corkscrew-roller-coasterAmusement parks and roller coasters are a mainstream of American culture. The ups, the downs, the rush of adrenaline. However, roller coasters aren’t always the fun ride we hope for. Yesterday, occupants at Six Flags Magic Mountain found themselves in an precarious position after a fallen tree branch derailed their car, leaving the riders stuck for hours. Don’t let a metaphorical branch derail your plans. Have your estate plan done by the South Florida law firm of Wild Felice & Partners.

The largest obstacle that could affect your estate is if you die without a will. If you die without a valid will in Florida, the state’s intestacy laws control how your property is distributed. Depending on your marriage and child situation, your spouse would get as little as one half of the estate and as much as the entire estate. Intestacy can be especially troublesome for same-sex couples, since Florida does not recognize same-sex marriage. Even if you are legally married in another state, Florida will not consider your same-sex partner as your spouse, and he or she would receive nothing under the statute.

The next obstacle that could affect your estate is probate. Probate is a process in which your will is submitted to the court for validation and then ownership of assets your estate to your beneficiaries. Assets in probate are tied up, with accounts frozen. This process usually lasts about six months for simpler estates, but can last a few years for complex estates. Probate can be avoided by using a trust based plan instead of a will based plan. Trusts can make sure that your beneficiaries get their assets quicker, allowing them to return to a sense of normalcy as soon as possible.

The third obstacle that you want to prepare for is creditors. Creditors can affect your estate in a variety of ways. One of the major creditors (and one you can’t protect from) is the IRS. While most estates will not have to pay an estate tax, the estate is still responsible to file an income tax for the year the decedent dies. Other creditors include private creditors that the decedent had during his lifetime. Those debts can attach to the estate and must be paid before the estate assets can be distributed. Depending on the size of the debts, this may greatly decrease the estate’s worth. The third type of creditors are creditors of the beneficiaries. Your beneficiaries may lose their entire inheritance if they have debts at the time they receive the assets. As previously mentioned, you can’t avoid the IRS but a trust can be used to protect from the other two types of creditors. If you put all your assets in a revocable trust during your life, you are taking them out of your estate. When creditors try to get money out of your estate when you die, there won’t be anything in the estate for them to get. In terms of your beneficiaries, giving their inheritance in a trust will protect the assets while still allowing them to benefit from them. If your beneficiaries have creditors waiting for trust distributions, you can instruct the trustee to pay for things for the beneficiary, so the money is never actually in their possession and the creditors can not get to it.

The final obstacle we’re going to discuss to today is failure to update. Whether you choose a trust or a will to distribute your property, you must take care to update the instrument, preferably every three to five years. This will help to protect you against any changes in the law that may affect your plan. Also, change your estate plan after any major life event: birth, marriage, divorce, death. If you get divorced, but don’t update your plan, your ex may find themselves an unexpected beneficiary of your estate.

While there are too many other obstacles to enumerate in a post, our South Florida estate planning attorneys can help you plan for all of them. Keep everything on track and make sure poor estate planning doesn’t derail your life.

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

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