How Can I Minimize the Chances of My Will Being Contested After My Death?
Video Summary
How can I minimize the chances of my will being contested after my death? Well, the first thing that you should do is to have an attorney prepare the will and have him be the witness, and that anytime that there’s a will challenge, he would be the best witness to testify. As far as your competency, the basis for setting aside your will is that you did not have the mental capacity to make a will, so certainly the lawyer would make that determination. The other one is undue influence. So if you want to leave most of your estate to one of your children and exclude some of the other or make a disproportionate share, then there’s a couple of things that you need to try and do if possible, and that there’s a presumption of undue influence. If the person who that you’re leaving these disproportionate share or all of your estate to them, whether it be a child or anyone else is, did they select the attorney that they take you to the attorney’s office? Were they present whenever you made out the will? Did they know what you put in the will after you have the will? Were they present whenever you signed the will? Did they know the contents of the will? And also as far as paying for it? So,if some of these factors are present, it presents a undue influence. So, if possible, not to have the person select the lawyer or take you to the appointment or know what’s in the will, I realize many times that’s not possible and that you’re dependent on the caregiver or child who’s taking care of you to bring you to the appointment. And so I have over the years tried to do this as tactfully as possible, as tell the person that you’re going to be living and that’s brought you there as they need to excuse themselves, wait in the waiting room, and I make a notation in my notes that I’ve excused them. And then discuss who you want to receive your estate and why you want to do that. In order to try and overcome these problems. In the event there is a will challenge after you’re gone. Also, you need to put in the will. If you’re leaving someone out, a child out, you need to just put in there expressly, make no provision for a particular child to show that you did not forget them. The old thing is leaving my dollar is a terrible idea and that you tasked the lawyer with having to, or the executor, trying to get them to receive for a dollar, particularly if they don’t like the provisions of the will. So just put in there that you didn’t forget about ’em. You expressly make no provision for them. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
What Steps Should I Take Before Filing a Complaint or Lawsuit Against a Neighbor?
Video Summary
What steps should I take before filing a complaint or lawsuit against the neighbor? Well, I would suggest that you first try and work it out with the neighbor, and certainly I would put it in writing as far as whatever your problem is with the neighbor. So, you have a paper trail and you don’t rely upon, he said, she said it’s right there in black and white so that you can print it out, keep a copy of it, I guess with texts and emails or whatever. You need to be able to print those out, so you have a paper trail. So, a lot depends on what you’re suing your neighbor for as far as filing a lawsuit against them. And whether you need to go to small claims court, if it’s strictly for damages that they did to your property or if it’s for injunctive relief, then you’re going to need to have a lawyer. If you’re pursuant for damages, they indicated you can go to small claims court up to $8,000 and not need a lawyer. So those are some of the ideas involved or circumstances as far as suing your neighbor, the best thing is to try and get it worked out with the neighbor and keep track of your correspondence back and forth. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate, Uncategorized, Videos
How Often Should My Trust Be Reviewed and Updated?
Video Summary
How often should my Trust be reviewed and updated? You should have it reviewed periodically to see if there’s any change in circumstances such as one of your beneficiaries passing away or if you provide for grandchildren whether you’ve had any additional grandchildren. If there’s been any change in circumstances as far as your child, as far as being disassociated with you or estranged or if you provide for stepchildren or whether or not you continue to wish to provide for them. So, there’s any number of reasons why you want it reviewed if there’s a change in circumstance. Another one is in the event the law changes, particularly as far as the taxes are concerned. For many years it was a lower amount, and so if your assets had several million dollars, well then you would need to have do the estate planning for tax purposes. They’ve raised the estate tax limitation now to $14 million or thereabouts, and so therefore, it is not important to worry about planning for estate taxes since there should be none. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
Could Land Use or Zoning Rules Limit My Business on the Property?
Video Summary
Are there any zoning restrictions or land use rules that could affect my intended business on the property? Yes, zoning can restrict what business you can operate on your property. By way of example, the property needs to be properly zoned, such as C one, which is office commercial C two, which is heavy, automobile repair shops such as that one is light and industrial I two. These are examples of the type of zone you need to have. So depending on what your business is, it is whether or not you have the proper zoning. Also, as far as your land use is concerned, that will play into it and that you may need to have that comply. Not only the zoning, but also the land use as to what you’re going to be using the property for. If you’re going to be using it not for business, you need to check on density. Also, many municipalities may require a site plan, particularly if it’s vacant property as to landscaping and all sorts of other requirements on a site plan. So yes, zoning and government has a lot to do with what you can use your property for and whether you can use it for your intended business and what all you have to do to the property in order to operate your business. So, if you have any questions about it, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in LLC's and Corporations, Real Estate, Videos
What Is Better Per Stirpes Or Per Capita?
Video Summary
What is better is per stirpes or per capita? Well, I don’t know that either one of them is better than the other. You use them to determine what your intent is. If you want the devised to go to your child, or if that child dies before you want it to go to their children or your grandchildren of that child, then you would use the word per stirpes or per stirps. If on the other hand, if you have, let’s say, three children and you want your estate to go to the survivor so that if one of your children dies before you want your entire estate to go to the other two, you would want to use the word per capita in your estate plan. So I’ll leave everything to my three children, and you would name them in equal shares per capita. So per capita, you count the number of heads that are alive at the time of your death to determine who receives it. On the other hand, if it’s per stirpes, you determine if any of the children have died before you and or your executor does because you are deceased and determine whether who you determine their children or their heirs to distribute their share to those grandchildren or their heirs. If you have any questions about it, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos