Legal issues of an estate can become complicated when they involve foreign nationals and assets in another jurisdiction. (12/19/12, Florida 3rd DCA Case)

When planning your Florida estate, one of the things you must consider is if and how other jurisdictions andforeign countries might become involved in your estate administration.

In this 2012 Florida estate planning case, the battle over the estate of a man, who was aFlorida resident but also a citizen of Spain, becomes complicated when the Florida courtsbegin to interpret rulings decided by a Spanish court, and the parties argue a lack of jurisdiction.

As the opinion of the court reads:

• In 1991, Simon Davidson (“Decedent”) died in Spain, and was survived by his son, Allan Davidson (“Allan”), and his brother, Stanley Davidson (“Stanley”). Luis M. Juega (“Juega”), aSpanish citizen and a resident of Marbella, Spain, was appointed by the Spanish court to serve as administrator of the Decedent’s estate.
• Juega asserts that, at the time of his death, Decedent was the director of Nozomi Finance International Limited, a foreign corporation (“Nozomi Corporation”), and that following his death, Juega became the director of Nozomi Corporation, because it was an asset of the estate.
• The Spanish court eventually found Allan to be the Decedent’s sole heir, and in 2003, entered an order closing the estate.
• In conjunction with the closing of the estate, Juega was discharged from his duties asadministrator.
• Following his discharge, Juega filed a complaint on behalf of the Nozomi Corporation litigation.
• Stanley moved to dismiss the complaint on multiple bases, the most pertinent of which was that Juega lacked standing to pursue the litigation after the Spanish court had closed the estate.

Use the following case citation to read more on this case: Juega v. Davidson, 105 So. 3d 575, 576 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2012).

Any West Palm Beach Probate litigation attorney will tell you that when alterntive jurisdictions are involved in a Florida Estate planning proceeding, the case is bound to become exceedingly more complicated.  So what is the best way to avoid all of the trouble?  Planning ahead and preparing for these kind of situations.  Often times setting up a trust is a good way to deal with problems with multiple jurisdictions.  By setting up a living trust in Florida, much of the jurisdictional issues can be handled in advance when you transfer yourassets to the trust.

See http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/ for videos and information on Trusts, Trust Planning, and Trust Administration.