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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

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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.

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If the decedent’s Will names me as the executor, can I show the Will to the bank and close the accounts that are in the decedent’s name? The answer is no. A Will designates or nominates someone as the executor or personal representative. It’s simply a nomination or designation. In order to become the personal representative and have authority to act and behalf of the decedent to collect his bank accounts, you must file a probate proceeding, which would require the petition to have the Will admitted to probate, and then the person, the nominated personal representative, file an oath and many times a bond, and after which the court would then issue what they call letters of administration. The letters of administration are the authority of the executor to act in the decedent’s behalf to collect these assets, so the letters are required in order to collect the money, place them into a, an account for the estate, and then the bills of the decedent are paid from that account. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

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When does a will have to be read after someone dies? I do not know the history behind this. I’ve heard it many times and the people call me and ask me about when the will is going to be read.  I’ve been practicing for over 50 years and it was not the law whenever I started practicing, nor is it now. I don’t know whether this is something new the old English law or where this came about, but there’s no provision under the laws of the state of Florida that a Will must be read to the beneficiaries or the family. And so you do not have a gathering around the attorney’s desk and office, to read the Will to the beneficiaries or to the family. The Florida statutes required that a Will be deposited with the clerk of the court within 10 days of the, of the date that you received notice of the death of the decedent. So unfortunately I don’t know the history behind this, but there’s no provision under our photo law that requires the Will to be read. I don’t know if this is something that was invented for the movies or whether it has some history in the English common law. If you have any questions about this, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

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What is the difference between a, Will and estate planning? Well, a Will is part of the estate planning process. Whenever I meet with someone, they say, well, I want to provide a Will. I take it that they want to plan for estate planning to say who they would like to receive their assets whenever they pass away. And one of the ways that you do that is by executing the Will. Most people don’t want to try and avoid probate, particularly if their assets or their assets are fairly simple. Basically, they just have their home bank accounts from a brokerage account that can be planned by having payable on death accounts and, or executing a life estate deed so that these assets pass automatically upon your death. And that’s what you call estate planning. Also, with your estate planning, you, you execute, and we discuss, or I discuss with my clients, about executing a living Will, which says that you don’t want your life prolonged artificially in the event that you are in a permanent vegetative state. Also, a healthcare proxy form called a healthcare surrogate whereby you designate someone to make healthcare decisions for you, and also, it’s a HIPAA waiver. And the third document is a durable power of attorney whereby you authorize someone to handle your business. It’s effective immediately, but also in the event you become incapacitated or it’s inconvenient for you to take care of business. The person you designate as your agent under a power of attorney, is able to transact business for in your behalf for you. They can’t do it for themselves. So, if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.