Category Archives: Estate Planning
What Financial Advisors May Not Know to Advise You On for Estate Planning
While financial advisors have been overseeing asset management and estate planning for clients for many years, in recent years, new asset types and laws have made it important for clients to consult estate planning attorneys primarily because international law is changing things at such a rapid pace. In fact, some finance professionals may very… Read More »
How to Carefully Choose Your Trustee(s)
As estate planning attorneys here in Florida, one question that we frequently get is how to select a trustee for your trust, and whether it should be someone who has personal connections to the family or a third-party professional. Below, we discuss some key considerations you will want to take into account in making… Read More »
If Your Child’s Special Needs Trust and Related Estate Planning Is Not Done Properly, It Could Spell Disaster for Your Family
If you are a parent of a disabled child, setting up a special needs trust takes very careful planning and experience from the estate planning legal team setting it up for you. The attorney(s) that you work with should know about all of the various charitable nonprofit programs – as well as local federal… Read More »
What You Absolutely Do & Do Not Need to Take Care of Your Elderly Parents or Other Loved Ones
As attorneys who focus solely on estate planning here in Florida, we regularly receive a number of questions concerning what kinds of plans should be made to care properly for elderly parents and other relatives. The best way to carefully craft a plan based on your particular circumstances is to meet with a professional… Read More »
Using Estate Planning to Protect Retirement Accounts from Creditors in Florida
We have previously (briefly) discussed how you can ensure that beneficiaries do not have to pay creditors out of their own pockets, however, what about ensuring that retirement accounts are protected from creditors? Degrees of protection differ significantly when it comes to IRAs and 401(k)s, and this is something that your estate planning attorney… Read More »
Deciding Whether to ‘Gift’ During Your Lifetime, And How Best to Do It
Giving away assets while you are alive has typically carried with it a number of benefits, one of them being helping to lower estate taxes when you pass. However, the federal estate tax exemption is currently very high: at $11.4 million per person–and increasing every year–this exemption ends up being applicable to very few… Read More »
Pending Legislation Could Inadvertently Make The IRA Your “Biggest Beneficiary”
A retirement bill is advancing through Congress which could have implications for retirees and their estate plans. The legislation is called the Secure Act, and does a number of things, including delaying when people would have to take required minimum distributions (to age 72), extending the age limit that allows people to place money… Read More »
Property Needs an Estate Plan Just Like Anything Else
As Orlando estate planning attorneys, we talk a lot about how to pass assets and funds onto beneficiaries. But what about land? Land that is passed down without a will can also be lost in the same way that everything else that’s part of an estate can. Specifically, when land is passed down without… Read More »
The Most Important Estate Planning Mistakes to Avoid
Estate planning doesn’t just involve a last will and testament; the estate planning attorney that you work with should offer you a broad array of services, such as drafting living trusts and advising you on how best to avoid estate taxes; as well as a number of other issues and how best to handle… Read More »
The Most Important Tax Issues to Consider If You Are an Executor, Trustee, Or Administrator
There are a number of key tax questions that pop up when a loved one passes away and you are responsible for their estate as the executor. Below, we discuss some of the most important considerations to take into account if you are responsible for an estate: General Responsibilities The executor of an estate… Read More »