Video Summary

How are items in a trust insured? We need to look at the basics as far as what we talk about as far as a trust is concerned. A trust is simply a legal document. It’s a road map. It says what the trustee is supposed to do, so items are titled in the name of the trustee of a trust, and the trust documents tells the trustee what they’re supposed to do with the documents.

So usually, we treat that … It’s usually an estate planning trust is called a revocable trust, and you name yourself to be the trustee and direct that all the property be distributed to you whenever you ask for it, and you have complete discretion. You don’t even have to change the federal ID number as far as that’s concerned.

So you as the beneficial owner of it, you just insure the property in your individual name during your lifetime. Then upon your death, and if you say that you left property, real estate, and it went to a child or someone for their benefit and to be held during their lifetime, well, then you need to talk to the insurance agent and probably have the lawyer assist you. And the insurance agent, once they understand how the trust works and who the beneficiary is, they would insure the beneficial owner, who is the beneficiary of the trust. They may also name the trustee as a beneficiary for the … maybe the trustee FBO, which stands “for the benefit of” and name the beneficiary as far as insuring the property.

Hopefully, that gives you a little bit of overview of how a trust works and as far as getting insurance. But it’s basically the insurance company will insure the beneficial owner of the property, and you just need to work with the agent to let them know how that works. If you have any questions about trusts, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What is formal administration? Formal administration has to do with the probate proceeding wherein a personal representative is appointed to administer the estate of the decedent. That is the formal administration, which takes about four to six months for a simple probate administration, and that the personal representative must file a notice to creditors that runs for three months, and after which then they can start winding up the probate administration, but it has to stay open a minimum of three months to determine if there are any outstanding creditors.

There’s another proceeding, which is called a summary administration whenever there’s no creditors or two years has passed since the decedent has passed away. And then you can file a summary administration, which means all of the assets would be distributed to the beneficiaries and since there are no creditors or the creditors’ claims have been barred after two years. If you have any questions about probate proceedings, well give me call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

The will says that I’m the personal representative. Do I need to probate the will? Well, whether or not you have to probate the will is if the decedent with assets in his name alone, and that would be the determining factor as to whether or not the will must be admitted to probate, and you’d be appointed by the court to serve as the personal representative. And so, it’s not whether or not you’re designated as the personal representative as to whether or not the will needs to be probated. It’s whether or not the decedent died with assets in his name alone.

If he died with assets in his name alone, well then you do need to contact an attorney to see about opening a probate administration, and you’re designated as the personal representative, and have the court appoint you, an issue which called Letters of Administration, so that you can collect the assets, pay the creditors, and distribute the assets to the beneficiaries.

If you have any questions about probate or wills, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can anyone find out what assets are in an estate when it is probated? The answer to that question is no. Only the beneficiaries are entitled to see the inventory of the assets. The inventory and a probate proceeding is sealed, so that only the interested parties, or the lawyers for the executor and the beneficiaries can access it. And so only the beneficiaries are entitled to know what’s in the assets of the estate. And so that inventory is sealed.

So if you have any questions about probate and whether or not you’ve been left anything, the will is public record. The first thing to do would be to determine if you are a beneficiary. If you’re not, well you’re not entitled to know what’s in the estate, as well as the bad players out there that are trying to target people that maybe inherit a lot of money.

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

Video Summary

Timing considerations involved in starting a probate proceeding. First off, as the statute says, if there’s a will and you have it in your possession, you’re supposed to file it with the court in whatever location or county in which the person died. Once it’s filed with the clerk, does not commence the probate proceeding, and so if you do nothing, the time period for creditors to file their claims is two years so if you wait for two years to expire, you can then file what they call a summary administration to have all the assets distributed to the beneficiaries.

If you wish to undertake administration of the estate, it’s whenever you contact the attorney, bring him in what the assets are, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries and the creditors’ information, and then you can commence a probate administration as soon as there’s a death certificate and the regional will is filed with the court.

If you have any questions about probate and the time periods involved, well-