While most people list an individual person or trust as beneficiary to a life insurance policy, there are several ways that the proceeds from your Florida life insurance policy will be paid to your estate. For example, if your listed beneficiary dies before you, you fail to list a beneficiary, or you list your estate as the beneficiary, then the life insurance will be an asset of your estate after death.
In most cases, however, it would be wise to keep your Florida life insurance proceeds away from probate.
- Having an asset in your estate means it will likely have to pass through the probate process after you die.
- And Florida probate can be a grueling process.
- It can be time-consuming and very expensive.
- But one of the biggest downfalls to have an asset go through the probate process is that it becomes subject to debts and creditor claims.
Florida estate planning tools such as trusts, rights of survivorship, and homestead rules are attractive to individuals planning for the estate because they avoid that probate process.Florida Statute 222.13 governs Florida insurance policies and provides that if the estatebecomes the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, “the insurance proceeds shall become a part of the insured’s estate for all purposes and shall be administered by the personal representative of the estate of the insured in accordance with the probate laws of the state in like manner as other assets of the insured’s estate.” Palm Beach probate litigation attorneys know that the best way to keep control over your assets after death is to creat a trust with a well-thought out trust agreement. This will help ensure your assets will be used as you intended, long after you’re gone.
See http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/ for videos and information on Wills in Florida, Florida Trust Law, Estate Planning, and Estate Administration in Florida.