If a Contract Is Breached, Who Pays the Fees If We Go to Court?
Video Summary
If a contract is breached, who pays the attorney fees? Well, first off, you have to look at the contract, and if it’s the standard real estate contract it provides in there, if suit is filed, then the prevailing party, whoever wins, is the one that is entitled to get an award of attorney fees. Now, receiving an award of attorney fees and being paid, your attorney fees are two different things because number one, if it’s a judgment and you receive an award of attorney fees because you’re the prevailing party along with whatever other monies you recover from the other party, well then you still have to go about collecting it. So being paid and being entitled to them are two different things, and that it’s difficult to collect money here in Florida since people’s houses are protected from judgment creditors. And also, if you’re going to be talking to an attorney, you’re going to have to advance the fees to the attorney to bring the lawsuit. So you’re going to be out the money and then he will see about getting you your fees included in your judgment, and then you need to see about collecting them. So getting paid and being entitled to those attorney fees are two different things. But hopefully that answered your question. And if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Videos
Can I Help Control My Children From Spending Their Entire Inheritance at 18?
Video Summary:
Can I help control my children from spending their inheritance at age 18? If you are preparing estate planning documents or a Will or a Trust, that’s how you control your children being able to spend their inheritance. You can say that you leave your estate to a trustee and direct the trustee to hold the money for your children until they reach a certain age and use the money until they reach that age for their health, education and maintenance. After a certain age, you can direct it all, or a portion of it is then distributed to the child. I usually use a formula of you give ’em a third at age 25. The half of what’s left at age 30 and the balance is age 35. That’s based upon my recollection of me growing up and me being smarter at age 21 or 18, than I’ve ever been in my life, that I had all my answers to all the questions, and I knew everything and probably wouldn’t make wise decisions with the money. So the way you do that is by giving the property left to a trustee. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
How Does President Biden’s “American Families Plan” Effect Your Estate Plan?
Video Summary
How does President Biden’s American family’s plan affect your estate plan? It does not because the American family plan if passed will make the child dependency tax credit permanent. It is a tax credit and therefore will not affect your estate plan. It affects your income taxes. You can call me, although I’m not, don’t give out tax advice. My phone number is (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Are There Any Tax Implications When an Estate Is Settled?
Video Summary
Are there any tax implications when an estate is settled? The number one, is Florida has done away with estate taxes, and the federal government has raised the federal estate tax limitation in 2024 to above $13 million. So, there’s no estate tax implications in most estates in Florida. The personal representative is charged with filing a tax return for the estate for any income that it received. And so, the tax implications are, is that you deduct the administration costs from the income of the estate, and if there’s any income that’s been distributed out to the beneficiaries, they’ll receive K one and must pay income tax on it. One of the big benefits of inheriting property, however, is you get what they call a step up in basis and the property. If you inherit property or stock, and that you take the asset at the date of death value. And so, if the date of death value is a hundred thousand dollars and you later sell it for a hundred thousand dollars, you don’t have to recognize any gain. You don’t have to go back and determine how much the decedent paid for the property. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Taxes, Videos
Is It Safe to Do a DIY Will Services?
Video Summary
Is it safe to do a DIY Will service? I would say no, it is not safe, and the will has to be executed with a certain amount of formalities and there are certain aspects of will that you need to have the guidance of an attorney. And so, I would strongly recommend not trying to do a will by yourself because it may not be effective. And that’s the whole purpose of will is to avoid problems whenever you pass away. Strongly suggest you contact an attorney. It’s not that expensive as far as having a will prepared as well as other estate planning documents such as living Wills, healthcare, surrogates, which has a HIPAA waiver, and durable powers of attorney. See if I have any questions. Give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills