What Does “Per Stirpes” Mean in Estate Planning?
Video Summary
What does per stirpes or per stirps mean in an estate planning document? That means that you are leaving everything to, let’s say, a child. However, if they pass away upon prior to you, you wish it to go to their children or for that matter, any beneficiary that you leave your assets to. It’s usually used whenever you have several beneficiaries and you state that you leave it to three beneficiaries and equal shares per stirpes, which is Latin, which means that if any one of them would die before you, that their share would be distributed to their children or their heirs. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
How Easy Is It to Set Up POD On Bank Accounts, What’s Involved?
Video Summary
How easy is it to set up a POD on a bank account? The POD stands for “payable on death”, and it is very easy. All you must do is contact the bank where you maintain your account, or if you’re going to open an account, tell them that you wish to put a payable on death or a POD designation on the account and give them the names of who you wish to receive these accounts. Upon your death, they will prepare a signature card and then you simply sign the new signature card. Various banks have various requirements. I’ve heard of some where they’re asking for the social security numbers of the beneficiaries, but the beneficiaries would not usually do not have to sign the signature card since they would have no interest in the account until such time as you pass away, but it’s up to the individual banks, but it should be very easy to do simply by signing the signature card. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Probate, Videos, Wills
How Do I Obtain a Will?
Video Summary
How do I obtain a Will? I’m assuming that you want to know how you personally can obtain a Will to do your estate planning or designate who you wish to receive your assets as very simple as you simply contact a local attorney in whatever state and city you’re in and set up an appointment or contact them about preparing a Will, designating who you want to receive your assets. There are even other companies that you can contact to say that they can prepare those. I’m not a real big fan of that, but they are available. There is certain formalities that the Will must be executed in order for it to be valid, which sometimes may be a problem in using a technology company as far as that’s concerned or ordering the Will online. If you want to know how you could obtain a copy of someone else’s will, that’s a whole new problem. You’re not entitled to see the Will until they die, and then it is filed with the clerk of the court in whatever county they passed away. After it’s filed with the clerk of the court, it’s public records. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
Can I Force My Sibling to Sell Property, Which I Own with Them Jointly?
Video Summary
Can I force my siblings to sell property, which I own with them jointly? The answer is yes, you can. If you have any interest in real property of the possessory interest entries, a fractional share of real property, you can file what they call a partition action. Partition action is where you sue the other co-owners of the property, ask the court to appoint what they call a special magistrate, which is a third party who will list and sell the property and none of the beneficiaries have to sign the deed. Then all the money is held with the clerk of the court or with the closing agent from the sale of the property. And then the expense of bring the partition acts, including attorney fees, is then distributed pursuant to a court order, to all the owners and their fractional share. So if you owned a half interest, you would be entitled to one half of the net proceeds. If any owner of the property would have paid taxes or insurance, they’re, they may be entitled to a special equity for these taxes and insurance that they’ve paid, which would come out of the net proceeds. If you have any questions about a partition action, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Real Estate – Selling, Videos
How Do I Know If I Am a Beneficiary of a Trust?
Video Summary
How do I know if I’m a beneficiary of a Trust? Well, usually this comes into play whenever your parents or a relative has a revocable trust and then upon their death their estate is to be distributed to various beneficiaries. The successor trustee of those trusts is obligated under Florida law to send a notice to beneficiaries that they’re beneficiary on the trust and notify the beneficiary that they are entitled to a copy of the trust if they would like. Also, you would be entitled to inventory and accounting. If you’re not a beneficiary under the trust, the trustee has no obligation to send to you a copy of the trust, and you’re not entitled to get a copy of it because it’s not a public record. The question that arises many times is, well, I think I’m a beneficiary, but I don’t know that, and I’d like to copy the trust to verify that. Well, unfortunately, you’re not entitled to a copy of the trust unless you’re a beneficiary, and if you have a trustee who you don’t get along with and they won’t talk to you, you can’t very well make them, give you a copy of the trust. Since you don’t know whether you’re a beneficiary or not. I don’t have a good solution for you to try and force a copy of the trust whenever the trustee’s not cooperative for you to determine if you’re a beneficiary or not. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.