Tis the season for scary decorations, fun costumes and pumpkin spice everything. As Halloween quickly approaches most Americans are stocking up on candy and preparing their homes for the tiny trick-or-treaters. Yes, having the scariest house on the block is important but properly planning your estate is even more important.

Did you know that less than half of all Florida residents have an estate plan in place? This may be attributed to the fact that most South Floridians feel that they are either too young or not wealthy enough to worry about estate planning. Yet, estate planning isn’t about being wealthy and it’s not about being “the right age.” Estate planning is about being proactive and taking the necessary steps during your lifetime to ensure your loved ones and the wealth you have accumulated are protected. Whether you want asset protection for peace of mind, want to ensure your loved ones avoid the mess of probate or you just want to reduce the possible estate tax, the South Florida law firm of Wild, Felice & Partners can help you accomplish your goals.

There are various techniques that can be used depending on what your goals are. The most desirable technique used in estate planning is the living trust. By creating a revocable living trust you are ensuring that your assets are safe from the possibility of litigation, bankruptcy, and divorce. During your lifetime you can revoke or amend your trust to fit accordingly with any life changes such as a marriage, divorce, children, or a change in wealth accumulated. Once deceased, the assets you included in the trust during your lifetime will avoid probate and, instead, be distributed immediately to the named beneficiaries in the manner that you choose.

Your trust based plan will also include a Pour-Over Will which will make certain that all remaining assets not included in the trust “pour-over” into the trust immediately. Your plan will also include the Durable Power of Attorney, Living Will, Healthcare Surrogate and HIPAA Release form. These healthcare documents allow you to designate and legally authorize someone to act on your behalf in the event you become incapacitated and unable to make both financial and healthcare decisions for yourself. For more information on the revocable living trust or any of the mentioned healthcare documents, please visit our website at http:/www.wfplaw.com.

Make October less scary by contacting the South Florida Estate Planning law firm of Wild, Felice & Partners at 954-944-2855 and schedule your free consultation today.

It’s a Wild World. Are you protected? SM

Rumor has it that Leonardo DiCaprio is engaged to his model girlfriend Kelly Rohrbach. This is big news for Hollywood’s ladies man. Time has come for Leo to hang his party hat and to update his estate plan!

Divorce, children, change in wealth accumulated and marriage are all reasons to update your estate plan. A revocable living trust is the most favorable estate planning option. A revocable living trust will offer maximum protection against creditors and the possibility of litigation. A couple considering marriage should consider creating two revocable living trusts. Each spouse will act as co-trustee of each other’s trust and will have full access to the assets held in trust. Upon the death of one spouse, the maximum allowable tax-free distribution will fund a newly created Bypass trust. The remaining assets will then fund a newly created Marital Trust. Assets remain safe for the children who, after both parents are deceased, will save big on estate taxes. In addition to the living revocable trust, every married couple will need the following:

Assignment of Property: These documents will help fund the trusts. Real property, bank and brokerage accounts, and personal property will be safely transferred into the trust.

Pour-Over Will: A will becomes public record upon death. For that reason, it’s best to keep the Will straight to the point. The Pour-Over Will will simply state the living trust exists and will ensure that all remaining assets, should there be any, “pour-over” into the trust immediately.

Power of Attorney: This document is a written authorization that allows the appointed individual to make financial decisions on your behalf, should you become incapacitated or otherwise unaware.

Designation of Health Care Surrogate: By designating a health care surrogate you are appointing an individual to handle your medical decisions, should you become incapacitated or otherwise unaware.

Living Will: The Living Will is an important document that allows your health care surrogate to give the doctor the necessary authorization to “pull the plug” if you are being kept alive artificially.

Marriage is the beginning of a long journey together. What better way to begin that journey than by being fully prepared and protected. Be sure to update your estate plan to fit accordingly with life’s changes. For more information on successful Florida estate planning and asset protection techniques, please visit our website at http://www.wfplaw.com or contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild World. Are you Protected? SM

Many people mistakenly believe that estate planning is something done only for the wealthy. In reality, a basic estate plan is essential for everyone, regardless of income or net worth, because we all would like this process to be as seamless and easy as possible to reduce costs, delay and stress for our loved ones. The topic of estate planning, or even one’s mortality is a stressful one to discuss, but an important one. Without proper preparation and documentation, assets—like houses, retirement plans and savings accounts—can end up in limbo for years, sometimes requiring expensive legal assistance to straighten matters out.

Everyone should have the following items in place:

1.  Living Trust –A trust can be more expensive to set up, but it provides benefits that a will cannot. First, when they’re structured properly, trusts will help avoid probate, which helps beneficiaries gain access to assets more quickly as well as save time and court fees. Depending on how it’s structured, a trust may also reduce estate taxes owed and can protect an estate from heirs’ creditors. 
2. Assignment of Property – place all of your property into the trust, and avoid costs & headache associated with probate.
3. Last Will & Testament – used to distribute property to beneficiaries (or a trust), specify last wishes, and name guardians for minor children.
4. Durable Power of Attorney – A power of attorney is a written authorization that allows someone else to make financial and legal decisions for a person if that person should become hospitalized, disabled or otherwise incapacitated.
5. Combination Living Will & Designation of Healthcare Surrogate – gain control by making important healthcare decisions in advance.

This will allow you to ward off:

• unnecessary taxes
• costs and headache associated with the probate process
• creditors and outsiders who may have claims against you
• any undesignated individual making legal or healthcare decisions on your behalf in case you become incapacitated

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 or www.wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

 It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? SM

Are you protected?

Don’t leave your assets vulnerable to attack. Much like a goalie, asset protection planning will help to shield your assets from attack.

Asset protection is a broad term, encompassing many different techniques, but here at our South Florida law firm, we focus our asset protection on two areas: estate planning and business formation. In the area of estate planning, the main approach is to use trusts to dispose of your assets rather than a will. A trust protects your assets by first avoiding probate and all of the costs (both monetary and time) associated with that process. Secondly, trusts protect your assets by keeping them in your family. With a will, the asset is no longer yours to control following the first disposition, a trust allows you to control the asset for multiple generations. This makes sure that the inheritance will never be taken by divorce or remarriage. For example, if you want to give all of your estate to your daughter and then to her children, a trust allows you to do this without giving any to her spouse. Furthermore, a trust protects your beneficiaries from themselves, if they are either too young or not fiscally responsible. Because they are the beneficiary and not necessarily the trustee, you can name a trustee who will make the financial decisions for them. Finally, trusts offer asset protection by being creditor protected. Assets that are in a trust can not be reached by creditors, assuring that the inheritance remains with the beneficiary.

Choosing the proper business form also works as asset protection. If you own a business as a sole proprietor or even in a general partnership, you can be personally liable for all of the debts of the business. Limited partnerships, LLCs, and corporations can protect your asset from business debts. A limited partnership consists of two classes of partners: a general partner, who manages and is more active, and a limited partner, who is more like an investor. The limited partner’s liability is limited to whatever they have put into the company, whereas the general partner remains liable for all the debt. An LLC offers limited liability as well, while allowing for more active participation. The manager of a multi-member LLC makes the decisions and runs the company, but is still afforded protection. If someone sues an LLC, they can only recover the company’s assets. Subsequently, if a person sues the manager of an LLC for a personal matter, the assets of the LLC are protected from this personal creditor. Finally, a corporation offers protection to all of its shareholders while also offering increased flexibility with the management structure. A corporation allows for different classes of stock with different voting abilities. Corporations also allow you to raise capital by issuing stock.

Regardless of what business form you end up choosing, you must also engage in business succession planning. Because all of these business forms are separate legal entities, they will survive after you are gone. Therefore, you must plan for what happens to your companies or you risk them dying. If you have multiple members or partners in your company, you can arrange a plan beforehand in which they buy your shares at a predetermined price. The company could then purchase life insurance in that amount to make sure that the company does not have cash flow issues and does not have to sell off company assets to buy your stake.

Whether you are looking at asset protection from an estate planning or business formation standpoint, our attorneys can help be your goalie and protect the assets you’ve worked so hard to acquire.

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, or visit our website at www.wfplaw.com

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

PROTECT YOUR FUTURE, TODAY.

Another football season is upon us and with it, undoubtedly, another controversial discussion regarding concussions and the trauma inflicted on player’s brains. Getting your bell rung is no longer considered a badge of courage, but rather, a grizzly reminder of the potential ramifications of life after football.

Plain and simple, estate planning helps protect your family in the event that something bad happens to you, and yet, 55% of Americans don’t even have a last will, leaving them vulnerable to costly court fees and legal battles.  Even though it’s predicated on incapacitation or death, estate planning doesn’t have to be morbid. In fact, it can actually be life-affirming, because the process will allow you to take a closer look at the people you care most about in life—and ensure their future happiness.

Whether you choose a will based plan or a trust based plan, your planning should also include a power of attorney, a designation of health care surrogates, and HIPAA releases. These planning tools may be overlooked, but their importance cannot be overstated. The power of attorney and designation of a healthcare surrogate will allow important healthcare and financial decisions to be made for you in the event of incapacity or death, while the HIPAA release will make sure your healthcare surrogate will have access to whatever he or she needs to make informed decisions. By planning for the future and using these various techniques, your family will be better protected from creditors and other hassles when the time comes. Get ahead of the other 55% and get an estate plan today. It’s never too early to plan ahead.

To be better prepared for sudden and unexpected sickness, incapacitation, or death, you will benefit from the following documents:

1. Living Trust – the best way to maintain control over all of your assets and distributions, while avoiding the hassle, expense, and lack of privacy associated with probate.
2. Last Will & Testament – this is your traditional will that is used upon death to distribute property to beneficiaries, specify last wishes, and name guardians for minor children.
3. 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.
4. 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.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation, or visit our website at www.wfplaw.com.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? SM

The death rate in Florida is 100%, which means NO ONE can completely avoid the probate process. The term probate generally refers to the method by which your estate (the totality of the assets in your personal name at death) is administered and processed through the legal system after you die.  The probate process helps you divide and assign parts of your estate in an orderly and supervised manner. Your estate must be divided according to the specifics of your Will, if you die with a Will, or according to statute if you die intestate or without a Will. (Your debts and taxes must be paid before your beneficiaries receive their inheritance, for example).

If you have creditors at death, those debts must be satisfied before dividing the remainder of your assets, additionally there may be taxes due and those must be paid before distribution as well.  This means that the process of finding your creditors and paying those debts can take months and the distribution of the remainder to your heirs may become complicated.  There are legal methods that allow a person to make the process of distributing assets after death more efficient and less costly, which is an advantage to your family and loved ones and a wise investment.  Planning for the future will save your family members additional grief and possibly avoid conflict among family members and other beneficiaries.

Having a Will is a solid first step in the right direction to ease the probate process, but that is not all you need.  Placing your property in Trust to protect it from creditors, drafting a Power of Attorney, a Living Will and a Designation of Healthcare Surrogate are other methods to ensure that nothing is left to chance, that your family will be protected and that somebody you trust will make legal decisions for you when you are no longer able to make them yourself.

An attorney that specializes in estate planning can help explain the legal tools that are available to each individual depending on their financial situation and their specific needs.  Common methods that are utilized to avoid probate are Revocable Trusts which allow your property to be protected from creditors and susceptible to probate.  By scheduling a consultation an attorney can better explain the additional benefits of creating a revocable trust and how this can save you time and money in the long run.

It is important to note that you do not have to have a large estate to take advantage of the benefits of having your assets in a trust or any other legal estate planning tools.  This is a common misconception, but having an estate plan is something that everyone should give serious consideration to.  Additionally, it is also important to mention that although having an estate plan may not seem like a priority to most people, you need to be prepared for any eventuality.

Nobody likes to think about death or incapacity, but these are facts of life and it can happen to any of us at any given time.  If you have a family and if you have small children you should plan for their care in case you can no longer care for them and this is something that an estate planning attorney can help you with.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? SM

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.