real estate into your trust. As far as LLCs, you need to change the membership interest to your Trust and with stock you need to make that transfer on death. So, these, it’s important that you retitle your assets and the name of the trustee of your Trust. If you have any questions about this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
If I Move to Another State, Will My Current Will Still Be Valid?
Video Summary
If I move to another state, will my current WILL still be valid? More than likely it will be valid and that it is usually, if it’s valid where they sign the Will in whatever state it is, it’ll be recognized here in Florida. I do suggest that you probably get a new will whenever you move to another state to see that it complies with Florida law. Florida has a unique law, which I think is something unusual about Florida is they require that a personal representative that you designate be a Florida resident or related by blood, so on air. So, you can’t name your New York lawyer or your out-of-state lawyer as your executor since they’re not related, nor are they residents of the state of Florida. But your will would probably be valid, although there may not be some provisions. So, if you move to another state, suggest that you review your estate planning documents, including your power of attorney, healthcare surrogate and durable power of attorney, as well as your will and trust to see if they comply with Florida law and or if there’s any changes or that you want them to be controlled by Florida law. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
What Are the Tax Implications for My Heirs Under My Current Estate Plan?
Video Summary
What are the tax implications for my heirs under my current estate plan? Well, if you are a Florida resident, whenever you pass away, the state of Florida has done away with the state taxes so that there’s no estate taxes due to the state of Florida. The federal government has raised the estate tax limitation to just under $14 million. So if your assets don’t equal $14 million, well there won’t be any federal estate tax. If you own real estate outside the state of Florida, that state may impose the estate tax on whatever the property is in that particular state. As far as income tax is that beneficiaries do not have to pay income tax on assets that they receive from the estate or trust as a result of your death. Under the Internal Revenue Code, you get what they call a step up basis for the date of death value of the property. By way of example, that if I purchased a property for $200,000 and 2000 and then I pass away in 2025 and the property is worth $400,000, my beneficiaries take the property for $400,000. That’s called a step up in basis. So if they would sell the property for $400,000, there would be no tax. If they sell it for more than the $400,000, the difference between the 400,000 what they sell it for would be long-term capital gains. If you have any questions concerning this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos