What is Required to Make a Last Will Legal?
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.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Where Does the Money Go if No Beneficiary Is Named On My Deceased Spouse’s Bank Account?
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.
- Published in Estate Planning, Probate, Videos
When Is An Estate Too Small For Probate?
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.
- Published in Estate Planning, Probate, Videos
What Estates That Need Probate And Those That Don’t?
Video Summary
What estates need to be probated? And what estates do not need to be probated whenever the deceit and passes away. And all of his titled assets are in his joint names with someone else, they will pass to the joint tenant that has the right of survivorship. There are many examples where there’s a designated beneficiary, such as a individual retirement account, an IRA account. They designate beneficiaries, same thing with the life insurance annuities. Many bank accounts may have a designation such as payable on death or interest trust for, and designate beneficiaries should receive the assets. All of these assets pass without going through probate. So those assets do not have to go through a probate process. If there are assets that are in the decedent’s name alone, such as real estate, or bank account, or a securities account, whether stocks or bonds that are just in the decedent’s name and there’s no designated beneficiary or joint tenant, then those are the assets that have to go through probate. So, if you have any questions about probate, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
How Often Should I Update My Durable Power of Attorney?
How often should I update my durable power of attorney? You should update it any time that you want to change, who you want to serve as your agent, under your power of attorney. Also you may choose to update it every three to five years, and that during the past three to five years, they’ve changed the power of attorney statute in Florida under the new power of attorney statute. You’re giving your agent so can give your agent the authority to help qualify you for Medicaid. Also deal with your retirement accounts and other, estate planning documents. So that’s whenever you may wish to update. I’ve encountered some problems with banks or other folks that deal with, powers of attorney when you present them. Even though they are legally valid, if they’re old, they may not accept them. And of course, that’s the whole purpose of giving. the power of attorney is to facilitate, the signature, particularly if the person who gave it, to the agent has become incapacitated, you would not want it to be rejected. So, you just, as a practical matter, you may want to update your power of attorney every three to five years, or it at such time as if you wish to change your agent or your agent passes away. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos