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If property is damaged by a hurricane during probate, who covers the repairs? The first thing that you would need to look at is, did the decedent have an insurance policy that covered the property such as their home? If so, and the premium has been paid through the time of the hurricane and they have coverage, I believe that the insurance company will probably cover that. You might look at the deductibles for hurricane, which is usually substantial. I think it’s 5% of whatever your loss are, or may be even more. And so, that’s what the deductible is, but usually the insurance companies would have it.

If there is no coverage as far as insurance coverage, well, it’s simply a casualty loss [sum 00:00:58] and you don’t have any. The estate and the beneficiaries bear the loss. This is also a problem when it comes to some of these life estate deeds. Some people have received property under a Lady Bird Deed upon the death of the primary person, well, there is no longer any coverage for the decedent and so it’s imperative that you see about getting insurance coverage as soon as the life tenant or the person who granted the Lady Bird Deed passes away.

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

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

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-

Video Summary

Are probate proceedings public record? The answer is yes, they are, and that’s the reason why many times, people will want to choose a trust administration rather than a probate administration. But yes, a probate administration is public record, particularly having the will admitted to probate, which shows who the beneficiaries are. The will serves as a conveyance of real estate, and so it’s important to have the will admitted to probate or have it public record, so that you, when you examine the public records, know who owns the property after someone passes away. So if they don’t have a will, they determine who the heirs are, to show who the owners of the real property are at their death. So, yes it is public record, and it is very necessary, particularly when it comes to titles to real property. So if you have any questions about probate and titles, well 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.