Florida estate lawyers can tell you interest on a probate judgment matters. Do you know how much interest you get on a savings account? It could be as little as or less than 1% but guess what, judgments in Florida sometimes have interest rates attached that exceed 4.7%! That is one good return, ask any Florida will contest lawyer. Do you know the rules on interest in a Florida probate matter?
Judgment Interest
- Florida probate attorneys know there are two types of interest to worry about.
- Post judgment interest is easier to understand so we should start there.
- What is post judgment interest?
- When you get a judgment in Florida the defendant becomes a debtor and they owe you the amount of that judgment.
- Money becomes less valuable with time so there is a bad incentive for judgment debtorsto not pay the will contestant in Florida who succeeds in probate court.
- The Florida legislature sets this interest rate.
- At the time of this blog the rate is 4.75% which is not too shabby!
- Again that is more than you are going to get out of your savings account these days!
- The other type of interest is prejudgment interest.
- Want to learn more about that?
- Check out this recent probate appeal.
In re Estate of Sogliuzzo
- This was an appeal that centered around a final judgment in favor of an estate.
- It was determined that the defendant had improperly taken over $500,000 from the estate in Florida.
- Probate attorneys Florida know this is the type of case where prejudgment interest may get tricky.
- Does it start counting from the day the money was taken or the day the lawsuit was filed about it?
- Florida probate litigation regularly deals with these same issues.
- What do you think the right answer is?
Want to learn more about estate litigation in Florida?
Check out the entire case by clicking here.
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