What is a notice to creditors? Maybe you have received one in the mail  but its a lot more likely that you saw one while serving as a personal representative of an estate. What does this document do and what types of claims are they talking about? You will want to read up on this if you plan on serving as a personal representative in Florida but also if someone who owes you money passes away before paying you. 

Probate disputes can get lengthy and personal, you may start to notice the   judge has already made up their minds,this is called prejudging the case. In Florida, this is strictly prohibited and if a judge’s comments on the records indicate the case is prejudged a party may be entitled to a new judge. How can you tell if the comments the judge made are enough to be considered prejudging the case? A writ issued by the Third District Court of Appeal highlights one easy way to show that a judge has prejudged the case, in this case a new judge is almost guarenteed, is it possible to get a similar result out of your case?

As you may have heard Tallahassee seems set on overhauling Florida’s  guardianship laws well Miami-Dade has that same spirit as they have just implemented a new system for appointing guardians to oversee those deemed incapacitated. What is new about the system? Does it change how to file for guardianship? What about if you plan on filing as the guardian of a loved one, will this new registry system create roadblocks for you?

Involved in a business dispute Palm Beach?  Wondering just what a commercial litigation lawyer is inDelray Beach?  Consider these points if you are wondering what in the heck a commercial litigator is in Florida.

One of the good things about Florida Probate is that if you feel you did not get a chance to make your case, the Probate Rules and the Rules of Civil Procedure do provide mechanisms for you:  motion for probate rehearing?  A Florida lawsuit case decided on March 25, 2015 highlights the wide latitude that the trial court has in listening to the appellate courts.

A new study came out by the Tax Foundation ( a Washington DC based think   tank) which theorizes that getting rid of the death tax may increase economic output and employment by as much as 150,000 jobs. Did you know that some states have their own estate taxes that you may be subjected to if you own property outside of the state of Florida? How much does an estate have to be worth for the US Federal Estate tax to take effect? Wasn’t the estate tax supposed to be phased out by now anyways?

If a person dies, they can still bring a lawsuit through their estate, and a Personal Representative is named as Plaintiff as PR of the Estate of the Plaintiff. This includes wrongful death cases which usually stem from a claim of negligence. An opinion from the Fourth DCA that was issued yesterday (March 25, 2015) shows the difficult task a PR may have in showing negligence without a live plaintiff. These are the same problems that arise in will contests and other adversarial probate disputes.  The Court recently issued its opinion in the case of Vitrano (as PR) v. FPL The Court denied the attempt to get a jury instruction for negligence per se which is a fancy way of saying that a party may be negligent for violating a statute if that violation harms the “protected class” of persons the statute was meant to protect. The decedent here was electrocuted somehow through the fault of Florida Power and Light (FPL) while he was trimming a tree for a third party. The plaintiff wanted the jury to know about FPL’s violations of the National Electric Safety Code (NESC). The third party was told by FPL that they would trim the suspect trees and the third party instructed them that they had already told their contractor (the decedent) to do so. The Plaintiff sued FPL alleging they knew of the dangerous condition and attempted to use two violations of NESC about tree trimming but the Court found that the decedent was […]

Up until recently the mark of a good probate attorney was how they  minimized estate tax liabilities but more and more people are getting concerned (rightfully so) about reducing capital gains tax liability which may have previously been the turf of the tax lawyer. When you sell an asset such as a security (i.e. stocks) you owe capital gains tax on the difference between you paid and what you got, assuming it increased in value, if it lost value then you can mark a loss of income to reduce your income tax liability. In order to determine what number you subtract from the sale price, you need to know the basis which can be tricky and different depending on how you got your stock. 

Unfortunately divorce is rather common with over half of marriages ending in divorce these days also more and more couples are having children outside of marriage. Probate courts in florida traditionally deal with marriage while the family courts deal with custody issues and other “family” disputes. A recent case out of the Supreme Court of Alabama shows the fine line these complimentary courts draw and how pursuing a remedy in the wrong court may lead to you having to pursue it twice. Do you know whether you are supposed to file in probate or family court?

Florida has an aging population and planning for incapacity is an important  aspect of any estate plan. What will happen if you do not have a health care surrogate ? Who do you think makes those decisions for you? Your spouse, your kids, your parents? The short answer is it depends and its not something that should be left up to chance as illustrated by the tragic case of Terry Schiavo about ten years ago dealing with incapacity and lack of preparation. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon case, it is just a well known example of poorly planned estates or lack thereof that tell heirs nothing about what to do in the event of incapacitation.