Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning
Death is a difficult topic to discuss. We understand that. But worrying about what will happen to your loved ones after you are gone can also be disturbing. Getting proper and professional estate planning in place can do so much to relieve your concerns and reassure you that your loved ones will be taken care of after you’re gone.
Estate planning is so much more than having a Last Will and Testament (“Will”) or Revocable Living Trust (“Trust”). It is so much more than simply deciding who will get your property when you die.
Estate planning is legacy planning.
Your life has meaning. All the way to its end.
Your legacy is more than just the money and property you leave your loved ones. It is also the values and life lessons you pass on.
Estate planning lets you leave your legacy to your heirs and beneficiaries the way you want to and in a way that is uniquely you. For example, if you want your children to receive all of your money but only after they turn 25, a properly drafted estate plan can ensure that your wishes will be carried out.
Estate planning also addresses the tax consequences your estate will face at the time of your death. By implementing tax strategies as part of your estate plan, you can minimize taxes —allowing you to leave more to your loved ones.
Estate planning also anticipates what will happen during your lifetime should you become incapacitated. Who will make medical decisions for you? Who will pay your bills? Who will take care of your children? What kind of medical interventions do you want at the end of your life? Thinking about these things may not be pleasant, but it is critical. You must consider all potential scenarios and work with an experienced Plantation, Florida estate and probate attorney to craft an estate plan that is comprehensive and fits your needs.
We understand that thinking about death isn’t pleasant. But not thinking about it and not getting an estate plan in place is worse. Not planning for your death can lead to bitter family feuds and the complete or near complete financial depletion of your estate. Not planning for your death can cost you in terms of probate and litigation expenses. Or worse.
What could possibly be worse?
Guardianship.
If you don’t take the time to think about your estate planning, and you do not get documents in place like a Durable Power of Attorney and Designation of Health Care Surrogate, you will be subject to guardianship proceedings if you later become incapacitated.
A guardian is someone appointed by the court to make decisions for you when you cannot act for yourself and don’t have any documents in place to prevent guardianship proceedings. Essentially, the guardianship process strips you of your ability to make your own decisions or spend your money as you want, giving that power instead to a court-appointed guardian.
And who will that guardian be?
Who knows?
Your money, your property, and your assets will be under the control of someone the probate judge (a stranger) appoints to act as your guardian.
Unfortunately, guardianships are fraught with fraud. Although the extent of elder abuse perpetrated by guardians is unknown, the problem is serious.
The other major benefit of estate planning is that it can help avoid probate. Probate is the court-supervised legal process for distributing a decedent’s estate to their beneficiaries.
If you have a comprehensive estate plan in place when you die, the court supervision of the distribution of your estate will be minimal, if there is any court supervision at all. And, generally speaking, your estate will be administered in accordance with your wishes as expressed in your Will, Trust, and other related documents, efficiently and inexpensively.
If, on the other hand, you die intestate (i.e., without a Will or Trust in place), then the court’s involvement in the administration of your estate will be far more extensive. Everything from the appointment of a personal representative to final distribution of your assets will require court filings, court costs, hearings, and attorney’s fees.
Plus, it is far more likely that your family will dispute something. Not having an estate plan can cause family fights and litigation which can tie up your estate for years. It makes your estate’s administration more cumbersome, time-consuming, expensive, traumatic, and bitter for those left behind.
Consider this: The famous artist, Pablo Picasso, died in 1973 at the age of 91. He left behind a fortune in assets, including his famous artwork, 5 homes, cash, gold, and bonds. His estate was valued at about $250 million.
But because Picasso did not have a Will, it cost $30 million dollars and took 6 years to settle his estate.
Abraham Lincoln, our nation’s 16th president, was a lawyer. He was sophisticated enough to have a patent to his name. And yet, when he was assassinated in 1865, Lincoln died without a Will.
You don’t need to be a famous artist or the next president of the United States to have an estate plan or to understand how important one is to protect your loved ones and pass on your legacy. If you die without a Will, like Pablo Picasso or Abraham Lincoln, you will have absolutely no control over who gets your money or your property.
Without an estate plan, after your death, all of the property in your estate (house, furniture, cars, money, etc.) will have to go through the time-consuming and costly process of probate. In the end, it is quite possible that the costs of probate could swallow up most, if not all, of your estate —leaving little or nothing for your heirs.
By the way, you do not need to be wealthy in order to need an estate plan.
Many people think that before you can have an estate plan, you need to have considerable wealth to protect. That just isn’t so.
Most people over the age of 18 have assets of some type. They may have a car, furniture, bank accounts, stocks, cryptocurrency, digital assets, a business, a house—you name it. If you have assets, then you should make a plan for how you want those assets distributed after your death. Because you don’t want to leave it to the probate court and state law to decide for you.
The bottom line is that you do not have to have a lot of wealth to need an estate plan. If you have assets and loved ones, you need an estate plan. It’s just that simple.
Most adults, regardless of age, marital status, or wealth, need some form of estate planning. Your personalized estate plan might include the following legal documents:
- Last Will and Testament
- Durable Power of Attorney
- Designation of Health Care Surrogate
- Living Will
- Revocable (or Living) Trust.
At SJF Law Group, we use these legal documents to create customized estate plans to ensure your intentions are respected when you can no longer personally provide for your loved ones. Call us today at (954) 799-6842 with any questions or complete the easy form below and we’ll call you to set up an initial consultation.
Our Estate Plan Guarantee:
Our clients’ satisfaction with their estate plan is our #1 priority. We are committed to providing exceptional service and personalized estate plans, which is why we offer you a 100% money-back guarantee.
If you are dissatisfied with your estate plan for any reason, you may request a full refund within 30 days of your document signing.
*Disclaimer: Client must complete the requisite documentation, including a description of the Client’s dissatisfaction. Refunds will be made 30 days after completion of said documentation.
Common Questions
Estate planning is a process in which you develop —with the assistance of professionals like an estate planning attorney [link to HOME Page] and tax advisors— a plan for what to do with your assets after you die. But it is also much more than that. Estate planning takes into consideration your personal circumstances, goals, and desires both in the event of your death and also your incapacitation. For example, your estate plan will decide issues like: who will get your assets when you die? And, if you have minor children, who will raise them? Do you want your children to get all of your money when they turn 18, or at a different age when they are able to be wiser with their inheritance? Do you want to set aside money for their college? If you are in an accident and become incapacitated, what medical treatment do you want, or do not want? Who can pay your bills if you are incapacitated?
Everyone who is over 18 and who owns anything—a car, a bank account, jewelry, etc. —needs an estate plan. It does not matter whether your estate is a large or modest one—you should have a plan in place that not only describes how and to whom you want your property distributed in the event of your death, but also that plans and prepares for medical and financial decisions made on your behalf in the event of your incapacitation.
As an attorney that concentrates on estate planning, Samantha J. Fitzgerald can guide you through this very difficult process and make sure that you and your family are protected should a tragedy happen
A Last Will and Testament (“Will”) is a legal document that dictates how you want your property distributed to your beneficiaries at your death. In Florida, to be valid, a Will must comply with certain legal formalities. It must be in writing and signed by the testator (or “maker”) at the end. The testator’s signature must be witnessed by two (2) witnesses who must sign in the presence of the testator and each other.
A Will is not an estate plan. It is, however, a very important part of a comprehensive estate plan. It is only one part of an estate plan because it does not dispose of all of a decedent’s assets. Only property that is titled in the name of the testator alone and that has no beneficiary designation can be passed on through a Will. So, while important, a Will should work in conjunction with other estate planning tools, such as a revocable living trust, to make up your estate plan.
A valid Will is necessary because it provides essential guidance to the probate court. In your Will, among other things, you can determine not only who should raise your minor children and who should get your property, but who should administer your estate. In other words, you will name the personal representative (or “executor”) for your probate estate in your Will.
As long as you have a valid Will, your wishes will be followed to the fullest extent possible.
However, if you die without having made a Will, or if your Will is invalid (in whole or in part), then Florida’s intestacy laws will determine who will inherit your property, who will raise your minor children, and who will serve as the personal representative of your estate. A Will does not become effective until you die. Nor does having a Will avoid probate. Every Will must go through the probate court and be declared valid before your assets can be distributed to your heirs.
Because probate is a time-consuming and expensive process, avoiding probate is key to any good estate plan. Having a revocable trust (also known as a “living” trust) goes far to assist with this. A revocable trust that is properly funded with assets (money, property, etc.) allows you (as the trustee of the trust) to manage your assets during your lifetime and can help manage your assets in the event of incapacitation. At the time of your death, a substitute trustee of your choice (assuming you were the original trustee) will manage all trust assets and distribute them according to your wishes and the instructions expressed in the trust instrument. A revocable living trust does not avoid taxes or protect your assets from your creditors. However, it can provide creditor protection to your beneficiaries, and it can spare your beneficiaries the time and expense of probate. If you happen to own properties in states outside of Florida, with proper estate planning, a trust can help your family avoid having to probate those properties in each state at the time of your death.
If one of the major estate planning benefits of a living trust is avoiding probate, the other is that it avoids guardianship issues in the event of a grantor’s incapacity. Typically, the trust agreement will provide for a successor trustee to take over the administration of the trust’s assets if the original trustee (i.e., you) becomes incapacitated.
Trusts are an especially important part of any estate plan. They are a flexible estate planning tool that can be used to fit a number of circumstances. Trusts are especially important if you have children or other loved ones with disabilities or special needs. In these cases, a “Special Needs Trust” can provide for your loved one while not risking the loss of any government benefits they may be receiving.
If you fail to prepare an estate plan and you die without ever having made a Will (or revocable trust), what happens? Who will get your property? Who will be in charge of your estate? Who will look after your minor children?
The answer to these questions and others depends entirely on the probate judge and Florida’s intestacy statutes.
If you die intestate (i.e., without a Will or a without a valid Will), the probate judge has nothing to guide him or her as to your wishes concerning the disposition of your property. So, the judge will simply apply Florida’s intestacy laws to determine who will get your property, when, and how much. If probate is necessary (i.e., if you have assets that need to be transferred), the court will appoint someone as your personal representative. And, if required, the court will decide who will serve as the guardian for your children.
All of these decisions will be made by the probate court in accordance with the statute.
Not leaving such critical decisions to a complete stranger (the probate judge) and impartial laws is the main —and most essential—reason to work with an estate attorney to develop an estate plan that is customized to your family, your wishes, and your needs. Don’t leave your estate plan to chance. Protecting your family is just a phone call away.
WILLS AND TRUST ATTORNEY IN PLANTATION, FLORIDA
Estate and probate attorney Samantha J. Fitzgerald helps individuals in Plantation Florida prepare for the future by creating comprehensive estate plans. She brings peace of mind to her clients with customized Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health directives and other necessary estate planning documents that can protect your wealth and privacy while at the same time providing for the future of your loved ones.
What is a Trust and Why do You Need One?
A Revocable Living Trust (“trust”) is a key part of any comprehensive estate plan. A trust is a legal document created to hold money or property in such a way that it survives your death or incapacity and helps to avoid probate. When you have a trust created by experienced Florida trust attorney, Samantha J. Fitzgerald, you have a powerful estate planning tool.
A trust is a legal entity that is created to own and hold property.
Most assets can be titled in a trust. There are some very important assets that require caution before including them in a trust, however, like your Homestead and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). So always be sure to consult with a trust lawyer if you want to create a valid trust.
Trusts are wonderfully flexible estate planning tools. Depending on your individual situation, a trust can be created to manage trust assets and the distribution of those assets, in accordance with your wishes. You get to decide who receives the trust property, when, how much, and under what conditions. And, all of this can occur during your lifetime, and after your death.
A trust can also be set up to help any of your loved ones who may be disabled and have special needs (“Special Needs Trusts”). Or a trust can be created for a beneficiary who may be receiving Medicaid or governmental benefits. Special Needs Trusts allow you to provide for family members without the fear of disqualifying them from receiving government benefits.
Trusts can also help to protect your minor children in the event of your death. For example, if you live in Florida and you have minor children who may receive an inheritance of more than $15,000 from your estate or as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, annuity, or benefit plan, then the law requires that a guardian of the property be appointed for the minor. This is required even if one biological parent is still alive.
Guardianship appointments require court proceedings. They require having a guardianship attorney appointed throughout the process and after the appointment as well. This means that guardianships can be very expensive.
If, however, you have a trust in place, you can avoid having a guardian of the property appointed for any minor children who may inherit from your estate.
A trust can also help you to avoid the expense of going through the court to have a guardian appointed for you to oversee your property in the event you become capacitated. If, during your lifetime you become incapacitated, Florida requires that a guardian be appointed for you. Again, guardianships are an expensive legal process and an area that is fraught with fraud.
If you have a Florida Trust, however, you can avoid the necessity of having a guardian appointed for you should you become incapacitated. Because a trust has substantially all of your assets titled in the name of the trust and also has a successor trustee (of your choosing) appointed to administer the trust in the event of your death or incapacitation, you will not need to have a guardian of the property appointed for you.
Having a Plantation, Florida trust is a critical part of a comprehensive estate plan that can give you peace of mind.
But a trust is not the only estate planning tool that forms part of a comprehensive estate plan.
There are others.
If You Have a Florida Trust, Do You Still Need a Will?
The short answer is, “yes.”
But why?
Well, there are several reasons. One of them is because your Last Will & Testament (“Will”) can do things that your trust cannot. One good example of this is that in your Will, you can appoint someone to raise your minor children in the event of your death. You cannot do that in a trust.
Another reason why you need both a Will and a Trust is because chances are pretty good that not all of your property will be transferred to your trust. Even the most diligent of us forget things. Having a Florida “pour over Will” acts as a safety net should you forget to transfer an asset to your trust.
Need more reasons?
Here’s one.
Your Will—which directs how you want your property to be distributed at your death and who you want to administer your estate—only comes into effect when you die and is a public record.
A Florida trust, on the other hand, is generally operated by you (the maker of the trust) as the trustee of the trust for your own benefit (as beneficiary of the trust) during your lifetime. The revocable trust can be amended or changed during your lifetime as needed. Plus, at the time of your death, unlike your Will, the trust remains private. It does not become a matter of public record.
Finally, because the trustee (successor trustee) is the legal owner of property conveyed to the trust, at the time of your death, your assets that are titled in the trust do not have to go through probate.
The bottom line, then, is that a comprehensive estate plan should include both a Will and a Revocable Living Trust. This combination provides you with the most protection and the advantage of having your wishes implemented the way you want them to be after your death.
You will want to work with a Wills and Trusts attorney to create a comprehensive estate plan that has both a valid Will and a Revocable Living Trust which can work together to ensure that your wishes are followed and your loved ones are taken care of.
At SJF Law Group, we use a variety of tools to assure our Plantation, Florida clients get the peace of mind they are seeking from an estate plan. We provide Wills and Trusts to achieve this. If you do not yet have an estate plan in place to protect your family, contact Trusts attorney Samantha J. Fitzgerald.
Protecting Your Family is Just a Phone Call Away.
At SJF Law Group, we expertly guide individuals through the complex probate process, and capably handle all aspects of the creation, administration, and settlement of trusts as well. When you work with the estate planning attorneys at SJF Law Group, you get more than just an estate plan: you get peace of mind. Call us at 954-580-3690 or email us at: [email protected] today.
WILLS AND TRUST ATTORNEY FLORIDA
Estate and probate attorney Samantha J. Fitzgerald helps individuals in Plantation, Florida navigate the complex and complicated areas of estate and probate law.
Probate law is the legal analysis of an individual’s estate (i.e., the property he or she has at the time of his/her death) and the transferring of those assets to the decedent’s heirs according to his/her wishes.
When a person dies in Florida, the probate court oversees the final distribution of the decedent’s assets. The court provides the final ruling on all issues related to the probate estate—including (not limited to) whether decedent’s Last Will & Testament (“Will”) is valid.
For those individuals who had a valid Will prior to death (i.e., those who died “testate”), the probate process is (generally speaking) quicker and less costly than those whose Will was invalid, or who died without a Will (*”intestate”).
For any decedent who died testate in Florida, the first step in the administration of his or her estate is to present the Will to the probate court.
What is a Plantation, Florida Will and Why do You Need One?
A Last Will and Testament is a legal document that dictates how you want your property distributed to your beneficiaries at your death. If you die without a Will, or if, for any reason your Will is invalid, your property is not distributed according to your wishes, but is instead divided up according to Florida’s intestacy laws.
While the intestacy laws provide the probate judge with a way to distribute a decedent’s assets when he or she dies intestate, these laws are not always the best solution for a person’s individual situation—and they are rarely what you would have chosen for yourself.
That is why you need a valid Will.
A valid Will drafted by Florida Wills attorney, Samantha J. Fitzgerald, is essential to direct the probate court how to distribute your property. It also lets you determine who should raise your minor children and allows you to choose who will be your personal representative (or “executor”) for purposes of administering your probate estate after your death.
But in order for your Florida Will to be valid, it must comply with all of Florida’s required legal formalities.
This is absolutely critical.
Any Will that does not comply with the statute’s requirements is invalid in Florida. For example, we often see Wills drafted in other states that do not require the testator’s signature to appear at the end of the Will. A Florida Wills lawyer would never draft a Will this way because that Will is going to be invalid.
The law requires that:
- The Will must be in writing and executed by a person over 18 and of sound mind
- The Will must be signed at the end by the testator
- The testator’s signature be attested to by 2 witnesses
- That the witnesses must sign in the presence of the testator and each other
Unless each of these legal requirements are satisfied, the Will won’t be valid. Which means that the testator’s wishes will not be followed and the court will resort to applying the intestacy laws to distribute a decedent’s assets.
A Florida Will is Not an Estate Plan
One key concept to keep in mind is that a Will is not an estate plan.
A Will is an important part of an estate plan, but it is only one part of a comprehensive estate plan. This is because not all property passes through your Will. A Will disposes only of property that is titled the name of the testator alone and has no beneficiary designation.
So, while important, your Florida Will is not the only document you need. You will want to work with a Florida Wills attorney to create a comprehensive estate plan that uses several other estate planning tools, such as a revocable living trust, to work in conjunction with your Will to make up your complete estate plan.
A Plantation, Florida Will Does Not Avoid Probate
Many people mistakenly believe that if you have a valid Will, your estate does not need to go through the probate process.
This is incorrect.
Even if you have a valid Will, your estate must still go through probate. This is because probate is the court-supervised process of distributing a decedent’s estate.
For those who do have a valid Will prior to death, however, the probate process is (generally speaking) quicker and less costly than those who die without a Will.
If you die intestate (without a Will) the probate process is far more time-consuming and expensive. One reason is because the court must be involved in the entire process —applying the intestacy laws and making all decisions with regard to the distribution of your estate. Another reason is because without a Will, your wishes cannot be known, causing family conflict which often leads to lawsuits which may take years to resolve and can easily eat up your entire estate in legal fees.
Having a valid Will is one key aspect to any comprehensive estate plan. And trusts are the other key aspect of a comprehensive estate plan. They are one of the most flexible estate planning tools in an estate planning attorney’s arsenal. They can help you to avoid probate while providing for loved ones—even those with disabilities or special needs who may have government benefits that they cannot risk losing.
A properly drafted and funded revocable living trust (also known as a “living trust”) can help avoid probate because, as the trustee of the trust, you can manage your assets during your lifetime. In addition, if you become incapacitated, your assets can easily be managed for you. Then, at the time of your death, a substitute trustee of your choice will in turn manage your assets and then distribute them in accordance with your wishes as described in the trust instrument—avoiding the need for involvement of the probate court. A revocable living trust does not avoid taxes or protect your assets from your creditors. But it can provide creditor protection to your beneficiaries.
SJF Law Group use a variety of tools to assist their Plantation, Florida clients. Wills are one of them. If you do not yet have an estate plan in place to protect your family, contact SJF Law Group.
Protecting Your Family is Just a Phone Call Away.
At SJF Law Group, we expertly guide individuals through the complex probate process, and capably handle all aspects of the creation, administration, and settlement of trusts as well. When you work with the estate planning attorneys at SJF Law Group, you get more than just an estate plan: you get peace of mind. Call us at 954-580-3690 or email us at: [email protected] today.
About The Firm
Since 2011, the SJF Law Group has been helping clients protect their families with estate planning, probate & trust administration. We pride ourselves on combining the personalized service and attention of a boutique firm, with the talent and legal acumen of a large firm.
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