For Love & Money: retirement accounts, divorce & death

A recent New York Times, www.nytimes.com,  in the business section, had a great article on divorce & your retirement accounts

• As many of you who have read my Florida probate blog know, I’ve written, and spoken, a lot about death, probate & divorce.
• This New York Times article focusses on divorce and your retirement account.
• Why is this important?

Retirement Accounts:  a big part of your estate

• Increasingly, the most valuable estate assets in one’s estate are your retirement account & your home (what we in Palm Beach probate circles refer to as the Florida homestead).
• You spend a lifetime saving, and hopefully watching your savings, and value in your retirement account, and Florida homestead, increase.
• Then, each of these valuable assets can be diminished or distributed in a divorce. …. Or, even lost in a Palm Beach probate or estate administration if the beneficiary designation is wrong, or your spouse dies during the divorce case.
• There are a number of complex & cautionary issues if you are divorcing and one dies.  Florida probate lawyers know this when they file a creditor’s claim on behalf of an ex wife or ex husband.  And if there was a prenup involved or a Florida marital settlement agreement, or a divorce judgment, we are probably going to have to enforce it in the Palm Beach probate.

You can read, for free, the article which I’ve written on divorce, family law, probate & estate law for the American Bar Association.

Here is the free link to my article, whether you are a Florida probate lawyer or a divorce or family lawyer.  http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/When-Worlds-Collide-The-Interlay-Between-FamilyLaw-and-Probate-Administration.pdf.pagespeed.ce.2V03-JQorS.pdf

• Does that mean you need a divorce lawyer and an estate lawyer? Well, yea….. if you are divorcing, or thinking about it, you absolutely need a really good family law or divorce attorney.

You should also speak to an experienced estate lawyer.

Q:   Why? : …………..’cause there’s a lot of money at stake and people pass away unexpectedly.

Q:   Is it worth an hour or two of your time to talk to a Palm Beach estate planning attorney? :  Yes

• Here is the link to the New York Times article on divorce and retirement accounts: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/28/your-money/late-in-life-divorce-can-disrupt-retirement-plans.html?ref=business&_r=0

After all, not every relationship or marriage ends up being a festival of love.