Has someone blocked you from receiving an inheritance in Florida? You may have a valid legal claim against them.  Tortious interference with a will in Florida, also known as tortious interference with an inheritance or expectancy, is a legal claim against someone who may have intentionally interfered with the inheritance, or expectation of an inheritance, of another.

There are certain instances in Florida probate cases where the absence of an original version a Florida will can create serious problems for those anticipating an inheritance.  For instance, let’s say that you were a close friend of a decedent from Aventura who promised to leave you a significant portion of his assets.  Let’s further suppose that only a copy of his will was found – no original.  What happens?

Marriage is a big part of estate planning.  It can have a drastic effect on your assets and property, and, when you die, an even bigger effect of the inheritance of your heirs.  So, when people ask me “Do I need a prenuptial agreement in Florida“, I always advise that a prenup should not be considered a dirty word, but rather a tool to ensure estate administration goes smoothlyafter the death of one of the spouses.

In Florida, a Guardianship is used to protect the health, welfare, and property of a person who has become mentally incapacitated. The typical case for guardianship in Florida is the unfortunate but common instance of an elderly person with dementia.  In guardianship, Florida courts will actually removed some of the rights of the incapacitated person (called a “ward“) and appoint a guardian to act on the ward’s behalf.

This week, valuewalk.com published “How QPRTs Went From Effective Estate Planning To Time Bomb”, an article on the the use of Qualified Personal Residence Trusts (“QPRTs“) to save on estate taxes.  The article comes after the new 2015 federal estate tax exemption increase.  A QPRT is aFlorida estate planning technique that can help reduce the size of your estate taxes byreducing the number of assets have to go through the probate process.

In courts of the law, “standing” is the term used to describe the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to, and harm from, the action being challenged. The connection to and harm from the specific event must be enough to support that party’s participation in the case.

When you open up a probate in Florida estate administration, other people can file claims of interest against the estate.  This means that if a person believes they are entitled to something the decedent owned when he died, they will bring a lawsuit in order to gain an ownership interest in the asset.

Heirs and beneficiaries of a Florida estate sometimes ask if they need to be represented by legal counsel through theprobate process in Florida.  

A Florida Power of Attorney is a legal document granting certain authority from one person to another. In the document, the creator of the Power of Attorney (called the “principal“) grants someone the right to act on his behalf. The person who is acting for the principal is called his “agent“.  What specific actsthe Power of Attorney gives the agent the authority to conduct depends on the particular language of the Power of Attorney. A principal can make a POA very broad or may limit it to certain specific acts.

When a loved one passes away in Florida, their heirs and beneficiaries open up a probate estate with the Florida Probate court. A “personal representative“, or executor, will be appointed to administer the estate administration.