Video Summary

Do IRAs, 401(k)s, Keogh plans, pension plans, profit-sharing plans, and other retirement accounts proceeds avoid probate? The answer is yes, and the reason for that is there’s a designated beneficiary. It is akin to a life insurance policy that designates a beneficiary. Each one of these particular plans would, by contract, say, “Well, upon your death, this is …” You designate who you would like to receive these benefits, and so these assets do not go through probate, nor do life insurance policies, since there’s a contract and it designates the beneficiary.

The exception to that is if, for some reason, there is no beneficiary designated. Then, the assets would then pass to the estate of the deceased. If you have any questions about this, give me a call at 727-847-2288. Thank you.

Video Summary

What is a testate estate. Well, testate is Latin word for testament, and that means that you have a will. So, whenever you go through a probate administration, you have a will that directs who the beneficiaries are and who you wish to leave your assets. So, if you have a will and a decedent, or when the decedent with a will, he has a testate probated administration the usually designates who the personal representative or executory is, and also who the beneficiaries are. So, if you have any questions about that, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What is a Intestate estate, an intestate estate is whenever someone dies without a will. In the state of Florida if you die without a will the Florida statutes say who receives your, who the beneficiaries are of your estate, and so that is a intestate estate. To give you a little course or a preview of that is if you have a spouse the spouse may be entitled to one half or the entire amount if you don’t have any children by any other person or don’t have any spouse outside of marriage. If you do have children by a different marriage from this spouse well then the spouse gets half and all the children get the other half. If you don’t have any children then it gets a little more complicated.

If you have any questions about an intestate estate give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can I do Probate without a lawyer. There is a short form where there’s two types of probated that you can do without a lawyer. One is a distribution without administration, that is where the amount of the funeral bill that you paid exceeds the amount of the assets that were in the decedents name, and you can take the death certificate and if there’s a will take the will. But take the paid funeral bill to the clerks office in the probate department and tell them that you wish to have an order of distribution without administration, present them with the bank account or the asset that you wish to have transferred and that way you can do that with the clerk. It’s called a distribution without administration.

You can attempt to handle a summary administration without an attorney, however there it’s a little more complicated, and trying to understand how to file the forms and that’s whenever the decedent did not have any debts and you sign a form saying that the assets are limited and you have all the beneficiaries sign off on it. Probably is not easy to do by yourself, but it is possible that you could do that. The probate judges in each particular county have particular aspects that they ask you to do and would probably be frustrated. You do need to have a lawyer whenever you do a formal administration, which means the assets are more than $75,000 and so it is possible for certainly very small matters. You can proceed with a probate with an attorney. So if you have any questions give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Should I have to evacuate for a hurricane, what documents should I take with me?

Well, some of the obvious ones which I would suggest you try and put into Ziploc bags or some other kind of waterproof documents and also have them organized and plan ahead so that you can just grab them and go would include: A birth certificate, passports, social security cards, marriage certificates, death certificates of spouses or parents. If you have children or dependents, significant other, all of their documentation. Another document which I think would be very helpful is to take your insurance policies that cover your home or your other property as far as that’s concerned to have that with you.

If you have a lease; if you’re leasing the property, be sure to take a copy of your lease so that you know what rights you have as far as that’s concerned, particularly if there is a casualty loss. If you have unrecorded deeds that give you the right to occupy a property or to purchase property that are unrecorded, you certainly need to preserve those and take those with you. I don’t know that this is an extensive list, but certainly, those documents should go with you and I’m sure that there are others that you should take along with you but don’t come to mind.

So if you have any questions about your documents, give me a call at 727-847-2288.