From the beloved Nelson Mandela all the way to Hitlers bodyguard, this year has waived farewell to a long list of notable deaths. As this year takes its exit, let’s look back on some of those who took their final bow in 2013:

• Charles Foley, age 82 – an inventor most well known for Patent No. 3,454,279, aka “Twister,” the innocent game of compromising positions.
• Bruce Reynolds, age 81 – the criminal who was the mastermind behind the 1963 “Great Train Robbery,” which was Britain’s largest robbery at the time (about 41 million pounds). He successfully ran for 5 years, until he was caught to serve a 25 year sentence term. Ironically enough, following his release, Reynolds lived off of income support in a London flat supplied by a charitable trust.
• Deacon Jones, age 74 – the defensive end in the NFL., best known for coining the term “sack,” as in “sacking the quarterback.” A maneuver in which he excelled.
• Chris Kelly, age 34 – the rapper of the ’90s kid rap duo Kris Kross. Kelly was known as Mac Daddy, and best known for the megahit “Jump.”
• Rochus Misch, age 96 – also known as Hitler’s bodyguard. Although he persistently denied having any knowledge of the millions of deaths caused by the Nazis,  he was reportedly “the most unrepentant and unapologetic Hitler supporter you could ever have the misfortune to meet.”
•  Sylvia Browne, age 77 – click here.
• Nelson Mandela, age 95 –  a inspiration to millions who sought to end the oppression of more than four decades of institutionalized racial segregation. After being imprisoned as a terrorist for 27 years by a white-minority government, he united his African nation to its first multiracial democracy. He served as the country’s first black president, becoming a national emblem of racial reconciliation throughout the world.

The best take away from this year, as demonstrated by the preceding names, is to plan ahead for the unknown. You never know when your exit will take place, all you can do is have the following documents in your estate plan:

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. Assignment of Property – this is exactly that, assigning your property to your trust. In other words, placing your property into the trust. This includes both real & personal property. A trust does not do anything for you if there is no property in it.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 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.

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

Tween heart-throb sensation, Justin Bieber, has announced that he will be officially settling down into retirement; and after 21 years of bieber-fever, can you blame him? Perhaps he’s merely taking a bow from wooing the pre-teens of the world with his angelic vocals, to try out his acting chops in the next Nicholas Sparks romance drama “I Belieb in Love.” Regardless of where his early retirement leads him, the same remains true: retirement is a life event that requires a reevaluation of your estate plan. An estate plan is a living entity; as factors in your life change, your plan should be altered accordingly. After settling into retirement, you may want to reconsider if the following documents are meeting your current needs and wishes.

• Living Trust & Assignment of Property – a living trust allows you to distribute your assets while ultimately avoiding probate (the legal process of determining whether a will is valid). Re-examine your income stream and how you will want your assets distributed after your death. This is a good time to look at your entire estate and determine if you will need additional tax planning.
• 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. You may want to change who you have designated as a guardian, or burial requests.
• 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. As time goes on, you may want to change who will have the power to make financial decisions on your behalf. Furthermore, you want to ensure that your power of attorney document provides “super powers” to allow the agent to make decisions regarding retirement accounts, public benefits, gift exemptions, disclaiming property, and similar provisions that have financial consequences to your estate.
• 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. You may decide that you will not want any life prolonging procedures in the event that you have one of the following conditions: (i) terminal condition (ii) end-state condition; or (iii) persistent vegetative state. In this case, you want to ensure that you have such wishes outlined in your living will.

Be a Belieber in planning ahead, and update your estate plan! 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.

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

SYLVIA BROWNE, the psychic who used her paranormal abilities for detective work, died this Wednesday at the age of 77. She was revered by many for her psychic demonstrations on shows such as “Unsolved Mysteries,””Loveline with Dr. Drew” and “The Montel Williams Show.” Recently, however,  she received some backlash for telling a woman that her daughter, the then missing Amanda Berry, was dead. Berry was  later rescued from the home of Ariel Castro, along with several other young girls.

Among her many psychic skills was the ability to predict death. The renowned Silvia Browne could foresee her own death, but for most of us less-paranormal folk, we don’t get much of a warning. However, we can be prepared for the unknown with the following Estate Planning documents:

1. Living Trust – a living trust has become increasingly desirable due to its ability to avoid probate (the legal process of determining whether a will is valid). If you are married, you may want to designate yourself and your spouse as co-trustees, so that you have full control over the property while you are still alive. Side Note: such control does have tax consequences, so you will want to discuss this with your estate planning attorney.

2. Assignment of Property – this is exactly that, assigning your property to your trust. In other words, placing your property into the trust. This includes both real & personal property. A trust does not do anything for you if there is no property in it.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

If you can’t predict your future, plan for it! 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.

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

A rescue operation of 90 U.S. Marines and sailors have joined the relief efforts in the Philippines in the wake of the massive typhoon that has left behind a death toll that is projected to reach approximately 10,000.

It is events such as these where we are reminded of the unexpected nature of devastation, recognizing that you can never be too prepared for tomorrow. If you wish to aid the victims of the disaster stricken country, there are a variety of charities taking donations that will go directly to coordinating disaster relief. The Philippine Red Cross is accepting donations online, keeping donors updated on relief efforts through Facebook and Twitter. Save the Children has said that it will reserve 10% of donations received to help prepare for future emergencies. In this spirit of crisis mitigation, consider whether you are prepared for the unexpected. Do you have a health care surrogate in the event that you become incapacitated? Do you have a guardian for your children? Do you have a valid will that will distribute your assets specifically according to your wishes, while avoiding unnecessary taxes or the costs associated with probate? If any of these questions are answered with a “no,” you may want to consider created an estate plan with the following documents:

1. Living Trust – a living trust has become increasingly desirable due to its ability to avoid probate (the legal process of determining whether a will is valid). If you are married, you may want to designate yourself and your spouse as co-trustees, so that you have full control over the property while you are still alive. Side Note: such control does have tax consequences, so you will want to discuss this with your estate planning attorney.

2. Assignment of Property – this is exactly that, assigning your property to your trust. In other words, placing your property into the trust. This includes both real & personal property. A trust does not do anything for you if there is no property in it.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

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.

In the spirit of Halloween, and all that is frightening, let us take a look at some of infamous celebrity horror stories that have resulted from a lack of proper estate planning.

What better way to start this topic off than with a story of Jerry Garcia, leader of the band the Grateful Dead. Although Garcia had a Last Will & Testament in place, it’s provisions were ambiguous, leading to a series of challenges that were probably not resolved according to his intent. Furthermore, Garcia had named his third wife as both an executor of his estate and as a beneficiary, yet she was to look out for the interest of his second wife, and four of his children that he had with other women. This resulted in the second ex-wife suing the estate, and ultimately receiving only $1.5 million of the $5 million Garcia promised her. It is important to clearly express your intent in all of your estate planning documents. Furthermore, you do not want to name an executor of your estate who has any conflicting interest with other beneficiaries.

While the Elvis Presley costumes are running rampant during this Halloween season, let them be a reminder that a Last Will & Testament is not sufficient in itself for a complete estate plan. The King of Rock n’ Roll left a $10 million estate to his heirs, who ended up only receiving about 10% of it. The fees associated with probate alone cost his estate nearly $2 million. If Presley would have set up a pour-over will, that filtered all of his assets into a trust, he would have been able to avoid probate.

We are all familiar with the story of Anna Nicole Smith, the stunning hot-mess that married 89-year-old businessman, J. Howard Marshall. Marshall had executed his will just days before marrying Anna Nicole, and passed away the following year. The provisions of the will named only one beneficiary, and it wasn’t Anna Nicole. She challenged the will, but after a series of appeals, never received a dime (just this year, the court awarded sanctions to Smith’s daughter). When Anna Nicole died from an overdose (six months after her first son died and second child was born), she left behind a will that excluded her newborn daughter & left everything to her deceased son. Furthermore, the will stated that it would not include after born children. There are quite a few take-aways from this love-story: (1) if you do not want your spouse/child/etc. to be a beneficiary, you should specifically exclude them in your will (rather than merely failing to make any provisions for them); (2) if you have children from a previous marriage, you need to be very cautious in drafting an estate plan to ensure that they will be provided for; (3) if you experience any changes in your family relationships, you need to review and potentially change your estate plan immediately.

This Halloween, remember these techniques to avoid your own estate planning horror story! 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.

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

Just when we were about to lose faith in our government, Congress finally settled on a deal that ended the infamous 16-day shutdown. The good news – there will be no default on the national debt. The bad news – American’s are not very fond of Congress. In a poll from Public Policy, Congress’ approval ratings were compared to a variety of those of the less desirable kind. The following won over Congress : hemorrhoids (53%-31%), jury duty (73%-18%), toenail fungus (44%-41%), cockroaches (44%-42%), the IRS (42%-33%), the respondents’ mothers-in-law (64%-20%), potholes (47%-36%) and zombies (43%-37%). However, congress did have better approval ratings than Russian President Vladimir Putin, former congressman Anthony Weiner, Lindsay Lohan, and Honey Boo Boo.

If you, like the respondents in the above poll, are not so fond about the idea of leaving your future in someone else’s hands – the following five estate planning documents will ensure that your future-planning receives a better approval rating than the cockroaches and zombies.

1. Living Trust – a living trust has become increasingly desirable due to its ability to avoid probate (the legal process of determining whether a will is valid). If you are married, you may want to designate yourself and your spouse as co-trustees, so that you have full control over the property while you are still alive. Side Note: such control does have tax consequences, so you will want to discuss this with your estate planning attorney.

2. Assignment of Property – this is exactly that, assigning your property to your trust. In other words, placing your property into the trust. This includes both real & personal property. A trust does not do anything for you if there is no property in it.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 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.

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