What does a Florida Probate Lawyer Do? 5 Ways Florida Probate Lawyers May Be of Assistance to You!

What is a Florida Probate Lawyers? Do these lawyers only file things in probate court? Are there licenses limited to practice within the probate courts of Florida? In short, no. Florida Probate lawyers are involved in a vast array of probate related legal services. Just because an issue is in civil court rather than probate court does not mean that a probate lawyer should not be handling the matter. Want to learn more? Check out these five different things that a probate lawyer may be of assistance with. 

1. Filing a lawsuit in civil court. You may be surprised to find out that certain types of civil claims (usually called “tort” claims) can be brought by probate lawyers, in fact certain types of claims may benefit from a probate lawyers experience. For example you may have heard of the claim for tortious interference with inheritance or expectancy interest. This is the type of claim that Anna Nicole Smith won millions on after the death of her older rich husband. Probate lawyers are skilled in inheritance law and can be crucial in showing that an interest would have passed “but for” the conduct of the defendant.
2. Estate and tax planning. Some duties of a probate lawyer involve documents not even filed in the court, this is where estate planning comes in. Drafting Power of Attorney documents and health care surrogates is an important duty for any probate lawyer. Also,  they will eventually be filed in court,and drafting of wills is a huge part of estate planning as well.
3. Adversarial probate matters. Sometimes called “will contests” or challenges to various trust procedures, things can get “adversarial” in probate courts meaning that one side is against the other. When this happens both sides usually rely on probate attorneys to advocate for their interests.
4. Family Planning / Counseling after divorce, remarriage and childbirths etc. Estate planning does not end after you execute a will. probate attorneys spend a lot of time updating this very important documents as well as counseling people on the various intricacies of these matters.
5. Trusteeship. Sometimes clients will elect to have their probate attorney act as theirtrustee overseeing various family trusts for the benefit of the client and his heirs.

In other words, its not just will drafting, Florida Probate Attorneys are here to give objective, experienced advice on a variety of issues ranging from will contests, to guardianship and even trusteeship and the various duties involved in holding property in trust.

Want to learn even more? Check out our FAQ video library on just some of the many things a Florida Probate Attorney could do for you, just click here.