In the perfect land of estate planning, the SAG Award for outstanding cast would be presented to the talent behind the fictional production of “The Spouse’s Share.” Ben Affleck and ‘Argo’ would have nothing on the South Florida estate planning attorney and the client behind the making of a Last Will and Testament. The client’s moment to shine occurs when he or she takes the time to discuss with a lawyer how his or her assets should be distributed to the surviving spouse upon death.

This golden opportunity is lost forever when this type of critical planning escapes one’s attention.

Do you know what happens in Florida if you are married but die without a will?

Fla. Stat. §732.102 governs the surviving spouse’s share of the intestate estate.

1. If you die without any surviving descendants, your entire intestate estate will go to your spouse. This does not typically include non-probate assets.

2. If you die with surviving descendants, all of whom are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the spouse has no other descendants, then he or she again receives the entire intestate estate.

3. On the other hand, if you have children from a previous relationship that are not lineal descendants of the surviving spouse, then he or she only gets half of your estate.

4. If the surviving spouse has children from a previous relationship that are not yours but you have one or more children together, then again he or she only gets half.

The Academy Award of all estate planning begins with a Last Will and Testament.

If you don’t ‘act’ now with respect to your assets, there can be some unexpected twists and turns in the story line of your legacy that you might not like. What if you would like your spouse to receive more or less of your fortune?  To avoid any unintended and unhappy endings, make the call to your estate planning attorney today for proper direction.

Lights, Camera, Action… you have a will to draft.

For more information on successful Florida asset protection techniques, please contact the South Florida law firm ofWild Felice & Partners, P.A. at 954-944-2855 to schedule your free consultation. It’s a Wild world. Are you protected?SM

When you invest in South Florida rental properties, your risks are more than just a struggling real estate market and a renter that may pay later than the first of the month. Owning investment real estate in an individual’s own name is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make. By using a multiple member Florida limited liability company (LLC) as the owner of the property, the investor creates a protective shield that prevents them from being sued personally in case a renter or their guest gets injured on the property. The LLC will also shield the real estate from any personal creditors the investor has.

If your Florida business requires you or your employees to physically touch a client, or you are in an industry that tends to be litigious, it is imperative that you establish an asset protection plan beyond the presence of professional liability insurance. The “do-it-yourself” asset protection plan physicians used to employ was to put everything in their spouse’s name but that went out the window when the divorce rate went over fifty percent. Now, more than ever is the time to sit with a professional asset protection attorney and put a legitimate asset protection plan in place.

Wild Felice & Partners is a full-service, Fort Lauderdale, Florida based law firm with a specialty in estate planning, asset protection and probate administration. We utilize a combination of real estate law, estate planning strategies, corporate formation, family law, and asset structuring to assure that our clients are protected from potential litigation, creditors, and any other threats that may be looming.

Our law firm provides the knowledge and experience of a large law firm, while giving our clients the hands-on service and attention to detail that only a smaller firm can truly offer. Our lawyers regularly go beyond the customary services, tailoring their work to the specific needs of each client.

Our attorneys are well versed in a wide variety of legal practice areas which allows us to provide our clients with one-stop shopping for all of their legal needs. Rather than having to seek various individual counsels and having the headache of managing your own legal issues and costs, we provide the convenience of one South Florida location for all of your legal needs. You will receive the quality work product of a large law firm and the low cost and high attention to detail that small law firms are valued for.

At Wild Felice & Partners, we take customer service very seriously. It is our constant goal to exceed expectations and respond proactively to any legal issues that our clients may encounter. We pride ourselves on working together with our clients to set and achieve the desired outcome rather than merely categorizing our clients under a particular label and treating them each legal issue in a predisposed way. We realize that each client’s needs are unique and treat each of our clients as if they are our only client. We hope you will take the time to contact one of our attorneys and truly experience all of the benefits that our South Florida law firm has to offer.

For more information on successful Florida 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

The world of high school, college and professional sports is struggling with the use of steroid by some of the biggest names in the game. An athlete on steroids enhances his or her body performance and muscle mass. No need to use steroids to enhance the performance of your estate plan. Living trusts will work just fine.

A “living trust” is the trust category most commonly employed for estate planning purposes. The two main living trust subcategories are “revocable” and “irrevocable.” As the respective terms imply, the Settler may revoke the former type of trust at any point during his or her lifetime. The two main estate planning benefits of living trust establishment include: 1) assuring adequate asset administration in event of the Settlor’s incapacitation and 2) probate avoidance upon the Settlor’s death.

Modern-day medical advances have greatly extended human longevity. It is therefore common for elderly people to be stricken with various debilitating disorders that destroy or severely diminish the mental or physical capacity necessary to manage one’s own affairs. In such instances, a living trust ensures that hard-earned assets are not wasted due to neglect or mismanagement. Just as wills are “paper voices” by which the deceased express their desired asset divisions, trusts are “legal faces” for the administration of living parties’ assets. Avoiding probate is a major strategic estate planning advantage of trusts. Conventional wills must be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction before any property distributions thereon. This process can be lengthy, complicated, and costly. Living trusts eliminate such eventualities by direct asset distribution to heirs upon the Settlor’s demise.

Estate planning is an especially dynamic legal field. New trusts are being devised constantly. Different trusts feature different legal requirements and are designed to serve various purposes. Moreover, individual circumstances change over time that may dramatically affect your ideal estate planning strategy. A qualified lawyer should prepare all living trusts. Indeed, the Florida Supreme Court has decreed that the preparation of living trusts by any party other than a licensed Florida attorney constitutes the unauthorized practice of law. This criminal offense is punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. Consult a competent, qualified estate planning attorney in Florida today. Do not delay taking affirmative steps to secure the best future for yourself and your loved ones another moment.

Less than half of all Florida residents have an estate plan in place yet the death rate in Florida has held steady at 100 percent. The reason for this lapse in judgment is most likely due to a focus on the word “estate” rather than the word “planning.” The two biggest misconceptions made by most South Floridians that lack comprehensive estate planning is that they are either too young to worry about it or not wealthy enough to worry about. However, the fact remains that very rarely is estate planning solely about the money.

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

Matzah ball soup, a.k.a. the Jewish penicillin, is believed to be the “cure-all” to whatever ails you. But remember, you don’t need to be sick to enjoy a good matzah ball soup. That very same idea also applies to estate planning.

Many Floridians believe “I have plenty of time, and I will deal with my estate when the time comes.” And even more common, “Only old people need estate plans.” If you don’t wait until you’re sick to enjoy a good matzah ball soup, why wait for tragedy to approach or strike to plan for the future? Unfortunately, by then, it may be too late. An estate plan is not just about death. Whether you are still at the early part of your earning potential, have young children to worry about, or concerned with reducing the possible estate tax or probate mess, accomplishing these goals as quickly as possible is crucial. Like a good matzah ball soup, yourself and your loved ones deserve to enjoy the comfort of an estate plan during both the good times and the more challenging times.

Estate planning is an especially dynamic legal field. A “living trust” is the trust category most commonly employed for estate planning purposes. The two main living trust subcategories are “revocable” and “irrevocable.” As the respective terms imply, the Grantor may revoke the former type of trust at any point during his or her lifetime. Different trusts feature different legal requirements, and are designed to serve various purposes. Moreover, individual circumstances change over time that may dramatically affect your ideal estate planning strategy. A qualified lawyer should prepare all living trusts. Indeed, the Florida Supreme Court has decreed that the preparation of living trusts by any party other than a licensed Florida attorney constitutes the unauthorized practice of law. Consult a competent, qualified estate planning attorney in Florida today. Do not delay taking affirmative steps to secure the best future for yourself and your loved ones another moment.

Our law firm provides the knowledge and experience of a large law firm, while giving our clients the hands-on service and attention to detail that only a smaller firm can truly offer. Our lawyers regularly go beyond the customary services, tailoring their work to the specific needs of each client.

Our attorneys are well versed in a wide variety of legal practice areas which allows us to provide our clients with one-stop shopping for all of their legal needs. Rather than having to seek various individual counsels and having the headache of managing your own legal issues and costs, we provide the convenience of one South Florida location for all of your legal needs. You will receive the quality work product of a large law firm and the low cost and high attention to detail that small law firms are valued for.

At Wild Felice & Partners, we take customer service very seriously. It is our constant goal to exceed expectations and respond proactively to any legal issues that our clients may encounter. We pride ourselves on working together with our clients to set and achieve the desired outcome rather than merely categorizing our clients under a particular label and treating them each legal issue in a predisposed way.

We realize that each client’s needs are unique and treat each of our clients as if they are our only client. We hope you will take the time to contact one of our attorneys and truly experience all of the benefits that our South Florida law firm has to offer.

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. Estate planning is about those friends and family left behind, which is why we first ask our clients what their wealth transfer and asset protection goals are and then explain how we can accomplish those goals together. It’s a Wild world. Are you protected? SM

With every New Year comes change. With Y2K13 comes substantial changes in the United States Tax laws—as part of the so called “Fiscal Cliff”.  One of the areas of change in 2013 is the gift and estate tax law, especially the exemptions available to individuals and married couples from gift and estate taxes.

The House of Representatives—by a vote of 257-167, and the Senate—by a vote of 89-9 approved the Senate’s plan in attempt to avoid the fiscal cliff. President Barak Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. In the plan, the estate tax will rise to 40% with a $5 million exemption which will now be indexed to inflation. So far, the issue of gift tax has not been addressed. Unfortunately, the package sets up a mini fiscal cliff in two months (March 1, 2013), furthering confrontation over spending cuts, the debt ceiling, and the longer-term budget outlook.

While our South Florida estate planning attorneys have the expertise in tax planning, as well as the designations of LL.M. and CPA that provide for the highest level of professional service, our firm aims to shed the tax attorney paradigm that estate planners are often pigeon-holed with and focus instead on the dynamic relationships between our clients and their loved ones. Estate planning is about those friends and family left behind, which is why we first ask our clients what their wealth transfer and asset protection goals are and then explain how we can accomplish those goals together.

Whether our clients are still at the early part of their earning potential, have young children to worry about or are concerned with reducing the possible estate tax or probate mess left for their loved ones when they die, accomplishing these goals as quickly as possible is crucial. Our mortality is not in question; the only question is whether or not you choose to protect your loved ones and your wealth while you are still alive and able to do so.

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

The answer is simple, everyone. (And yes, that includes you…)

Whether you are a parent, a property owner, or a professional, you need to protect your family and assets. No estate is too small for planning. Estate planning is a process involving the counsel of professional advisors who are familiar with your goals and concerns, your assets and how they are owned, and your family structure. It can involve the services of a variety of professionals, including your lawyer, accountant, financial planner, life insurance advisor, banker and broker.

Organizing your assets can help avoid family fights and reduce the stress of probate. If you fail to plan ahead, the court will appoint someone to handle your assets and personal care. Your assets will be distributed to your heirs according to a set of rules known as intestate succession. Contrary to popular belief, everything does not automatically go to the state if you die without a will. Your relatives, no matter how distant, will have priority in inheritance ahead of the state. Still, they may not be your choice of heirs. An estate plan gives you much greater control over who will inherit your assets after your death.

Less than half of all Florida residents have an estate plan in place yet the death rate in Florida has held steady at 100 percent. The reason for this lapse in judgment is most likely due to a focus on the word “estate” rather than the word “planning.” The two biggest misconceptions made by most South Floridians that lack comprehensive estate planning is that they are either too young to worry about it or not wealthy enough to worry about. However, the fact remains that very rarely is estate planning solely about the money.

While our South Florida estate planning attorneys have the expertise in tax planning, as well as the designations of LL.M. and CPA that provide for the highest level of professional service, our firm aims to shed the tax attorney paradigm that estate planners are often pigeon-holed with and focus instead on the dynamic relationships between our clients and their loved ones. Estate planning is about those friends and family left behind, which is why we first ask our clients what their wealth transfer and asset protection goals are and then explain how we can accomplish those goals together.

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