Video Summary

How long does probate take?  Well it doesn’t take six years and the lawyers don’t wind up taking 80 percent of the money and the government taking the other 20 percent, so the beneficiaries get nothing.

The usual time period or, in fact, the judges require probate administrations be closed out in a one-year period or the lawyer who is handling the estate needs to give an explanation to the court as to why the estate is still open after one year.

There is a short form of probate called a summary administration that can be used and a probate administration can be concluded in approximately 30 to 45 days or even sooner than that.  That’s if you have assets of less than $75,000 which would exclude the homestead property and that there’s no creditors.  Then you can file for a summary administration and have the assets passed to the heirs.

If you have creditors or other problems, different assets, multiple beneficiaries and have to open up a formal administration with assets in excess of $75,000 or any number of creditors that’s called a formal administration and in a formal administration you have to run a notice of creditors, and that creditors period runs for three months from the date the first publication in the newspaper is published, and so the estates usually will be open from four to six months.

Now a lot depends on the beneficiaries.  If the beneficiaries want to fuss about this and start being hard to get along with or they don’t agree, i.e. a non-functional family and want to fight about it, well, all bets are off as far as how long it’s gonna take to resolve the estate.

One of the other things that’ll keep an estate open is this real estate market and trying to liquidate real estate, and that’s another problem, or dealing with various assets, or even recovering all the assets also takes some time.

So there’s any number of factors that go into the time period in order to probate an administration, probate an estate, so but the rule of thumb is if you have a formal administration you’re probably looking four to six months.  If it’s a relatively simple estate it should be closed out in a year.

If the parties want to fuss and sputter about it well then you’re looking at spending a lot of money and the lawyers will take all the money while the parties want to fight over furniture and pots and pans or – and so it’s not good when we fight.  So if you have a functional family it should be wrapped up and board at 12 months.  If you have a question about probate please give me a call at (727) 847-2288, thank you.

Video Summary

What steps can I take to avoid probate?  Well, the quick answers for a lot of lawyers to offer to this is to set up a trust.  However, I have a little brochure that I pass out that’s called Simplified Estate Planning without the Necessity of a Trust in Order to Avoid Probate.

So you first have to look at the nature of your assets.  For example, if you have a life insurance policy it needs a beneficiary so that doesn’t go through probate ‘cause it’s controlled by the terms of the life insurance policy.

That’s the same that’s true about individual Retirement Accounts or IRAs.  You have a designated beneficiary so you don’t have a probate proceeding as far as IRAs, and that can also be said for annuities because the annuity contract will designate who’s to receive the death benefit or the benefits after the initial annuitant passes away.

When we turn to bank accounts, I suggest that you keep the bank accounts in your individual names and designate a payable on death for whomever you would like to receive it upon your death.

So the other designation is In Trust For or ITF account.  If you put someone on account as a co-owner, so if you’re by yourself and you put your son or daughter on the account with you, they become a half owner of the account and it could be subject to the claims of their creditors if they get in financial problems or domestic problems, being considered an asset in a divorce proceeding.  So I suggest that you simply designate a POD account or an ITF account for the benefit of that child or whoever you’d like to receive it and that will avoid probate.

One of the big sticking points is what do I do about real estate, particularly your home.  Well, what I have been doing is to prepare what they call a Life Estate Deed, whereby you convey your property to your child or children or whomever you would like to have it upon your death.  However you reserve all rights on the property during your lifetime.  You’ve reserved the right to sell the property and retain the assets.  Sometimes this is called a Ladybird Deed, and this again avoids probate.

And if you want your assets to be spread out over a period of time, let’s say you need a Special Needs Trust or a Spendthrift Trust for a child or a loved one that you want to care for, then certainly a trust is another way of doing it, although there may be a trust administration involved.

So those are some of the examples of how to avoid probate, is how you title your assets.  So if you’re interested in doing that give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

When someone dies, what happens to their bank account?  Well, the first thing you need to do is to look at how the bank account is titled.  If the bank account is jointly held, then the bank account becomes the sole property of the survivor.  So, if there’s a Jane Doe and a John Doe on the account and John Doe passes away, then the account becomes the sole property of Jane Doe.  If the accounts are set up in the name of John Doe and POD, which stands for “payable on death”, to Jane Doe, then Jane merely presents a death certificate to the bank and then the bank will disperse the account to Jane Doe.

Also, another designation for bank accounts is ITF.  It’s called “in trust for” and if the account is set up under “John Doe, ITF, Jane Doe”, Jane Doe merely needs to present a death certificate to the bank and they should disperse the account to her.  If the account is just in John Doe’s name and there’s no beneficiary or co-owner, then the account must go through an estate proceeding. What type of probate proceeding will be necessary will depend on the size of the account, and it will go to whoever his heirs are.

If he does not have a bank account subject to administration it will go to the payment of creditors.  If he has a will, John Doe would designate who he would want to receive the bank account and it would be subject to administration again, but would go to the designated beneficiaries.  If he has none, then the account could go to the State of Florida.  If the account is never probated and  just sits, it could be considered abandoned property and after a very long period of time the state may receive it.  Many times heirs are contacted by various companies who locate abandoned assets and contact you about setting up an estate proceeding; of course, they’re entitled to a fee for finding these assets.

So, it depends on how the account’s set up as to who receives the bank account when someone passes away.  If you have any questions or if you have a bank account that a decedent owned, give me a call and I’ll be glad to assist you in recovering the bank account or handling the probate proceeding.  My phone number’s (727) 847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

Hi.  I’m Chip Waller.  Many people are concerned about what assets are protected from the creditors when they pass away.  The primary asset that the creditors cannot reach is your home.  Many times your home is your most valuable asset.  Given this present economic recession and real estate bust, the value of your home has gone down substantially, and if there’s a mortgage on it, there may not be any equity, but that is an asset that is protected, and the creditors cannot reach the home if you leave it to your children or your grandchildren or relatives.

If you leave your house to your relatives, it doesn’t matter how much credit card debt or judgments or any other debt that you may have; they will not attach to the home, and it will be passed to your heirs.  If you leave it to a non-heir, then it can be reached by your creditors, and it’s called your homestead, and it’s protected under the Florida constitution.

If you’re interested in seeing about having your estate plan prepared either through a trust or a will, we can further discuss what assets are protected from creditors.  Please give me a call at (727) 847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

Sometimes when a person dies, the question arises of whether the decedent’s spouse can challenge his or her will. This is particularly of interest of the spouse was not left anything in the will. According to the law, a spouse does have a right to a percentage of all assets the decedent leaves behind, so he or she can challenge a will in order to exercise that right.

The best protection if you do not want your spouse to have rights to your estate or you would like to stipulate a specific portion that he or she is entitled to is to execute a prenuptial agreement. Our firm does not currently deal with prenuptial agreements, but if you would like help in drafting a will to protect your assets, please call us at (727) 847-2288.