In Florida, trust attorneys, estate administration attorneys, and attorneys who are involved with wills, trusts and estates know that a fiduciary owes a duty of loyalty to those they serve. A Florida trustee, a Florida personal representative, even one who is the attorney-in-fact, or “power of attorney” under a Florida power of attorney document, owes a duty of loyalty to those they serve. For Florida trustees, the duty is owed to beneficiaries.
What do you do if a Florida guardian is acting improperly? Florida places strict duties and great obligations upon a fiduciary such as a Florida trustee, a Florida personal representative or executor…..including Florida guardians. If a Florida guardian is acting improperly, he or she may be fined by court. Put another way, a court has an inherent right to sanction bad conduct, or to assess money damages against a Florida guardian or a Florida trustee or Florida personal representative.
In Florida, probate administration lawyers know that attorneys fees (Florida lawyers fees) are regulated by Florida statute and Florida rules and caselaw. An attorney for a Florida trust or a Florida estate, and an attorney for the personal representative of a Florida estate, may be compensated from the Florida trust or the Florida estate, but it must be reasonable. Florida attorneys’ conduct, including what they charge, is regulated by the Florida Bar, and enunciated in caselaw, after the law is set forth in the Florida Probate Code and the Florida Trust Code.
Do you need to “open” a Florida probate? How does one begin the probate administration process in Florida? How do you “open” a Florida probate? How does one administer a Florida estate and deal with a Florida will? The good news is that opening a Florida probate in Palm Beach County, Broward County or Miami- Dade County, Florida is not terribly difficult but there are some traps for the unwary. The person in possession of a deceased person’s will is referred to under Florida law, and to by Florida probate attorneys, as the “custodian.” The custodian should file the will of the deceased Florida resident with the clerk of the court for the Florida county where the decedent resided.
What do you do when someone who signed a prenupt dies? Florida probate and estate and trust attorneys are very familiar with prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements. Florida divorce attorneys are also familiar with marital settlement agreements, which divide property and assign rights upon a divorce. Lawyers in Palm Beach Couty, and Broward County and Miami-Dade County for that matter, prepare marital agreements often. They draft them in part because there are so many second and third marriages in Florida. But enforcing them is another issue.
Need a Florida probate lawyer to protect your rights to a Florida inheritance, or a Florida probate or a Florida estate or trust? The good news is that there many knowledgeable, competent attorneys in Florida who advise clients on their rights regarding Florida probate, estates and trusts.
Florida probate litigators deal with contested or disputed issues of wills, trusts, estates, inheritances and guardianships every day. Many times there are family members or those who are related to the decedent, client or person by marriage who don’t get along. Frustration is high. Blood runs hot. Money is at stake. While Florida attorneys, indeed trust and estate clients, should be good advocates, one must always be mindful what everyone’s role in probate litigation and trust trials is: to find out the truth and then apply the law to that truth, those facts.
Do you invest assets for a Florida trust? Are you administering a Florida estate? Are you a Florida trustee or a Florida personal representative or executor? If so, have you enjoyed the buying opportunities which this stock market has afforded you and your Florida trust beneficiaries? In January, the market pushed higher, right out of the box and well off November, 2012 lows. Since the new year, we have seen new highs and a market that, when you look at 2013 on a multi year graph, is represented by a 60 degree angle—up !
If you are involved in a Florida probate administration matter, a Florida trust matter or a Florida contested guardianship, do you need more than just a probate lawyer. Do you need a litigator? Many Florida attorneys in Palm Beach and Broward are excellent probate lawyers. These Florida lawyers know the law, are intelligent and hard working. But when matters can’t be resolved, when you have to exercise your rights, when you have to go to court to argue your case, consider whether you need a litigator. A trial attorney.
The Pankauski Law Firm PLLC, a probate and trust law firm in West Palm Beach, Florida was victorious at trial yesterday, winning on all counts and successfully defending an individual trustee and a corporate trustee from allegations of fraud. The trial was held in the Main Courthouse, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. Pankauski Law Firm PLLC trial attorneys John Pankauski and Allison Sabocik tried the case.