Bruce Willis, 57, and his wife Emma Heming, 33 welcomed their new baby girl this weekend after being married for three years. Mabel Ray Willis is the Bruce’ s fourth child and Emma’s first. Willis has three more daughters from his 13-year marriage to first wife Demi Moore.

Willis has experienced substantial life changes that he should account for in his estate planning.  After all, one day he might just “Die Hard.” Protecting his new wife and baby should be high on his priority list.

With Willis’s divorce from Demi Moore in 2000, new marriage to Emma Heming in 2009, and the recent birth of his new baby, Bruce should consider updating his estate plan if he has not already done so.

Following the dissolution of marriage, it is easy to neglect one’s estate plan especially amid emotional and economic fallout during property division, child custody, and spousal support.

Bruce should begin his estate plan modifications by revising his will. He should reconsider his asset distribution and personal representative appointment. He should include Mabel Ray in his will otherwise he could unintentionally disinherit her. He can rewrite the terms of his will or execute a special addendum called a “codicil.”

If his estate is more trust–based, he should review the terms of any trusts established before or during his marriage to determine what changes will be necessary in order to include Emma and baby Mabel. He might want to add them as beneficiaries of his estate. He might want to exclude Demi from his life insurance and make sure the new women in his life will be the recipients of his death benefits.

Updating your estate plan is crucial especially after major changes in life such as divorce, marriage, and birth of a new child. It is of vital importance to take prompt, proactive measures and visit your South Florida estate planning attorney to ensure your intentions are fully carried out in the disposition of your assets.

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 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

This Sunday most of America will be glued to television sets while watching the Patriots and Giants battle it out on the football field. Everyone will be rooting for their favorite team while wolfing down Buffalo wings and downing endless cans of beer. During commercial airtime, you might be thinking how great it is that your family and friends are all together watching the biggest game of the year. So many memories are being filled right in your family living room. You then decide you are going to leave your house to your kids so that these memories will last forever. What a great idea!

However, without careful thought, you might be doing disservice to your children in the future.  If your residence is worth less than $5 million, most likely you will not have to pay any gift taxes. This is great. However, if your children decide to sell the house immediately, they will be hit with heavy capital gains tax. This is because your cost basis (whatever it cost you to purchase the house) is transferred over to the recipient. So if the fair market value of your house has substantially increased, Uncle Sam will dip into that higher gain.

However, the only way for your children to avoid such high taxes is for them to live in the house for at least 2 years before they sell it. This situation affords them the opportunity to exclude up to $250,000 from capital gain taxes.

What if you decide your children will instead inherit the real estate? In this case, the cost basis will become the current market value, which could translate into a lower gain and thus, lower taxes. However, there are estate tax consequences that will come back to haunt you.  So what do you do?

Take action and consult a highly qualified South Florida attorney to learn about all the available options that can save your children from harsh taxes.

Back in 2008, the Patriot’s offensive line failed to protect their quarterback Tom Brady from the NY Giant’s hard-charging defensive linemen. Don’t fail to protect your kids from Uncle Sam’s appetite for more taxes. Put down that plate of nachos and schedule an appointment today!

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 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world.  Are you protected?

Similar questions run through people’s minds when they go to the doctor or dentist. If I go to the doctor, will he find a tumor and tell me I have cancer? Maybe if I just avoid the doctor all together that will never happen. Right? Wrong! Many people have the same thought process when it comes to visiting their attorney for estate planning. Such irrational reasoning has even more dire consequences in the future. With today’s sophisticated technology, routine checkups and preventative healthcare measures are critical for preventing what could be a medical tragedy. Likewise, with today’s legal tools, adequate estate planning from a qualified South Florida estate-planning attorney is critical in preventing a financial tragedy.

By doing the following you will avoid some commonly made mistakes.

1) Get your will drafted. This is not just for wealthy individuals. In fact, proper asset preservation is critical for those of modest means. There is nothing better than knowing your family will be protected against high estate taxes and administrative costs.

2) Don’t Procrastinate. Just like cancer can strike at any time so can death’s knock at your door. If you leave this world without a will, Florida law dictates the distribution of your assets and your wishes are gone with the wind.

3) Be wary of joint tenancies. With this strategy you are making a prospective heir a joint property owner. This approach can turn sour when for example, your married adult child gets divorced and his or her estranged spouse will be able to claim a portion of your retirement nest egg. If your favorite niece has a business that becomes insolvent, creditors can wipe out your entire life savings.

Get your South Florida estate in place today to avoid such dire consequences from inaction! Time is never on our side.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate, please contact the South Florida law firm of  Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

Probate avoidance is the goal of a highly skilled and qualified South Florida Estate Planning attorney. The objective is to protect clients against the time-consuming, highly costly, and emotional process of probate administration. Coping with the loss of a loved one is hard enough. Who wants the additional burden of finding themselves amidst a storm of family disputes and endless courtroom proceedings? An experienced and knowledgeable attorney is well equipped with the tools to help you circumvent this process through strategic estate planning. This is accomplished through trust formation. For example, a living trust can make every one’s life so much easier by acting as a vehicle for transferring ownership immediately once an individual dies. This method is faster, less expensive, and more convenient than traditional probate.

Another advantage of setting up a trust, is that it is completely private. The only person who will be able to view all the assets you accumulated during your life and how you decided to leave them to your family is the person or entity that you name as Trustee. However, the probate process is made public so anyone who wants to take a sneak peak into your estate will be able to do so.

Now, if you are a surviving spouse or child and stumble across the bad news that a trust was never established, it’s not the end of the world. A good probate lawyer can still offer guidance on what to do.  Even though this will cost you some money, payment is usually taken out of the estate. You will not have to pay anything up front, which makes things easier on your budget.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate, please contact the South Florida law firm of  Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

We all love to take a break occasionally from our busy lives and enjoy a vacation that will help us decompress. Many of us own a vacation home that is the source of our retreat.  Whether we are escaping to our condos on Florida’s South Beach or to a cabin on New York’s Lake George, we rarely stop to consider one thing. Vacation homes are a valuable asset that should be protected by South Florida estate planning.  The most common method of asset protection is through the formation of business entities or trusts that will hold title to the property.

A popular type of entity organization is the Limited Liability Company (LLC). This is a family/business operation that is treated like a corporation but is taxed as a partnership.  This provides liability protection for family members from claims of those injured on the property and reduces the risk of creditors staking a claim on your asset. A family Limited Partnership can be created, which is similar to an LLC but has more restrictions on transferability of ownership.  There is also the option of establishing a Family Trust or Irrevocable Trust. A trust is a separate legal entity, which becomes the legal owner of the real estate.   An attorney can help you structure a trust to protect your house from creditors, allow for management by the parents during their lifetime, and protect the house in the event a child becomes divorced. The advantage of a trust is that it offers the most control over your asset and is typically used to keep a house in the family for generations.

To help preserve those valuable memories from past family vacations and to build many more, sit down with a qualified estate-planning attorney to map out the future of your home.  Learn how to protect your property from creditors and potential family disputes regarding its use, management, and future expense sharing.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate, please contact the South Florida law firm of  Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?

Surely we are all familiar with the old adage “Carpe Diem.” This popular Latin phrase translates into “seize the day,” “live life to the fullest,” or “live each day as if it were your last”. But what does it exactly mean to live the day as if it were your last? Tim McGraw probably best summed it up in his heart-felt hit song “Live Like You Were Dying.” He would go skydiving, rocky mountain climbing, ride 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu, love deeper, speak sweeter and give forgiveness he’d been denying.

Most people however would not stop to consider what would happen to the people they would be leaving behind. In other words, how to reach out to their loved ones by making sure they are fully protected. It’s bad enough your family members will be in mourning and grieving your death after you are gone. The last thing you want to do is subject them to serious financial consequences because you didn’t get your estate in order.  With the help of a caring and well-seasoned attorney, you will be able to best structure your assets while minimizing estate related taxes and protecting your loved ones from claims of third party creditors.

There is a medley of estate planning tools that you can choose ranging from Trusts, Wills, Powers of Attorney to Health Care Surrogates.  A qualified and well-experienced attorney will guide you through the process and equip you with these necessary tools so you can rest assure your family is well protected after you’ve finished living your life to the fullest. So the next time you are contemplating jumping out of an airplane, think about your family first. After all, you only get to die once…so seize it the right way.

For more information on successful Florida estate planning and probate, please contact the South Florida law firm of  Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com to schedule your free consultation.

It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?