5 THINGS ESTATE BENEFICIARIES NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FLORIDA PROBATE

Involved in a    Florida probate   ?   Maybe you live in the Midwest or New England, and a parent, aunt or uncle passed away a    resident of Florida,    leaving a #Floridawill.  Now you have a    Florida estate.   You probably have    questions   about #Floridaprobate, whether you have an inheritance and how the #estateadministration process works.

Here are 5 things which you, as a #beneficiary of a Florida estate, need to know about Florida probate, but may be unaware of.

1. Estate Creditors Get Paid First (Almost )  —  before you start counting your inheritance money from a #Floridaestate, please understand that the debts and obligations of the #Floridaresident who passed away, called the Florida decedent, get paid first —  ahead of you, and before any #heirs or #nextofkin or #estate beneficiaries get a dime.     If your aunt had a mortgage, then that gets paid off first.   Electric light bill?  Credit card balances?     Yes….. and don’t forget Uncle Sam !  Your late aunt’s federal income taxes need to be filed and paid.  …..before the #estateexecutor even begins thinking about   making a distribution  of estate funds for your     inheritance.
2. You Can’t Hide from the Estate Creditors —  you actually have to tell the creditors of the estate –those that the decedent owed money to — about the #Floridaestateadministration.   You   can’t hide the ball    and think you’ll inherit everything if you are quiet.  You have to publish a #noticetocreditors in a newspaper and give actual notice, via mail, to those  creditors   you know to exist, or who you believe will have a claim against the estate.   Remember: a creditor is someone who has a claim against the decedent, which is different than being a beneficiary under the #Floridawill.
3. The Estate Lawyers Get Paid Before You, Too — the #FloridaProbateCode and the #FloridaProbateRules have a     priority list    of who gets estate money in what order.   Lawyers  for  the  estate —   for the #Floridapersonalrepresentative  —  get paid from the estate along with other expenses of estate administration.  These get paid off the top, first, before most creditors get paid and certainly before #estatebeneficiaries receive an inheritance.
4. If You Are Owed Something, File a Claim (which is different than an inheritance)    If you lent money to your later father or mother, or perhaps you and your late cousin were in business together and there was a contract which each of you entered into,   you are now a creditor  of the estate who needs to assert those rights !  This is different than being an #estatebeneficiary.  File a Statement of Claim   immediately !  If you don’t file a #statementofclaim in a #Floridaprobate within the correct time frame, you lose your rights.  You might even be an intended, third party beneficiary of a contract or other set of rights even if you did not sign a contract, such as a #Floridaprenuptialagreement.  In #Floridaprobatelaw, silence suggests consent.  Inaction suggests everything is fine.  #Floridaprobatelaw does not reward those who sit by and don’t exercise their rights. As John Prine www.johnprine.net, wrote  “Silence is golden, until it screams.”
5. You Have To Pay Your Own Way.    If you get involved in the #Floridaprobate or the #Floridaestate administration process, hire an experienced #Floridaprobatelawyer.   But you have to pay that #Floridaestatelawyer out of your own pocket.   While the    estate lawyers are paid from the estate funds (your future inheritance), beneficiaries have to pay their own #probatelawyers from their own personal funds.   …. unless you prevail in #probatelitigation or you provide a benefit to the #Floridaestate.

You can think about what your interest in a #Floridaestate is today while you enjoy the Super Bowl !  http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/48