How Do I Check The Tax Status On An Estate?
Video Summary
How do I check the tax status on an estate? Well, we’re fortunate here in Florida that Florida has done away with estate taxes. The federal government has raised the estate tax limitation to 12 million. So that pretty well takes care of most of my clients as far as having to worry about estate taxes. Whenever, if you do own real estate outside the state of Florida, and another state, that state may have an estate tax for the real estate that is situated out in, in their state. As far as income tax is concerned, the executor of your estate needs to file what they call a fiduciary tax return or 10 41 where they report any income that the estate or trust has received during the administration. And then if they’ve distributed out, well, then they’ll issue K one to the recipient of the money, the beneficiary. So that’s sort of a overview of taxes for estates and trust. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
My Parents Just Passed Away And They Did Not Have Time To Update Their Life Insurance Beneficiaries, What Can I Do?
Video Summary
My parents just passed away and they did not have time to update their life Insurance beneficiaries, what can I do? There’s nothing that you can do because the, whoever they designated as the beneficiaries have the rights under the contract to receive the death benefit. So it’s something that they would’ve had to do during their lifetime rather than anything you can do after their death. If you could, if the beneficiaries are agreeable, do an assignment of those benefits to you. Many times the funeral home will take an assignment of a death benefit of a life insurance policy, particularly a small one to pay for the funeral expenses, but there’s nothing you can do by yourself to change the beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Should You Purchase Insurance on Vacant Land?
Video Summary
Should you purchase insurance on vacant property? Most parties do not, purchase liability insurance for vacant property and they don’t have any liability for people, trespassing and going or using the property unless they’re leasing it out or somehow the property has some dangerous aspect to it. Or it could be an attractive nuisance such as, water, like a sinkhole or something like that. And so most people do not. However, if you choose to get it, it depends a lot on the character of the vacant property, if it’s simply a residential lot, then you probably don’t need to worry about it. Or if you do want to get liability insurance, you can simply ask if your, your insurance agent ensures your home, whether or not you could have that covered on the liability aspect of it .If you have other property that’s out and, or there’s some particular aspect of it that you’re concerned about, simply, you know, people using these MTVs are on all over it. If you have it fenced or whatever, if there’s something inherently dangerous about the property, then you may wish to go ahead and obtain liability insurance on the property so that if anyone is injured and they do decide to come after you because there was, there’s something dangerous about the property that you didn’t address, then you would be protected. I suggest you talk to your insurance agent about it, if you are concerned, call me at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Real Estate, Videos
If The Decedents Will Names Me As The Executor/Personal Representative, Can I Show The Will To The Bank And Close The Accounts, In The Decedents Name?
Video Summary
If the decedent’s Will names me as the executor, can I show the Will to the bank and close the accounts that are in the decedent’s name? The answer is no. A Will designates or nominates someone as the executor or personal representative. It’s simply a nomination or designation. In order to become the personal representative and have authority to act and behalf of the decedent to collect his bank accounts, you must file a probate proceeding, which would require the petition to have the Will admitted to probate, and then the person, the nominated personal representative, file an oath and many times a bond, and after which the court would then issue what they call letters of administration. The letters of administration are the authority of the executor to act in the decedent’s behalf to collect these assets, so the letters are required in order to collect the money, place them into a, an account for the estate, and then the bills of the decedent are paid from that account. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
What Is The Difference Between Will and Estate Planning?
Video Summary
What is the difference between a, Will and estate planning? Well, a Will is part of the estate planning process. Whenever I meet with someone, they say, well, I want to provide a Will. I take it that they want to plan for estate planning to say who they would like to receive their assets whenever they pass away. And one of the ways that you do that is by executing the Will. Most people don’t want to try and avoid probate, particularly if their assets or their assets are fairly simple. Basically, they just have their home bank accounts from a brokerage account that can be planned by having payable on death accounts and, or executing a life estate deed so that these assets pass automatically upon your death. And that’s what you call estate planning. Also, with your estate planning, you, you execute, and we discuss, or I discuss with my clients, about executing a living Will, which says that you don’t want your life prolonged artificially in the event that you are in a permanent vegetative state. Also, a healthcare proxy form called a healthcare surrogate whereby you designate someone to make healthcare decisions for you, and also, it’s a HIPAA waiver. And the third document is a durable power of attorney whereby you authorize someone to handle your business. It’s effective immediately, but also in the event you become incapacitated or it’s inconvenient for you to take care of business. The person you designate as your agent under a power of attorney, is able to transact business for in your behalf for you. They can’t do it for themselves. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills