Video Summary

Who is responsible for the debts of a deceased person? The deceased person is – if they signed for a service or a credit card, they’re the ones that have the liability and, therefore, if they have an estate, their estate assets are the ones that would have to be used to pay their creditors. If no one has signed as a co-obligor, or to be responsible along with the deceased person, then there isn’t anyone that has to pay the debts.

So if you have a loved one, or any person who’s passed away, and they have a will and you’re named as a beneficiary or the personal representative, you need not worry about being responsible for their debts. That’s the whole purpose of the probate process, wherein you send out – open up a probate estate proceeding with the Court. You send a notice to the reasonably ascertainable creditors – which you check the mail, and if they sent a bill – sent ’em a bill – and you send them a notice that they’re to file a claim within the probate proceeding, or in the Court proceeding. And so they have three months in which to do that from the date that the first notice is published. So it’s important that you send ’em this notice.

And so then, once the estate is wound up, you put the claims in a category. And there’s priority as to which claims which get paid first out of the estate assets. The first category of claims that gets paid first is the fees of the personal representative and the attorney who are handling the administration of the estate. Next in line is the funeral bills, and the bills of the last illness, and burial. Then we have – you have the federal tax liens – if there’s any taxes that they owe – and then you go on down any number of other categories.

Credit cards and general bills are a Class 8 creditor. So the first money out of the estate, before anything’s paid to the beneficiaries, is paid to the Class 1, 2, 3 creditors, in that order. If there aren’t enough assets to pay all the creditors, the creditors do not get paid, or they get paid pro rata, meaning that they only get a portion of their claim.

The personal representative, or the executor –we now call them personal representatives – has no personal obligation to pay those bills, with the exception of the Internal Revenue Service, which they need to take certain precautions to verify what the tax bill is. But if they do that, they’re not responsible for the new taxes. And so the beneficiaries nor the personal representative has any personal liability whatsoever for a deceased person’s bills or debts.

Now if, however, you – like, say, in the – if you have a spouse that passes away and you’ve signed on the credit card or signed any bills that you’re a responsible party, or agreed to be obligated, well, you have continuing obligation because you signed along with the deceased person to be obligated for that.

But that’s a question I often get asked, is, “Am I responsible for my spouse’s debts when they pass away?” And the answer is no. You’re not, not unless you signed to be responsible. That even includes their hospital bills and any other bills that they have liability for. That is with a big asterisk, there, that says, “unless you signed and said that you would be responsible for them.”

So if you have – if there’s a person who’s passed away and they have lots of bills and have few assets, and you’re the beneficiary, well, don’t hesitate to call me, and I’ll be glad to discuss the probate of the will. There are certain assets which are exempt from the claims of the creditors.

So give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

If I have a will, does my estate have to be probated? Well, the question is not whether or not you have a will or you don’t have a will. The question is: do you have any assets that are titled just in your name that do not designate a beneficiary?

An example of assets that you have that name beneficiaries is, let’s say, a life insurance contract. That’s your asset. You designate a beneficiary, so it’s controlled by the life insurance contract and is payable to whoever you designated as a beneficiary. So that doesn’t have to be probated.

Same thing with IRAs, 401(k)s. They all – you’ve designated a beneficiary to receive the benefits of these, really, trust. An IRA, or a 401(k), or annuities, that’s all controlled by contract, and it says that when you pass away who’s to receive those assets.

Another example of assets that name a beneficiary: if you have a joint account, which is usually the case between husband and wife. They own their bank accounts jointly. They own their real estate jointly. And if they do, when one of the spouses pass away, well, the property automatically passes to the survivor. Any other assets that you own as joint tenants with right of survivorship passes automatically, or pursuant to the contract. You also look at bank accounts. You look at bank accounts that have a “payable on death” or your brokerage account, which is “transfer on death,” and so those assets pass pursuant to your contract with the brokerage house, or whatever financial institution.

However, if you have an asset that’s just in your name, then your estate must be probated. It doesn’t matter whether you have a will or you don’t have a will; that’s what determines whether or not you have a probate proceeding.

So what’s the advantage of having a will? Well, a will says – directs who you wish to receive that asset so that you don’t leave it to the state of Florida and the statutes to say who receives the assets. So you can name who you want to receive your assets under a will, and you can also designate who you wish to be in charge of your estate, which is called an “executor” or a “personal representative.”

So the question is not whether you have a will and it avoids probate, or whether you die without a will. It only matters whether or not you have your – you die with assets that are just in your name and we must have a probate proceeding to determine who the beneficiary of that asset would be. By looking at a will or looking at the Florida statutes, the Florida statute does set forth that if you die without a will, then it passes to all of your heirs, or your children, or, if you have deceased children, to their children or grandchildren. And it goes on to explain who else would receive it if you don’t have any children.

So if you have any questions about an estate proceeding, with or without a will, well, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Should a parent place their child on a deed, in order to avoid probate?

I get this question asked me probably once a week, or once every two weeks. And the answer is, I do not recommend that you place a child on your deed. Particularly if it’s the deed to your home, since your home is homestead, and that has particular status. By having the property as your homestead, it’s not considered as an asset, if you need to qualify for Medicaid purposes.

You don’t want to have conveyed that, ’cause there could be some issue of whether or not you transferred the property without full and fair consideration, as far as Medicaid’s concerned. Also, if you add a child’s name to your homestead property, they will not get what they call a step up in basis or an increase in the basis, as far as the property, whenever you pass away. And they may have to pay, and they sell the property, well, then, their basis is what you paid for it, particularly if you owned it for some time.

Also, if you sell the property during your lifetime, and you’ve added a child’s name to it, you can exempt up to $250,000.00 of gain, if you’ve lived in your home two out of the past five years. Whereas, the child who is on there hasn’t lived there, so they may have to pay taxes. So, that’s another reason not to do it.

Also, if it’s your home, and as homestead, if your child would have some kind of credit problems, or domestic problems, they’re half owner of your property. And if Capital One comes and sues them under their credit card, and they get a judgment, it may attach to a half interest in your home. And we wouldn’t want that to be a you be a co-owner with Capital One, as far as your home is concerned. That’s a little bit of a reach, but anyway, they could levy on the child’s one-half interest on the house.

What I’ve found very effectively to use, rather than adding a child to the title to your property, is to execute an enhanced life estate deed. And many people have heard of this as a nicknamed a “ladybird deed,” which basically leaves the property and the person’s name, the parent’s name, during their lifetime. So that they can sell the property, do whatever they want to with the property, and the child doesn’t have to have any interest in the property during their lifetime. And if the parent still owns the property at the time of their death, well, then, it’ll automatically pass to their child, and all the child needs to do is file a death certificate.

So if you would like to avoid probate, and have your property pass to a child, or your children, give me a call at 727-847-2288. Thank you.

Video Summary

How can I protect my home for my children and their inheritance if I have creditors?  Well, under our Florida constitution, your home is protected from creditors.  It’s called homestead and that’s a different part of our Florida constitution than when you file for homestead exemption, but you have to be a Florida resident and your residence must be less than a half an acre if inside the city limits and less than 160 acres outside a municipality.

And if you’re a resident of Florida and you pass away, then the property will pass to your children unless direct it to be sold under your will, or you can leave it to your children and your creditors will not have a claim against it even if they have a judgment against you, it will not attach to your homestead property.  The word that’s used in the Florida constitution is this exemption from for sale of your creditors of your home in nours or passes through to your children.  So your home is protected from creditors during your lifetime so that you don’t have to worry about credit card companies coming in and getting a judgment and taking your home and neither do your children if you even have judgments.

There is an exception, of course, in the event that the federal government has a lien, a tax lien, or a judgment against you, they can take your home and you cannot protect it from the claims of the United States of America.  But your home is protected if you go through a bankruptcy, you can exempt out your homestead property and reaffirm your mortgage debt and preserve it; or if it’s paid for, you may even be able to keep it out of bankruptcy and be protected from the claims of creditors, and then whenever you pass away, it’s not subject to any judgment you have against you when it passes through to your children.  You do have to leave it to your children or their heirs or grandchildren in order for them to get this exemption from the claims of creditors.

If you have any other questions about your homestead property and your creditors, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.