What Estate Planning Steps Should I Take If I Own Multiple Properties or Out-Of-State Property?
Video Summary
What estate planning steps should I take if I own multiple properties or out of state property? Well, assuming the purpose of your estate planning is to try and avoid probate, you can set up a Trust and convey the property to your Trustee, and then it will be controlled by the provisions of your trust. Another way that we’ve done it, if you just have Florida property and you want the property go to certain beneficiaries outright, you can execute what they call a Lady Bird Deed, which is an enhanced Life Estate Deed, or you convey the property to the beneficiary, but reserve all the rights of ownership during your lifetime so that you can sell it and don’t need the joiner of the person who you conveyed it to. So those are some of the ways or the way you can do that if you convey the property to the Trustee of your Trust for out-of-state property. Well, your Trust should control the sale of that, so there is certain provisions you’d like. I suggest you put in deeds, particularly if you transfer it into a trust, particularly as far as your homestead is concerned, so that you can continue to get homestead exemption and also certain powers that you put in there so that you don’t have to disclose or publish it portions of your Trust which authorize you as Trustee to sell the property. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
If My Neighbor’s Construction Damages My Property, Who Is Responsible — The Neighbor, Their Contractor, Or Both?
Video Summary
If my neighbor’s construction damages my property, who is responsible? The neighbor, their contractor, or both? I suggest that you sue both and that the contractor is the agent for the homeowner or your property owner that’s next door, and you would be able to sue both of them since the contractor, the one that was negligent and did the damage or trespassed on your property as far as doing damage to it, and the owner is the one that hired him and is responsible for his actions. You can see this from time to time whenever you have a pool contractor and he needs to come across your property, they should get an easement or whatever and also be a good neighbor or a good contractor and repair any damage that they do, but you can sue both the owner and the contractor the same time for whatever your damages are. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
How Can I Legally Require My Neighbor to Move a Fence, Structure, Or Landscaping That Crosses onto My Land?
Video Summary
How can I legally require my neighbor to move a fence, structure or landscaping that crosses onto my land? You can file an action for Ejectment to require asking the court to order them to remove these encroachments on your property. It’s a mandatory injunction, and so they would be given a specified period of time to do that. Usually that’s expensive and sometimes I suggest that you try doing that by self-help. So, letting the neighbor know that if they don’t move the encroachment that you will do so since it’s on your property and lay the fence on their side of the property line. So, if you have any questions concerning this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Videos
What Estate Planning Steps Should I Take If I Own Multiple Properties or Out of State Property?
Video Summary
What estate planning steps should I take if I own multiple properties or out of state property? Well, assuming the purpose of your estate planning is to try and avoid probate, you can set up a Trust and convey the property to your trustee, and then it will be controlled by the provisions of your Trust. Another way that we’ve done it, if you just have Florida property and you want the property go to certain beneficiaries outright, you can execute what they call a lady bird deed, which is an enhanced life estate deed, or you convey the property to the beneficiary, but reserve all the rights of ownership during your lifetime so that you can sell it and don’t need the joiner of the person who you conveyed it to. So those are some of the ways or the way you can do that if you convey the property to the trustee of your Trust for out-of-state property. Well, your trust should control the sale of that, so there is certain provisions you’d like. I suggest you put in deeds, particularly if you transfer it into a Trust, particularly as far as your homestead is concerned, so that you can continue to get homestead exemption and also certain powers that you put in there so that you don’t have to disclose or publish portions of your Trust which authorize you as trustee to sell the property. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
How Do I Choose a Reliable Executor, and What Responsibilities Will They Have?
Video Summary
How do I choose a reliable executor and what responsibilities will they have? Well, you need to pick someone who is trustworthy, that you trust, and that you believe will treat all the beneficiaries fairly and knows enough to contact an attorney to get some guidance as far as handling the probate of your estate and handling your affairs as far as what their responsibilities are, as they need to petition the court to be appointed. And once they’re appointed, then a lawyer acts on their behalf, but they have a responsibility for filing a notice of administration to the various beneficiaries of the estate and also sends a notice to creditors giving the notice, giving them notice to file their claims in the estate. Moreover, they have the responsibility to send that notice to any reasonably ascertainable creditor so that the creditors can file their claims and the claim period runs about three months after.
They also have to file an inventory in 60 days, and they need to marshal the assets, meaning they need to collect the assets. I usually have them set up an estate account so that all the money goes into one account, so that whenever we have all the assets in and we file the inventory, we can then have an accounting to show what the expenses are and how much money is available to pay creditors and how much is available for the beneficiaries, which we then, if there’s enough money to pay the creditors, we pay the creditors. And then the balance, the money is distributed to the beneficiaries, but they’re entitled to accounting and to object to it or not. So that’s in a nutshell what the responsibilities are of an executor in Florida. The executor needs to be one of the following, either related by blood or in the alternative, a resident in the state of Florida, one of the two. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos, Wills