Do Wills Have to Be Probated?
Video Summary
Do Wlls have to be probated? The question of whether or not there’s probate or not is whether or not they died with assets in their name without a beneficiary. If there are assets that are in the decedent’s name and don’t have a beneficiary such as real estate their home, then yes, the will has to be probated and that the will directs who the beneficiary of the estate will be and moreover indicates who the executor or personal representative would be in order to administer the estate and give notice to creditors and complete the administration of the estate. If you have any questions about probate or your Will, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Can I Find a Will?
Video Summary
How can I find a Will? Well, whenever someone passes away, I usually recommend that the children or the personal representative of the decedent go through the records of the decedent to see if they can’t find a copy of the Trust. Hopefully the people did prepare one, but they’re not filed with the clerk of the court. So you look through the records of the decedent to see if you can’t locate the original Will. If there is an original Will, and whoever has it is supposed to file it with the clerk of the court and whatever county the decedent passed away in Florida. And then once it’s filed, it is public record, and anyone can access it by contacting the clerk of the court. Also, if you believe that there is a Will and however the person has not filed a probate proceeding, you can contact an attorney and file what they call a caveat so you’re notified if they in fact file a petition to have the Will admitted to probate. Sometimes, wills are not filed with the court and all the assets are jointly held or all the assets have beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call to (727) 847-2288.
How Easy Is It to Set Up POD On Bank Accounts, What’s Involved?
Video Summary
How easy is it to set up a POD on a bank account? The POD stands for “payable on death”, and it is very easy. All you must do is contact the bank where you maintain your account, or if you’re going to open an account, tell them that you wish to put a payable on death or a POD designation on the account and give them the names of who you wish to receive these accounts. Upon your death, they will prepare a signature card and then you simply sign the new signature card. Various banks have various requirements. I’ve heard of some where they’re asking for the social security numbers of the beneficiaries, but the beneficiaries would not usually do not have to sign the signature card since they would have no interest in the account until such time as you pass away, but it’s up to the individual banks, but it should be very easy to do simply by signing the signature card. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Probate, Videos, Wills
How Do I Obtain a Will?
Video Summary
How do I obtain a Will? I’m assuming that you want to know how you personally can obtain a Will to do your estate planning or designate who you wish to receive your assets as very simple as you simply contact a local attorney in whatever state and city you’re in and set up an appointment or contact them about preparing a Will, designating who you want to receive your assets. There are even other companies that you can contact to say that they can prepare those. I’m not a real big fan of that, but they are available. There is certain formalities that the Will must be executed in order for it to be valid, which sometimes may be a problem in using a technology company as far as that’s concerned or ordering the Will online. If you want to know how you could obtain a copy of someone else’s will, that’s a whole new problem. You’re not entitled to see the Will until they die, and then it is filed with the clerk of the court in whatever county they passed away. After it’s filed with the clerk of the court, it’s public records. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
What are the Responsibilities as a Trustee of a Trust?
Video Summary
What are the responsibilities of a trustee of a trust? Well, first off, we need to talk about the usual circumstances. Whenever you set up a trust and you’re the trustee during your lifetime, and so you are talking about the duties and responsibilities of the trustee after you pass away, and then the successor trustee takes over and it is now a irrevocable trust, and so the trustee should then notify the beneficiaries that there are beneficiary under the trust. Many times this can be done by simply supplying them with a copy of the trust, although you don’t necessarily have to unless they request that you need to. The Trustee would need to file what they call a notice of trust with the clerk of the court, obtain a federal identification number as trustee of the trust so that it can file a tax return for the trust for any income it receives during their, while they’re administering it, they need to determine what creditors there are out there and see about getting the creditors paid. Another function the Trustee needs to do is to verify if there are any assets that are in the name, just in the decedent’s name and not in the decedent’s name as Trustee. If there are, there’s usually what they call a poor over will, and there would need to be a probate administration. These are usually done together and so that the Trustee is usually the executor also for a will, and it’s called a poor over will. That says that they leave all their assets to the Trustee and then the Trustee then administers the trust, pays the creditors, unless it’s a very sizable trust, there isn’t any estate taxes in Florida or to the federal government. And so then once that’s all done taken care of as far as accreditors, and then the trustee needs to make distribution and prefer an accounting for all the beneficiaries to make a distribution, the distribution pursuant to the trust, and there’s a provision on how they to do that to the trustee can be released from any liability by sending a limitation notice out to the beneficiary. So, they can’t object to how they administer the trust. The assets can be distributed in kind, meaning distribute the assets such as stock. Some beneficiaries say, well, I just want the stock, rather than you having to sell the stock and then liquidate it and divide up the money. So, these are all things that a Trustee would do and suggest that they probably need to contact an attorney for some guidance and assistance in conjunction with the matter. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.