Wealthy Florida clients and those exposed to the domestic stock market, like Florida beneficiaries, have seen their wealth grow over the very recent past.  The indices for US small cap, mid cap and large cap equities are on a roar.  If we squeeze a few more points out of domestic equities during the remainder of the fourth quarter,  2013 investment returns will approach or surpass 30%.  So, as a Florida beneficiary or client or investor, how does that make you feel? 

If you are the trustee of a Florida trust, or the executor (personal representative) of a Florida estate, part of your job, some of your duties include, managing the finances of the Florida trust or estate.  So how does a Florida trustee or Florida executor deal with the surging stock market? 

Should Florida trustees invest in IPO’s?  Not UFO’s, but initial public offerings of publicly traded stock, like Facebook and the much anticipated Twitter, Inc.  Today’s Wall Street Journal feature an article on IPO’s on the front page of that financial newspaper’s “Money & Investing” section.  IPOs were all the rage in the 1990’s as tech companies soared and the market roared, and anything with a “.net” or “.com” went public.

Are you the beneficiary of a Florida trust or a trustee of a Florida trust? Maybe your rich aunt from Boca Raton, Florida set up a $1,000,000 trust to last for your lifetime and permits the trustee to distribute trust funds for your “health, education, maintenance and support.”   How does Obamacare affect the Florida trustee and Florida trust beneficiary? 

Florida estates may encounter charitable gifts or charitable devises (distributions) under a Florida will or revocable trust.   Some charitable gifts are outright (“To the Pankauski Foundation, I leave $1,000,000”).  Others are held in donor advised funds.  According to Fidelity Investment’s Fidelity Charitable Giving Report, total charitable giving in 2011 alone was close to $300 Billion !   Much of that charitable giving was in donor advised funds.  

Are you involved in a Florida probate, estate administration or trust dispute?  If so, here are some guidelines for those who are new to probate litigation or probate administration.  First, understand that our entire judicial system, our civil procedure, our system, or mechanism for resolving disputes peacefully and fairly, is contained in a courtroom.  Second, as a society, we all agree, and are in fact better off for it, that when we disagree, we don’t take matters into our own hands. 

Do you wonder where all the money in your mom or dad’s estate went to?  Are you involved in a probate matter in Palm Beach County, Florida?  Many times, children and heirs believe that mom or dad died owning a lot more assets, or simply died much richer than the estate inventory or accounting shows.  So, heirs and children sometimes wonder :  where’s all the money?  When the heirs or children to a Florida probate begin to participate in the estate administration process in Florida, they may learn that lifetime gifts were made by mom or dad.

Today, the Wall Street Journal wrote in its “Money & Investing” section of that financial paper that the “gold rush” by investors to the precious metal may be slowing.   The Wall St. Journal article is a good starting point to consider gold or other precious metals in your Florida trust portfolio.  What is your Florida trust invested in?  

John Pankauski, a trust and estate litigator in West Palm Beach, Florida, has received the highest rating from Martindale-Hubbell®  as judged by his peers: Florida probate lawyers and judges.  Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review RatingTM provides the service of privately and selectively rating members of the Florida legal community through an extensive review of a Florida lawyer’s work among other Florida lawyers and judges.

The Palm Beach Post reported today that a Wellington, Florida man stole $30 Million by “professing his love of God and his ability to make people rich.”  Financial abuse and fraud in Florida is rampant.  Fraud and financial exploitation continues :  even in a post-Madoff world.  While professionals like probate lawyers, who guide, advise and protect the rich, scratch their heads and wonder how this happens, the truth is…..it does.