Many Florida probate lawyers recommend the use of family limited partnerships to hold family money and pass it along to heirs & beneficiaries. Family limited partnerships can take advantage of “discounts” for estate tax and gift tax purposes. Additionally, some people invest in private investments which use the limited partnership structure to manage the investment. Many times Estate Lawyers Palm Beach suggest that one’s living trust, also called a revocable trust, be the limited partner. If you are involved in a limited partnership with a senior citizen, you may want to read this October 16, 2014 legal opinion from the Court of Appeal, 2nd District, Division 2 in California, which deals with the issue of elder abuse, living trusts and partnerships. This trustee lawsuit or partnership lawsuit dealt with a $50 Million partnership.
Inheriting Family $$ in Partnerships
- You might not get your inheritance outright
- You might get it in an irrevocable family trust, where you have to ask your Florida trustee for some of your family money
- Or, you might get, or inherit, a limited partnership interest, where you only get money if the general partner decides to make a distribution to you, but where you are still responsible for paying any US Income Tax attributable to your interest in the family limited partnership
- Many times, Estate Planning Attorneys from Boca Raton, Florida to Jupiter, Florida, recommend the limited partnership structure along with the use of a Florida revocable or living trust to manage your wealth and pass it along to future generations and your chosen beneficiaries
- Does your estate plan use family limited partnerships and living trusts?
Trustee Limited Partnership Elder Abuse Case
- When a family limited partnerships winds up or ends, it typically is called or referred to as “dissolving” the partnership
- In this California trust case, one limited partner was a living trust
- The sole trustee and lifetime beneficiary of the living trust was the 90 year old person
- The question before the court was:
- Can the 90 year old trustee of a living trust sue the partnership’s general partner for elder abuse?
- Answer: yes.
Want to Read More About this Trustee Elder Abuse Lawsuit?
- 2014 WL 5282153
- Pynoos v Massman
- Appeal form Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Judge Dau
- Justice Hoffstadt of the Court of Appeal wrote this October 16, 2014 opinion