Why would I “waive” my West Palm Beach inheritance?

Did you know that you could waive your Palm Beach inheritance?   But why would you want to do that? The answer may surprise you. Check out these 2 important reasons you may want to waive your inheritance in West Palm Beach.

Waiving an Inheritance

• Technically an inheritance is a piece of property and a court can never force you to keep or take a piece of property.
• But what happens if you decide to waive the inheritance, can you direct where it does go?
• No, in Florida if you waive your Delray Beach inheritance the inheritance is treated as if you predeceased (died before) the testator.
• So why would you waive your inheritance if you do not get to decide who it goes to?

Reason 1: Protection from Creditors

• If you are drowning in debt or about to declare bankruptcy do you really want to waste your grandmothers Delray Beach house on paying off credit cards?
• If you waive your inheritance the creditors will not be able to claim it that usually will benefit someone you care about whether it be your heirs or the alternative beneficiaries.
• Which brings you to the second reason…

Reason 2: Avoiding (Federal) Gift Tax

• Sometimes you simply will never need the assets from a Palm Beach estate and it will obviously pass to your children in due time.
• In fact a party may want to just simply give it to the child to save some time or maybe to cover education expenses.
• The problem is that an excessive estate could trigger the Federal gift tax if it exceeds a certain threshold.
• Florida has no such tax that you need to watch out for but many states do!
• If a will does not list an alternative beneficiary, then the inheritance will pass as if you died to your heirs.
• Watch out for a gift that has a condition such as if you predecease then the gift goes to another party, waiving will not allow it to go to your heirs.