What Are My Duties As An Executor?
Video Summary
What are the duties of an executor? Well, an executor, we now refer to them as personal representatives and as far as the Florida law is concerned, but the executor is usually nominated in a Will. Wherein the in a Will, it says, I designate so and so to be the executor of my estate, or if they die without a Will, the other heirs agree as to who should serve. The designated person or nominated person then files a petition with the probate court asking that they be appointed the personal representative. The court would then enter an order appointing them. However, saying before I give you the authority to act, you must file an oath that you will perform your duties faithfully and designate a resident agent who must be a Florida attorney. After you file those, the court may also require a bond, which is a fidelity bond that says that if you steal any money from the estate, then that there’s an insurance company that would pay for it. After you’ve met these requirements, then the court issues what they call letters of administration, and that’s your authority to act. And that’s what you would use to send the banks to close out bank accounts and to collect other assets and give you authority to basically sell real estate other than homestead property. Then you’re also required to send notice to creditors, which is usually done by the lawyer who’s handling the probate proceeding and the creditors period runs from three months from the date of the first publication. That, and you also required to send this notice to any reasonably ascertainable creditor after 60 days after receiving your letters of administration, the executors to file an inventory and send it to the various beneficiaries after the time period for the three month time period for creditors expires, then the executor needs to pay the creditor’s bill, outstanding claims, and then go ahead and make distribution to the beneficiaries if all the assets have been liquidated. So that’s a thumbnail sketch of what an executor needs to do. If you have any questions or need to have an estate probated, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
Is The Previous Power Of Attorney Still Valid?
Video Summary
Is a previous power of attorney still valid? Powers of attorney don’t have an expiration date, so they are valid and until revoked. The problem that you have whenever you have an old power of attorney, thats many years old and you present it to a bank or someone else, they may or may not accept it, which they may or may not be required to by law. So it’s probably wise that you go ahead and update your power of attorney from time to time. Florida recently changed the power of attorney statute, which authorized what they call superpowers, which would give your agent the ability to handle some of your IRA accounts, things such as that. One problem that people run into is if they have a trust in all their assets in the trust and they also give someone a power of attorney the person or agent who has the holds a power of attorney cannot deal with any assets that are titled in the name of the trustee’s name. Only the trustee or successor trustee can do that unless special provisions are made in the trust and the power of attorney. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
Which Is Better To Have A Will Or A Living Trust?
Video Summary
Which is it better to have a Will or a Trust? Well, there’s no good answer or there isn’t an answer to that. Without knowing this, your circumstances, as far as everyone should have a Will that says that whatever assets that they have in their name alone, at the time of their death, that they, wish to leave it to and name the beneficiaries. And if you have a Trust, well the Will will simply say, well, I won’t leave everything to my Trust and have it identified in the Will and by date and name, with Trust whenever to set one up. You need to have a reason for doing that. So whenever someone says, well, I want a Trust, I say, well, why do you want a Trust? And if you, particularly have a special needs, a person that you want to provide for, well that’s a good reason to have a Trust or set up a Trust if you have beneficiaries who, suffer from addictions or whatever. You want them to be able to have the money but not have access to it because you’re concerned about it being squandered or even having a Trust for beneficiaries who are minors and you want to provide for their education and have the money held for their health, education and maintenance to reach a certain age.
So these are some of the reasons why you might want to establish a Trust. Many times your folks come in and say, well, I want to avoid probate. And depending on how complex your estate plan is, if it is relatively simple, you can, avoid the expense of setting up a Trust and simply designate beneficiaries on your bank account, execute life estate deeds as far as your real estate’s concerned in order to avoid probate without the necessity of a trust. Also with Wills, anytime a Will does have to be probated. If there are assets, they’re in the decedent’s name. So if you have any questions about having a Will, or preparing a Trust or how to avoid probate without a Trust, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
If I Named 1 Person As The Beneficiary On My 401k Account, But Changed My Mind and Want To Designate Someone Else While Writing My Will, Will My Will Take Precedence?
Video Summary
If I name one person as the beneficiary on my 401K account but change my mind and want to designate someone else while writing my Will, will my Will take precedence over the designation of my 401k? The answer is no. A 401K is basically a contract, which has a designated beneficiary on it, and must. And if you’re married, you must name your spouse, and otherwise the provisions of the 401k agreement, our participation agreement, that is drafted or provided to you by your employer, that’s going to control your Will. The Will only controls assets that are just titled in your name alone, so that if there’s a designated beneficiary on a bank account, that’s going to control over your Will. So the assets that are just in your name, are controlled by the Will. All your other assets that have designated beneficiaries are con controlled by contract, so no, your Will will not modify the provisions of your beneficiary of your 401k. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288
What Is An Unofficial Will Called?
Video Summary
What is an unofficial Will called? I call it a annuity, and that it doesn’t accomplish anything or will in order to be effective. It must be signed in the presence of two witnesses. All the parties have to see each other or have to be in each other’s presence, and the witnesses must sign the Will and the presence of the person making the Will and the person making the Will has to sign the presence of the other two witnesses. So, whatever is met by unofficial Will, it doesn’t count unless it’s executed with those formalities and is not effective in order to pass the assets of the decedent to the beneficiaries. Under the unofficial Will, I’m really not familiar with the term, but if it’s any, if the Will isn’t executed with the formalities that I’ve outlined, then it is a null. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.