You know how the old saying goes: what you don’t know can’t hurt you.  When it comes to the probate process in Florida, what you don’t know might not hurt you but it certainly will hurt the loved ones you leave behind.  Florida’s probate system is both a slow and expensive process that can elevate an already stressful and sensitive situation.  It’s important that everyone not only understand what probate is but how the process can potentially impact the loved ones they leave behind.

Probate is the legal process of proving your last will and testament in court.  Unfortunately, even a small estate could take up to a full year to be administered due to a high number of cases passing through the court system.  Smaller estates are those that are worth less than $75,000 and this type of administration is referred to as a Summary Administration.  If your estate exceeds $75,000 then your family will have to petition the court for a Formal Administration and, in most cases, should be prepared to wait longer than a before distributions will be made.  This can be financially burdensome and extremely stressful for the family.  Luckily, there are ways in which you can prepare now so you family doesn’t have to deal with probate later.  Owning assets jointly will allow them to pass free of probate.  Either holding property as a married couple (Tenants by the Entireties) or as Joint Tenants with the Right of Survivorship will allow the property to pass immediately to the surviving owner.   Beneficiary designation (such as with a life insurance policy) is another great way to avoid probate as well as a pay on death or transfer on death designation (with banking and brokerage accounts, as an example).  Perhaps one of the most popular ways to avoid probate is to create a living revocable trust which will hold your assets for the named beneficiaries and pass free of probate.  A trust as many additional benefits, such as choosing how and when your assets will be distributed, asset protection for the beneficiaries against unsecured creditors, the ability to keep you assets within the family for generations to come as well as planning for individuals with special needs.  With so many alternatives available probate certainly does not have to be part of your future.

Remember, probate offers no real benefit for those family members that you leave left behind.  It tends to cause a great deal of stress and frustration which is why you should consider avoiding it all together.  Call the office of Wild, Felice & Partners today for your free consultation at (954) 944-2855.

For more information on Probate, Estate Planning, and Asset Protection, visit our website at www.wfplaw.com.

It’s A Wild World.  Are You Protected? SM

You may have heard the term “basic.”  What does it mean to be basic?  If you like your pumpkin spice latte in a holiday cup or really anything mainstream or popular then you may be considered basic.  Being basic isn’t always a bad thing and having an estate plan in place may mean your basic too – well, not really but it should because being prepared should be more popular.  Unfortunately, the idea of estate planning doesn’t create the urgency to grab your phone for a quick selfie with your attorney and post to social media – but it should!  Instead of feeling all doom and gloom about the topic try to imagine the peace of mind both you and your family will feel from this positive experience.  Creating an estate plan should be at the top of everyone’s priority list because what can possibly be more important than planning for the future of yourself and your loved ones?

Whether your estate is large or modest, protecting it for future generations should be a priority.  Estate Planning is the process of deciding during your life how your property will be handled should you become incapacitated or how the assets will be distributed after you pass away.  The most popular estate planning tool for accomplishing this the Revocable Living Trust.  By creating a revocable living trust to hold your assets you are preventing your family from being subjected to the stressful and lengthy process of Probate Administration.  Instead, the assets will be distributed directly to the beneficiaries that you designate and according the terms of the trust that you created.  You can choose a different individual to manage your child’s assets until they have reached an age of majority, or any age that you deem appropriate.  The revocable living trust will also provide the beneficiaries with asset protection against any unsecured creditors they may encounter such as divorce, bankruptcy or litigation.

For full protection of our clients, we also included the following documents with your Trust based plan:

Last Will and Testament: Nominate your Personal Representative, choose a Guardian for any minor child, and add any burial or cremation requests.

Living Will:  Advanced directive or “pull the plug” document.  Allows your healthcare surrogate to give the doctor the “ok” to pull the plug if you are being kept alive by artificial means.

Durable Power of Attorney:  Nominate an individual to make financial decisions on your behalf or qualify you for public benefits, should you not be able to do so yourself.

Healthcare Surrogate & HIPAA Release:  Nominate an individual to access your medical records and make informed decisions on your behalf, should you not be able to do so yourself.

Being “basic” is more than ok when the popular thing to do is plan for your future.  Call the South Florida Law Firm of Wild, Felice & Partners today for your free consultation at (954) 944-2855.  For more information on Estate Planning or Revocable Living Trusts, visit our website at www.wfplaw.com.

It’s A Wild World.  Are You Protected?  SM

THE TRANSFER OF YOUR ASSETS: AS EASY AS PUMPKIN PIE!

Using a Revocable Trust and other advanced planning techniques will assure your family an easy transition of assets upon your death

As you are preparing for this upcoming thanksgiving dinner, you may come to the realization that while pumpkin pie is a tad bit more complicated to bake than its kin, Apple Pie; it sure is easy to eat! The same rings true for an estate plan that uses advanced planning techniques to provide for an easy transition of assets upon your death. It may be easier to simply make a Last Will & Testament that states your wishes; however, that is going to result in a gruesome probate experience for the loved ones you leave behind.

So now you are wondering, what is so special about a Revocable Trust based estate plan? Let us answer this question with another question: If you became incapacitated or died, would you have the following benefits?

• asset protection
•  control over your assets
•  protection for your loved ones
•  preclusion of unnecessary taxes
•  creditor protection
•  limited/no transfer taxes for following generations
•  probate avoidance

Absent a full trust-based estate plan, you answer will likely be “no.” A Revocable Trust based estate plan provides all of these benefits, and more. We have already discussed the documents that are imperative to prepare for incapacity (see “You Are What You Eat: Pass The Vegetables”). Now let us take a look at those that provide protection over your assets and their proper distribution.

Pour Over Last Will & Testament and Revocable Trust – The will coupled with a revocable trust effectively bypasses probate, which is the validation of the will — a process that is often incredibly time consuming and often expensive. The pour-over will takes all of the property that passes through the will, and funnels it into the trust. That property is then distributed to the trust beneficiaries pursuant to the terms of the trust. A pour-over will functions to ensure that all of the decedent’s property is transferred to trust. Think of the pour-over will as a safety net that catches all of the assets that were not properly transferred into trust. All the contents of the net are then poured into the trust, ensuring that all of the property is ultimately distributed through the living trust. Furthermore, all of the decedent’s property is distributed by the terms of one document alone (the trust), allowing for simplicity and clarity.

Assignment of Property to Trust – the assignment of property places all of your property into the trust. This avoids costs, loss of privacy, & headache associated with probate. Therefore, when all of your assets are distributed through the trust, there is nothing within the will to validate. As an alternative, you can merely assign property to the trust that you specifically want to preclude from probate, for the purposes of privacy.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

A turkey is essential as a delicious sleep inducing holiday dish, but when it comes to your estate plan, you want to keep the gobble-gobble to a minimum. There are a variety of life events that can turn your estate plan into a turkey. This is why it is incredibly important to have your estate plan reviewed to ensure that it is still effective and true to your goals. While there is no specific time for when you need to have your estate plan reviewed, every three to five years is generally sufficient. However, if there is any particular life event that takes place that will affect your relationships or distributions, you may want to have your plan reviewed for alterations. Such life events include the following:

Children: Sometimes your Will & Last Testament will provide for after-born children, but you should take the document to your estate-planning attorney to ensure that your little bundle of joy is provided for. Additionally, you may want to set up a trust, a 529-college plan, alter beneficiary designations in your will, and nominate a legal guardian.

Marriage & Divorce: if you have recently married or divorced, you will want to take your current estate plan to your attorney to determine whether these life events are addressed in the documents. Furthermore, you may want to change your Personal Representative, Trustee’s, Guardian’s, etc.

Estate Size Increase: You want to make certain that your estate plans are tailored to your estate size. Therefore, when your estate increases, you may want to make some changes in terms of tax and estate planning. Furthermore, if you have an estate plan that is set up to avoid probate, and acquire new property, you will want to assign that property to your living trust. You also may want to consider a variety of estate planning strategies, anywhere from setting up an LLC to protect certain assets from lawsuits, to reducing the size of your estate for tax purposes.

If you have experienced any similar changes or time lapses since creating an estate plan, keep your turkey in its rightful place as an entree, and out of your estate plan — have it reviewed today! It’s a Wild world. Are you still protected?

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: PASS THE VEGETABLES

Remember the days when your play-time was conditioned on your willingness to eat all of your vegetables? The parental encouragement to “eat your vegetables” has somehow managed to coexist with the warning that “you are what you eat” – which begs the question, who wants to be a vegetable? There are two universal truths: (1) broccoli is not tasty; and (2) no one wants to be a vegetable. But the truth of the matter is, temporary or permanent incapacity can happen to any of us. Thus, supplemental documents need to be in place prior to any capacity issues. We cannot help you develop a taste for broccoli; we can, however, prepare you for the unknown. There are many documents you should have in your plan to ensure that you are prepared when life passes the vegetables. Look to the following health-related documents to plan for the day where you many not wake up and smell the broccoli:

1. Durable Power of Attorney – this allows you to designate and authorize someone to legally act on your behalf, in the event that you become incapacitated. The instrument will specifically state the powers that you are giving the person that you nominate to act on your behalf. Furthermore, this person must make decisions that are in your best interest, not their own. Take careful consideration in determining who you want stepping into your shoes.

2. Combination Living Will & Designation of Healthcare Surrogate – this outlines important healthcare decisions in advance, and appoints a healthcare surrogate to make healthcare decisions for you when you become unable to do so yourself. Be certain to name someone, otherwise, a proxy may be designated in which you would never chose yourself. You want to chose who’s hands your life is in, right?

Whether or not you are what you eat, and what you eat is vegetables — be sure to include medical-related documents into your estate plan, ensuring you have control when you otherwise would not!