What Are the Pros of Guardianship?
Video Summary
What are the pros of guardianship? Guardianship is usually something of last resort. Whenever you set up a guardianship, you ask that the court determine that the person is incompetent, and they take away all their rights. So, it’s a court proceeding. And so, the petition then requests that there be a person appointed as the guardian, which is the person in charge of their money. That’s called the guardian of the property. Also, the person who is charged with taking care of them and their wellbeing and health, and that’s the guardian, the person. So, this is a court proceeding. It’s somewhat expensive, and particularly the IT is supervised even after it’s established. As far as the guardians are concerned, they must file reports with the court at least annually as far as the physical condition of the ward or the person who’s been adjudicated, incompetent file accountings as far as the money and how it’s being spent. Get authorization to spend the money for the ward. So, the pros are pretty much the last resort, and as far as trying to take care of someone who is becoming incompetent and is dissipating their assets, people are taking advantage of them or they’re subject to scams or whatever. So, if you have any questions about guardianship, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Guardianship, Videos
Can I Help Control My Children From Spending Their Entire Inheritance at 18?
Video Summary:
Can I help control my children from spending their inheritance at age 18? If you are preparing estate planning documents or a Will or a Trust, that’s how you control your children being able to spend their inheritance. You can say that you leave your estate to a trustee and direct the trustee to hold the money for your children until they reach a certain age and use the money until they reach that age for their health, education and maintenance. After a certain age, you can direct it all, or a portion of it is then distributed to the child. I usually use a formula of you give ’em a third at age 25. The half of what’s left at age 30 and the balance is age 35. That’s based upon my recollection of me growing up and me being smarter at age 21 or 18, than I’ve ever been in my life, that I had all my answers to all the questions, and I knew everything and probably wouldn’t make wise decisions with the money. So the way you do that is by giving the property left to a trustee. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
What Is a Holographic Will?
Video Summary
What is a holographic Will? A holographic Will is whenever someone writes it out in their own handwriting, as we say cursive. I guess if they printed it, it would be the same thing. Florida Will recognize a holographic Will provided. It has the same as executed in the presence of two witnesses, which were present whenever the testator signed it and the testator was in their presence. There are some states where they make an exception for holographic Wills and accept them in the probate even if they’re not executed with the same formality as what is required by the state law. But Florida is not one of those states and for the Will to be effective here in Florida as a valid Will, it must be signed in the presence of two witnesses and the testator. So that’s a holographic Will. I suggest you spend a little bit of money with the attorney, but if not, we’ll be sure it’s signed in the presence of two witnesses. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
What Are the Benefits Of Having a Life Insurance Trust?
Video Summary
What are the benefits of a life insurance trust? A life insurance trust is used an irrevocable trust wherein a life insurance policy is purchased or is placed in the trust in naming the trustee as the beneficiary in directing that the money be used to pay taxes or to other beneficiaries. And the benefits of that are that if it’s an irrevocable life insurance trust, then the amount that’s in the trust is not includable in your taxable estate. The federal state tax laws have been changed now so that you have to have over $13 million before there’s any federal estate taxes. So this is usually only used for very high-end estate planning as far as that’s concerned, but it avoids the inclusion of the life insurance death benefit in the decedent’s estate and is usually used as a estate planning tool to pay estate taxes. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Is a Will Executed?
Video Summary
How is a Will executed in order for a Will to be valid in the state of Florida? The Will must be signed in the presence of two witnesses. So not only does the person making the Will called the test state have to sign the Will, the witnesses also have to sign in each other’s presence as well as the person making the Will. So that’s how a will has to be executed or signed in Florida in order to be valid. First off, there is a provision which we now use whenever you pass away the Will in order to be admitted to probate has to be proved and that’s where one of the witnesses appears before the clerk of the court and testifies or signs an oath that the Will was signed, the presence of the other witness and the test stater, all three of ’em signed at the same time. Usually when you deal with an attorney, usually they have what they call a self-proving Will, in other words, the affidavit that proves the Will is attached at the sign at time it’s signed. So it avoids the problem of having to have it prove whenever the person making the Will dies. And so if you have any questions about a Will, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.