How Do I Designate Where My Retirement Accounts And Investments Go Upon My Death?
Video Summary
How do I designate where my retirement accounts and investment go upon my death? Well, whenever you’re dealing with individual retirement accounts or your retirement accounts through your employer, you have a beneficiary designation form. If it’s with a 401k, you must designate your spouse as the beneficiary unless the spouse agrees to waive that. In an IRA that’s not necessary. However, you do fill out a form where you designate the beneficiary when you set up your individual retirement account.
I suggest you also designate a successor beneficiary of the account in the event the primary predeceases you. It’s also helpful to remember to check that from time to time, particularly if your state plan changes. As far as your investment accounts are concerned, that would be controlled under your will or under your trust and you would need to designate the account under your trust.
There is something that I recommend and many of my clients, rather than having to set up a trust, is put a TOD designation on the trust, which is Transfer on Death. And that way you can designate who would receive the account upon your death or upon the death of both you and your significant other or spouse. So if you have any questions about designations, your retirement accounts, or your brokerage accounts, well give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
What Is Elective Share?
Video Summary
What is elective share? Elective share is the rights of a spouse who decides to elect to take against their late spouse’s estate. So if the late spouse left a will and they said, “I leave everything to my girlfriend or boyfriend,” the spouse has a right to file an election to get 30% of all assets which the decedent had, whether it be held in trust or whatever assets they had. So they can file that and take that as their elective share. In Florida, it’s 30% and there’s a formula that they use as far as jointly held assets or life estate assets and includes life insurance.
If you are a spouse and your late husband or wife died with a will and did not include you or did not include enough information in there, well, give me a call and we can discuss your rights as far as a surviving spouse and elective share. My phone number is 727-847-2288.
Should Homestead Property Be Held in a Living Trust?
Video Summary
Should the homestead property be held in a living trust? Well, there’s two schools of thought in conjunction with this. Some don’t see where there’s a problem, and some that say absolutely not. I think that you need to look at the particular circumstances, in order to be able to get a good answer to that.
If you are a single person, and you have a revocable trust that you want to leave the property to, and you do not have any minor children, then you can convey the property into your name, as trustee under the trust, and the trust will take of the [inaudible 00:00:58] of the homestead property.
If, however … If you are married and you have a joint trust, or you have minor children, then I do not suggest your doing that, in that it complicates matters and it may not be effective, because it may be considered an improper divisive homestead property.
What I have done is do neither, however, prepare a deed from the … for your homestead property, to provide that you have a life estate in the property, and then upon your death, then the property would pass to the homestead … the homestead property would pass to the trustees of your trust.
So if you have property, and you have a revocable trust, and it’s just in your name, give me a call and we will discuss on how to make sure that the provisions of your trust take care of disposing of your homestead property upon your death, without probate. My phone number is 727-847-2288.
How Does Homestead Pass Upon Death?
Video Summary
How does Homestead pass upon death. Well the Florida Constitution sets forth and the laws of the state of Florida provide to whom you can leave homestead property, or if you do not leave homestead property, it dictates who receives it. So if you die and you are married or survived by minor children? The spouse receives a life estate with remainder interest going to the children of the decedent.
The surviving spouse has a right to take an election to receive a one half interest in the property rather than a life estate which most be filed, I believe it’s six months from the date of death. Has to file something in with the deeds or the public records of a particular county, wherever the homestead is recorded. If someone has a will and is not survived by minor children, and however survived by a spouse? They can only leave the property, the entire property, to their surviving spouse. Otherwise, it is an improper devise and then goes to one half interest or a life estate in the surviving spouse and the remainder to the decedent’s children.
If they’re survived by minor children? Then the minor children do get a remainder interest with the surviving spouse getting a life estate. If you have questions about homestead? Give me a call. It’s (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Videos
What is a Pretermitted Spouse or Child?
Video Summary
What is a pretermitted spouse or child. A pretermitted spouse or child is when a decedent drafts a will and subsequently is married, or has a child after they’ve executed their will. The spouse or minor child, or child, is considered pretermitted unless the will expressly provides for them in contemplation of marriage, of course we believe it’ll be a little … or contemplates taking care of them after born children, after the will is executed. The pretermitted spouse or minor child has a right to file a notice in a probate proceeding, asking for a determination of beneficiaries, so that they would get their share as if the decedent died without a will. If you have that problem, well, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.