Video Summary

What happens if a person dies with a will and both the executors are deceased? In that instance, the beneficiaries, the majority of the beneficiaries need to agree on who should be the personal representative. If that is not possible, then any one of the beneficiaries or any person that’s qualified to be a personal representative can file a petition to be appointed the personal representative and give notice to all the other interested parties. And if no one objects after they give formal notice which I believe is about 20 days, well then the court would then appoint whoever has petitioned for it.

If there is objection, well the court would then have a hearing to determine who would be appointed as the personal representative. So that’s how you resolve it whenever both the designated personal representatives are deceased. If we have an estate where the personal representatives do not act, whether they’re deceased or just not interested or don’t want to pay the attorney or anyone else, you can petition the court to have a curator appointed until such time as a personal representative is appointed.

The curator’s job is to maintain the estate and status quo by publishing the notice to creditors and administering the estate until a personal representative or may complete the administration of the estate whenever a personal representative has not been petitioned to be appointed.

If you have a problem with probating an estate and you’ve got deceased personal representatives or executors, well give me a call and we’ll be glad to help you out. Call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What happens when someone dies and there is no probate administration? Well the Florida statues provide that if someone passes away that whoever has the will is supposed to deposit with the court. That does not mean that you have to have a probate proceeding.

Many times wills are not probated. The reason why is because the decedent does not own any assets that are in their own individual name. Many times, particularly in the husband and wife scenario the property is held in their joint name so all that’s needed is to record a death certificate in the public records which would show that the surviving spouse is receiving the, is entitled to the particular joint asset.

Or if they’re bank accounts that are joint or payable on death, then the bank simply distributes those or pays those amount to the joint owner of the account.

If there are assets in the decedent’s name, well then nothing happens and the assets will eventually be turned over to the state and then as abandoned property such as bank accounts, old life insurance policies and I’m not sure how many years have to go by before they are turned over to the state and they can always be retrieved by setting up an estate.

The other scenario is is if you have credit cards in the name of the decedent and then the question is, is well what happens as far as paying these bills if there’s not probate administration for the creditors to file their claims? If there’s no probate administration and the decedent owned debts well they just, the creditors have the option of opening an estate, of course they need to try and figure out if there are any assets that could be used to pay their debts. So a creditor can open up an estate if they so choose, if they’re owed any money however if no probate administration open and there are creditors, the creditors do not get paid since there’s no probate and no assets pay them.

Also the creditors’ claims are barred two years after the decedent’s death. Sometime probate administration doesn’t even take place until after the two years and the creditors’ claims are barred.

If you have a question about probate and what to do when someone passes away, well give me a call 727 847-2288.

Video Summary

What happens if I own probate property but don’t have a will? Well first, as far as owning probate property, that means that, that’s property that is owned in your individual name and does not have a designated beneficiary or is not held jointly with anyone else. So, first we have to define what is probated property.

The next question that you have is, if I die without a will and you own property in your individual name, then you die what they call “in testate.” And the Florida statutes have set forth a will, in their statutes they say who will receives your assets. And it goes something like, if you’re married, your spouse they receive all or a half, depending on whether or not you have any children from another marriage. If you are not survived by a spouse then it will go to your children. If you die without any children and without a spouse well then, what we call, it ascends instead of descends and goes to your parents. And if they’re deceased well then it goes back down the family tree to your brothers and sisters or your siblings and their children.

So first off is, probated property is property, which you own in your individual name at the time of your death. And the Florida statutes had set forth who the beneficiaries are, so it must go through probate. The myth that the state will take the property is simply that, the state will not take your property unless you die with no heirs whatsoever, which is very, very remote. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that happen. So if you got any call, if you have any questions about that, would like to have a will drawn up or do some estate planning, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Do you have to be married in order to be entitled to a partner’s estate?

The answer is yes.  The law does not, at this time provide that if you have cohabitated or are in relationship with someone, and you are not married to them, the law does not protect you when they pass away.  They treat you as if you are a stranger and therefore you are entitled to no benefits.  If you’re married, the law does provide that you’re entitled to certain rights.  One is called an elective share; or if there’s no will, you’re entitled to certain benefits, depending on whether or not there’s any children or not.  If there’s no children of the decedent, and you’re married to them, then you’re entitled to the entire estate.

Also, this has an effect on your real estate.  If it’s your homestead property, as to whether you’re married or not, if you are married you have certain rights in the homestead.  If the property is titled in the decedent.  If you’re not married, you have no standing, or what we call standing, or right to make any claims against your partner’s estate.  So if you  – my suggestion is is that you need to set up a will conference or an estate planning conference to address the situation; and that I’ve seen this in the past,  where someone’s been together for many years and they’ve lived as husband as wife, and then one of them passes away and they get nothing even though they’ve lived together.

Florida does not recognize common law marriages and that, unless they were established I think before 1964 or ’68.  So rarely do you see a common law – I’ve never seen a common law marriage recognized in Florida.

So if you have any questions or like to do some estate planning, that’s the best way to handle it.  My phone number is 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What does it mean to administer an estate?

To administer an estate relates to a probate proceeding.  In order to administer someone’s estate, you need to petition the probate court to have their will admitted to probate, or if they die without a will, you petition to have a personal representative appointed.  Then once the personal representative is appointed to administer the estate, they then need to file an inventory showing the assets.  They need to give a notice to all the beneficiaries and heirs, so that anyone can challenge the will or have notice.

The personal representative, which used to be called an executor, also sends out a notice to all reasonably ascertainable creditors so that they can file their claims in the estate.  The asset, the personal representative is not personally liable for any of the debts, and they are to pay the claims of the creditors out of the assets of the estate.  And so once they pay the creditors or claims, and the claim period expires, which is three months, then they are to make distribution out to all of the beneficiaries of the estate and provide an accounting.  And if the beneficiaries are in agreement with the expenses and what the personal representative’s done, they can consent or after given notice, the court would then discharge the personal representative from their duties as the executor or personal representative, and they no longer have any liability.  So that’s what’s involved, as far as administering an estate, in three minutes or less.

So if you have an estate that you would like to have administered, give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.