Ask any Florida trust lawyer and they will probably tell you that penalty clauses are invalid under Florida trust law. But what does that mean? Can you contest a trust even when a trust says, in plain English, that if you challenge the trust that you receive no inheritance? Ask your Florida probate litigation lawyer about Florida trust law 736.1108: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.1108.html
How do I file a trust challenge in Florida?
- If you want to object to a trust or file a trust contest, don’t wait
- There may be time frames and statutes of limitations which can be as short as six months under Florida trust law
- Estate attorneys often work closely with Palm Beach trust lawyers to give notice of a revocable trust when someone dies and the trust is now an irrevocable trust
- Many times, your mom or dad’s revocable trust now becomes an irrevocable family trust or a credit shelter trust, or, if mom or dad had a widow, or what Florida estate lawyers call a surviving spouse, there may be a marital trust
- BUT before you start counting your inheritance, understand that that revocable trust must pay the debts and expenses of the trust creator who just passed away. Is a probate necessary?
- Someone’s revocable trust has to use its money and assets to pay probate expenses and estate administration expenses if there is not enough money in the Palm Beachprobate or estate
- So, to contest a trust, or even a trust amendment, you need to file a trust lawsuit
- File it in the civil or probate division and challenge the trust by filing a lawsuit andnaming the trustee, and maybe the trust beneficiaries, as defendants. You should as your trust litigation attorney Florida whether you have to, or should, name beneficiaries as defendants.
- You mean sue the trustee? What if I know the trustee or it’s a relative?
- Well, if you don’t feel comfortable suing the trustee, when what are you talking about objecting to the trust for?
What if the trust says I lose my inheritance if I challenge it?
- Let’s say that you used to be in your mom’s $5 Million trust for, say, $3 Million
- But over time, your mom got disappointed with you and she cut your inheritance downto, say, $10,000 and then mom dies
- You have a strong suscipion that mom’s last boyfriend, who is 30 years younger than your late mother, caused you to get disinherited from your mother’s trust
- You contact a trust litigation law firm Florida, who obtains a copy of your mom’s trust and the amendment that that cut your inheritance down from $3 Million to $10,000
- Your probate litigation attorney is talking about concepts you have never heard of likeundue influence and fraud and lack of capacity and she wants to file a trust lawsuit andobject to the amendment
- She also wants you to consider suing your mother’s boyfriend for tortious interference with an expectancy or inheritance
- But you read the trust and it says very clearly that if you challenge the trust, the trustee is instructed that you give up, or lose, your inheritance under the terms of the trust
- Is a trust penalty clause valid? Can a Florida trust say that if you object to the trust or contest the trust that you lose your inheritance?
- You can ask your Palm Beach or Boca Raton trust lawyer, but the answer sis no. You can also read the law on penalty clauses in Florida trusts by clicking on this link, Florida Statute 736.1108: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.1108.html