When Should I Update My Will, Trust, Or Other Estate Planning Documents?
Video Summary
When should I update my Will, Trust or other estate planning documents? You should update those when there’s a change in circumstances. Some of the circumstances would be in the event that you have more grandchildren or you have a problem with the death of one of the beneficiaries, a death of a child, the circumstance of one of the beneficiary changes, such as if they have a dependency problem or you need to set up a special needs trust for them or the circumstances of the beneficiary. Also, if you relocate to another state, well, you will want to have the Trust reviewed to see if it complies with the Florida law and have it controlled by the state where you are now residing. One of the big things that you need to look at your Trust is when it was set up, what the tax laws were. Many of the older Trusts have a provision to try and take advantage of the unified tax credit so that they split it up into two Trusts, a marital Trust and a credit shelter Trust. Well, now they’ve raised the estate tax limitations of approximately $14 million, which eliminates the problem of having to have two Trusts to take advantage of the credit shelter, and it can have some ramifications as far as how the credit shelter is dispersed to the spouse. So, these are some of the reasons why you want to look at your will or trust because of the change in circumstances if you lose a spouse, would be another one. Death of beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
If I Move to Another State, Will My Current Will Still Be Valid?
Video Summary
If I move to another state, will my current WILL still be valid? More than likely it will be valid and that it is usually, if it’s valid where they sign the Will in whatever state it is, it’ll be recognized here in Florida. I do suggest that you probably get a new will whenever you move to another state to see that it complies with Florida law. Florida has a unique law, which I think is something unusual about Florida is they require that a personal representative that you designate be a Florida resident or related by blood, so on air. So, you can’t name your New York lawyer or your out-of-state lawyer as your executor since they’re not related, nor are they residents of the state of Florida. But your will would probably be valid, although there may not be some provisions. So, if you move to another state, suggest that you review your estate planning documents, including your power of attorney, healthcare surrogate and durable power of attorney, as well as your will and trust to see if they comply with Florida law and or if there’s any changes or that you want them to be controlled by Florida law. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos, Wills
What Happens If a Beneficiary Listed in My Will Dies Before Me?
Video Summary
What happens if a beneficiary listed in my Will dies before me? Well, usually a Will, whenever they’re drafted, makes provision to say what happens to the devise where you’re leaving something to someone and says, in the event that the beneficiary dies before me, I direct that this devise either lapse and becomes a part of the residual portion of my estate, or in the alternative goes to their children or such as their children who survived me. Another way that you may see that in a Will is whenever you have several beneficiaries and you say that I leave my estate to two or three beneficiaries and equal shares per capita. What that means is, is then you count the number of heads that are alive at the time of your death, and that’s who would receive it. So if one of ’em would die before you, then the other two out of the three would receive the estate. The other term that is used is per stirpes or strips it looks like, and that means that if one of the beneficiaries would die, it would go to their children or heirs. So that was what happens in the event that you beneficiary dies. Before you do, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Can I Make Sure My Beneficiaries Receive Their Inheritance Quickly and Smoothly?
Video Summary
How can I make sure my beneficiaries receive their inheritance quickly and smoothly? My suggestion is, particularly if you have a fairly simple estate, it’s how you title your assets with your bank accounts. You can put have it in your name, payable on death, and that’s a POD account and name your beneficiary. So, all they need is your death certificate and they can receive the Aspen. If you have a brokerage account with Merrill Lynch or Raymond James or Schwab or anyone else, you can put a transfer on death, A TOD designation, and that way the assets will pass to your beneficiaries by them presenting your death certificate and they’ll transfer it into your name, into the beneficiary’s name. If you own real estate and you want it to go to your beneficiaries, you can execute what they call a lady bird deed or enhanced life estate deed, which says that I convey the property to these beneficiaries. However, reserve all the rights of ownership during my lifetime, including the right to sell the property, keep all the proceeds, and you can even change who you wish to receive the property at the time of your death. So those are the ways that you can have these assets pass smoothly and without any lawyer interference as far as that’s concerned, or court interference. And so if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos, Wills
How Can I Minimize the Chances of My Will Being Contested After My Death?
Video Summary
How can I minimize the chances of my will being contested after my death? Well, the first thing that you should do is to have an attorney prepare the will and have him be the witness, and that anytime that there’s a will challenge, he would be the best witness to testify. As far as your competency, the basis for setting aside your will is that you did not have the mental capacity to make a will, so certainly the lawyer would make that determination. The other one is undue influence. So if you want to leave most of your estate to one of your children and exclude some of the other or make a disproportionate share, then there’s a couple of things that you need to try and do if possible, and that there’s a presumption of undue influence. If the person who that you’re leaving these disproportionate share or all of your estate to them, whether it be a child or anyone else is, did they select the attorney that they take you to the attorney’s office? Were they present whenever you made out the will? Did they know what you put in the will after you have the will? Were they present whenever you signed the will? Did they know the contents of the will? And also as far as paying for it? So,if some of these factors are present, it presents a undue influence. So, if possible, not to have the person select the lawyer or take you to the appointment or know what’s in the will, I realize many times that’s not possible and that you’re dependent on the caregiver or child who’s taking care of you to bring you to the appointment. And so I have over the years tried to do this as tactfully as possible, as tell the person that you’re going to be living and that’s brought you there as they need to excuse themselves, wait in the waiting room, and I make a notation in my notes that I’ve excused them. And then discuss who you want to receive your estate and why you want to do that. In order to try and overcome these problems. In the event there is a will challenge after you’re gone. Also, you need to put in the will. If you’re leaving someone out, a child out, you need to just put in there expressly, make no provision for a particular child to show that you did not forget them. The old thing is leaving my dollar is a terrible idea and that you tasked the lawyer with having to, or the executor, trying to get them to receive for a dollar, particularly if they don’t like the provisions of the will. So just put in there that you didn’t forget about ’em. You expressly make no provision for them. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.