For people trying to plan their estate or last will, sometimes they have a negative goal instead of a positive one. Instead of trying to achieve something through estate planning, they are trying to avoid something. Specifically, many testators want to avoid probate...
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Probate & Trust Administration
Determining interested parties in probate
Florida wills need to go through the probate process before the executor can settle the estate. However, there is often a question of who is able to participate in these proceedings. This arises most often when someone is either left out of the will or feels that they...
Columnist urges people to think twice before gifting house
Many residents of Cocoa contemplate a variety of estate planning options over time. While we don’t give advice in our Brevard County legal blog, we do share thoughts about some of those options.We read recently a personal finance columnist’s thoughts on adding an...
Avoid these three common estate planning errors
A certified financial planner recently wrote about the mistake she sees people making over and over. She that certain estate planning errors keep popping up, preventing people from effectively protecting their loved ones.She wrote that several major mistakes resurface...
A deeper look
When you glance at a family as a neighbor or a co-worker might, you will often see an outward appearance that everything is fine with them. Their lives appear to be going according to plan. But if you look a bit below the surface, you sometimes spot issues and...
Dispelling estate planning myths
Despite the avalanche of information available to us all online, we can regardless find myths in many aspects of modern life. One example of an area where myths persist is in estate planning.A recent news article on the subject tackled several of the false (though...
Report: Insurers deliberately underpaid life insurance, annuities
The loss of a loved one is an emotionally difficult time. It can be made much more complex for those who have been named estate administrator. For them, the job of locating and distributing assets and making their way through complicated legal processes can be...
Complexities and complications of Florida probate administration
Regular readers of our Brevard County legal blog know that we often write about the court-supervised process that identifies, gathers and distributes assets after a person’s death. Florida probate does more than that, however.Probate also ensures that the late...
What is Florida probate litigation?
Probate is the legal process in which your property is distributed after your death. Your estate executor (the person you designated to manage your estate) will typically initiate the process of legally transferring your assets to beneficiaries after a Florida probate...
How a Plan B can help you help your loved ones
Janet Reno was both an important and controversial figure in American history. Our goal in today's Brevard County blog post isn't to dissect the pros or cons of our nation's first female Attorney General, but rather to discuss how her estate illustrates an important...