If you are a beneficiary of a Palm Beach estate, or if you expect to get an inheritance, you may be asking your Estate Lawyer Palm Beach:  where’s my money? 

If you thought that only Americans engaged in Probate Wars, or estate litigation, think again.  That’s right. For anyone who is involved in probate litigation, or inheritance lawsuits, you may want to read about a $300 Million estate disput in China.

Everyone, it seems, in a lawsuit, wants to know if you can freeze a bank account.  Can you garnish someone’s wages?  Well, a recent Palm Beach bank account case just went to the Palm Beach appeals court.  Anyone suing someone for money and who wants to “attach“ or “garnish“ wages or bank accounts may want to read this Palm Beach bank account case which was handed down literally two days ago.

If you are complaining that there is a Family Trust out there, or a trust just for your benefit…..problem is….. you are not being told anything…..How do  you get a copy of the Florida trust?

Is a Florida trustee required to tell trust beneficiaries where the trust money is ? Answer:  Yes !!! It doesn’t matter if you live in Boca Raton, Florida, Atlanta or New York. If a trust is governed by Florida law, that trustee needs to tell you where the money is. Trustees can’t operate or run the trust in secret. Trustees actually owe duties to you. Trustees are supposed to work for you and place your interestes above everyone else’s, including their own Any trust litigator Palm Beach will tell you that. Want to see a free video, online, about Florida trusts ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bBzSjmfDeg&feature=youtu.be

Let me guess: you are a beneficiary of a Florida trust and you are not getting information from the trustee.  You are wondering just what a trust accounting is underFlorida Trust Law.

So, you are the beneficiary of a family trust: an irrevocable trust with millions of dollars in it.  Or, maybe you just inherited a small trust from your mom or dad who had a revocable trust when they were alive.  But now you have trouble with your trustee and you believe that a legal dispute is coming.  Where, exactly, do  you sue the trustee?    This is an area of trust law which is a very important part of trust beneficiary rights, and one area which trustees definitely need to know about.

Richard Mellon Scaife died July 4, 2014 at the 82— and a very, very wealthy man.  This Pennsylvania billionaire’s estate just cut a check to Pennsylvania’s Department of Revenue for $100 Million.  Is it a bit ironic that such as conservative person, who supported right wing and libertarian causes, with access to the best advisors money could buy, didn’t find a way around the death tax?   Could this estate tax been legally eliminated with some basic estate tax planning?  Here’s a few probate pointers for those with enough money to be worrying about paying two estate taxes:  one to the US government and one to a state that has a death tax.  Or, if your an heir, or a family member with an expectation to inherit mom or dad’s millions, here’s some insight on how your inheritance may be taxed-away, and how a little planning may save millions.

Two Miami trustees were found to have committed breach of trust after a trial over a Fourth Amended and Restated Revocable Trust Agreement.  Anyone involved with an irrevocable trust in Florida, such as a trust beneficiary, may want to read thisFlorida trust ruling which went to the Miami Dade appeals court.  This case is particularly important for beneficiaries who may or may not get educational expenses or tuition paid for from a trust and also for those trust beneficiaries of a revocable trust which later becomesirrevocable.  In this trust tuition case, the creator of the trust sent a letter to the co trustee bank with instructions which were later ignored.

The worlds of comedy and entertainment were rocked with the death of comic Joan Rivers following minor elective surgery.   While she may want to be remembered for her talent to make us laugh, there are 5 things we can learn in our estate planning from this tragic loss.