How many of you have stepbrothers or stepsisters who you might share an inheritance or a trust with in Florida?  Is your mother or father married to a second or third spouse ?  Does your mother or father have children from another marriage or relationship?  Final question which Florida probate litigators want to know the answer to: do you believe that your mother or father treats your step-brother or step-sisterbetter than you?  Well, if you expect to inherit from your mom or dad’s Florida estate, or Broward County real estate, or even a revocable trust, you may want to read about a transfer of 7 pieces of real estate to a step-son, and to a Florida company, all done 15 days before dad died.  Ask your estate lawyer Boca Raton about how families can sue each other after dad or mom dies, over real estate and so called deathbed transfers.  This real estate appeal Florida case may be described as asking the question: what do I have to do if dad gave away everything just before he died and a lot of assets are now out of the estate?   Isn’t that a recurring problem or legal issue between siblings and step children after mom or dad dies?  They learn that, even though dad or mom had a great Boca Raton estate plan, he or she supposedly gave away assets or money or real estate RIGHT BEFORE THEY DIED, favoring one child or step child, over others.   Florida probate attorneys know this […]

Sometimes, heck, many times, heirs and beneficiaries in the middle of a Florida Will Contest, get angry or frustrated, or at least disappointed, if they lose a motion or a court hearing.  That’s all part of the probate litigation Florida process, right? No one, I mean no one, bats 1.000 and hits it out of the park each day, each motion, each hearing, each objection.  Part of the role of a Florida probate lawyer is to not only be prepared, competent and forceful, but to also manage the expectations of an estate lawsuit client.  Is the widow or surviving spouse sad and overly emotional?  Is thestepchild angry and upset that he was cut out of the will from the Palm Beach Gardens estate plan?  Perhaps one sister or brother is jealous of the other, who inherited the Floridahomestead.  You get the picture.  So, it’s important to know what you are “fighting” for in probate court, and what you want to accomplish, or hope to accomplish.  Understanding therisks and rewards of estate litigation Florida is important, and estate attorneys and clients who are not on the same page can cause stress, more frustration and create a recipe for a poor attorney client relationship. Many times, this frustration can come about when a probate court rules against you.  This Florida estate law commentary is about the discretion which a Florida Probate Court can exercise and what amounts to abuse of discretion.

Do you know what you have to have in a will for it to be  valid in Florida probate court? Florida estate lawyers know that failure to include the specifics could cost you big time down the road in estate litigation. Want to avoid will contests, inheritance disputes and Florida probate litigation? One simple way to start is to make sure your will was executed properly. Check out this recent probate appeal to learn more.

Do you know how long you have to retain a Florida will contest lawyer and to contest the will in probate court? It may shock you to learn how little time you actually have to make such a claim. In Florida probate court time is of the essence and often times the notice of administration is the starter pistol for the race. Are you ready to run the will contest marathon? Check out this recent appeal to learn why you have to act before it is too late.

Do you know what testamentary capacity is and why it is so  important to Florida will contest lawyers? Florida probate lawyers know that lack of testamentary capacity could invalidate the whole estate plan! Do you know why? Check out this recent appeal from Mississippi. Is this how it would end up in Florida estate litigation?

If you are involved in Florida probate litigation, most likely your estate attorneys have, as part of their litigation strategy, the Florida appeals process.  What if you win but the other side appeals your estate lawsuit? What if you lose: did you preserve the errors for appeal? In Palm Beach probate circles,Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal handles the appeals in Broward, Palm Beach and Martin Counties for estate, trust, & guardianship appeals.  So, what can you learn from a recent, February 17, 2016 4th DCA appellate decision called Salituri v. Salituri?  Well, this is actually  not a probate case. It is a family law or divorce appeal Florida.  We all know that divorce law in Florida, and divorce trials, are often the subject of appeals, kind of like summary judgments:  they seem to always be the subject of a written appellate opinion.  So, here are a few things which you, a Florida estate lawyer, or a client who is in the middle of an estate lawsuit Boca Raton, can learn from this recent 4th DCA opinion, regarding a final judgment which was REVERSED and sent back down to the Broward County trial court.  Here is a copy of this 4th DCA, Florida, appeals decision:  http://4dca.org/opinions/Feb%202016/02-17-16/4D15-1258.op.pdf

What do you do if you are a trust beneficiary and you, well, don’t TRUST your  Florida trustee?  Well, if you ask any Florida trust lawyer, they will tell you that you, as a beneficiary, have a lot of rights.  They may point you to theFlorida Trust Code, which is Chapter 736 of the Florida Statutes.  But, what if you don’t want to hire a trust attorney just yet, but you want to try to get the information which you seek, on your own, from your trustee?  Maybe you read your father’s revocable trust Boca Raton,or you know you are are a beneficiary of an inheritance under your mom’s living trust when she wrote it in Boynton Beach.  But you don’t have a complete copy of the trust document, sometimes called the trust “instrument,” and you are not sure how much you inherit, or when you inherit.   Here are few tips and pointers for you, the trust beneficiary, or for you, the trust attorney Florida, who may not handle trust litigation. 

Florida probate lawyers deal everyday with what are called fiduciary duties. What fiduciary duties does a Florida trustee owe to the beneficiaries of a trust? Check out this recent case out of the Court of Appeals in North Carolina to learn more.

Florida probate lawyers know what a resulting trust is, but do you? Florida estate attorneys may be able to use this old doctrine of law to protect you after an unfortunate series of events. Want to learn more? Check out this recent will contest and resulting trust case from Tennessee. Ask yourself, what does this have to do with my Florida will contest and probate litigation.

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?