Video Summary

Can a bank refuse to honor a power of attorney? The answer is yes, they can. They need to advise the person who’s using the power of attorney, why they reject it in order to give the person who is attempting to use it in behalf of a principal to take care of business for someone, and then you can address the bank’s concern. And then if they still refuse to do that, they have some liability, as far as their refusal to allow the agent to act, if the power of attorney is properly execute,  it is a real practical problem and that who wants to litigate with a bank on trying to take care of someone’s business for them. And so you need to continue to work with the bank. Some banks are easier to work with and others, my experience has been, they send it off to legal. They don’t even let me talk to you as a lawyer for someone talked to the legal department and it is somewhat frustrating, but yes, they can. The statute provides a must. Let you know why the power of attorney is deficient and they’re not, they’re not having you, not recognizing them. So, if you hand me questions or our guests, I can listen to your frustrations. Call me at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Can a family member override power of attorney? We first need to look what a power of attorney is. The power of attorney is a written document where the person designates an agent to act in their behalf. That doesn’t mean the person who executes the power of attorney cannot still act in their own capacity. It’s simply appointing an agent and the agent, if they exercise that right under the power of attorney, they are required to act in behalf of the individual who granted them the right to act in the person’s behalf. A family member doesn’t have any rights to act on behalf of the person who has granted the power of attorney to a third party. The power of attorney is what gives someone the authority to act on behalf of someone. So, the family member doesn’t have any control over the parties, assets, which you usually, the power of attorney is also a power of attorney terminates at death. So, it’s of no effect. So, if you have any questions about a power of attorney giving me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

What is required to make a last Will legal in Florida, your wills must be signed and the presence of two different witnesses. And so, you have to have the person making the Will, which they call the test day tour. And the two witnesses, all of them have to be present while all three of them sign the document. You can have one listed later, it can’t be signed later or whatever else the will does not have to be notarized. Now, most Wills that you see today do have a notarization, but that’s on the proof of Will for the will to be admitted into probate. It must be proved. And, if there’s not a certificate at the time they signed it or self-proving Will, then one of the witnesses need to appear at the clerk of the court and swear that the Will was signed in their presence and the presence of the other witness and the person making the Will. So that’s proving the Will. So, the notarization has to do with the proof of Will. So, if you have all those requirements, well, then the will should be admitted to probate and be it admitted to probate. Sometimes in other States they have what they call a holographic Will, which is a handwritten Will, but Florida does not make any exception for holographic Wills. They require even a holographic Will be signed in the presence of two different witnesses. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Where does the money go if no beneficiary is named on my deceased spouses bank account? The bank does not release the money to anyone without a court order. If it remains dormant for a long period of time, they may eventually turn it over to the state as unclaimed property, depending on the size of the bank account. You can go to the court if it’s less than the amount of your spouse’s funeral bill and ask the court to disperse it to you. If you paid the funeral bill, that’s called a distribution without administration need the death certificate and you need the paid funeral bill, as well as the bank account statement. If it’s less than $10,000, there’s another procedure for small estates, wherein you could have the money dispersed to you. If it is larger than that, well, then you would need to go through a probate proceeding and whether there’s a will or not a will. So that would be a probate proceeding. So what happens to the account? Nothing until you get a court order or, you have a probate proceeding and the bank receives instructions to deposit or send you the personal representative, a check. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Is an estate too small to probate? Anytime that there’s an asset in the name of the decedent, and there was no designated beneficiary. It has to go through some sort of probate proceeding. Now, the answer,  to the question is,  you don’t want to pay the lawyer or someone to handle the probate that costs more than the asset that you’re trying to have passed to a beneficiary. There are various, small estate, administrations, if the assets less than $10,000 and the funeral bill has been paid, then you may be able to proceed with the court and get a distribution without administration, without going through a formal  type of probate. If the assets exceed the $10,000. And however, they’re less than $75,000 and provision has been made to pay all the creditors. Well, in that event, you can file what they call a summary administration, which is a short version of probate and is fairly quick and is less expensive than what they call a formal administration.
If the assets exceed $75,000, or that there are creditors that no provisions has been made for, then you would go through what they call a formal administration, where you have letters of administration issued to the executor, and you give notice to creditors. You have the claims filed, you have the beneficiaries to determine, and if there’s real property involved, you have the property declared to be homestead, which may be exempt from the claims of creditors. So then if, even if it’s so small that it doesn’t make any sense to even go to a smallest state administration, after a certain amount of time, the asset may be forfeited unless it’s real estate and go to the to the state of Florida. And they have a treasure hunt after two or three years where you could possibly apply to obtain the asset. Once it’s forfeited to the state of Florida. If you have any questions about probate, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.