Search Results: POA

Ask any estate planning attorney in Florida, and they will tell you all about the very basic estate documents which you need in your estate plan. Generally, you need a will, a revocable trust, a power of attorney (durable power of attorney) and health care documents. These estate plan documents, we are told, will help organize and manage your money, and your person, if you can’t do it yourself, such as if you are incapacitated from Dementia. These estate documents can serve to pass your money and property on to your chosen beneficiaries, like your family and loved ones. Now, ask a Florida probate litigation attorney about an estate plan, or a guardianship lawyer in Florida, and they are most likely to speak to you about a growing trend in the law: guardianship litigation, what probate attorneys refer to as “contested guardianships.” More specifically, guardianship litigation law firms in Florida will probably talk to you about the Guardianship Code, Chapter 744, and whether you can avoid, legally, a guardianship with a durable power of attorney and a living trust. To read Florida’s laws on guardianship, please click here. So, let’s say someone files for guardianship. Is a Florida guardianship necessary if you already have a reputable estate planning attorney, a solid estate plan ? The answer is “no”. As long as your estate plan adequately addresses your needs. That’s right, even if you are found to be incapacitated or incompetent. Even if a probate court rules that you are not […]

A guardianship may not be needed if somebody has a power of attorney, some healthcare documents appointing someone to make healthcare decisions for them if they’re unable to, like when they’re incapacitated. And there’s a mechanism to manage their properties such as a revocable trust. So you may not need a guardianship in that instance. The question becomes, if you don’t have those documents do you need to establish a guardianship? And the question also becomes by some family members, if they don’t like what those documents say, are they going to come in and try to be appointed the guardian and make your decisions for you?

Everybody seems to have a Florida will, a trust and a power of attorney, but sometimes people need a guardianship. In Florida, a guardianship, which is subject to court supervision, does have it’s costs and expenses, may be avoidable. And the reason for that is Florida probate courts…guardianship courts, don’t want to have a guardianship case if there’s another means to protect the person who needs help. A power of attorney may be one of the ways to protect someone and their property without needing a guardianship.

Everyone knows that there are a ton of retirees in West Palm Beach and  Florida in general. Did your parents retire down here? Are you concerned with protecting your loved ones as they age? There are a number of ways to protect your family without babysitting them. You may want to consider a power of attorney or alternatively seeking guardianship. Do you know the difference between the two?

An August 11, 2015 Court of Appeals of Washington case reveals the challenges a successor trustee or POA may have in seeking a restraining orderagainst one’s personal assistant or companion.

Financial exploitation and elder exploitation & financial abuse, are, sadly, widespread and common in Florida. Florida has both civil causes of action and criminal laws to deal with those whomis-use powers of attorney, positions of trust and those who convert, conceal and steal money belonging to others. Yes, family members and trustees of mom or dad’s revocable living Florida trust do have legal remedies to recover money if someone steals money with a power of attorney Florida.  And, yes, there are legal lawsuits which can be filed if a badtrustee stole money from the revocable trust Boca Raton.  Also, and this is important: there are guardianship legal proceedings in Florida which can assist family members if a strangeror thief is trying to take control of mom or dad or their money.   But Florida and Palm Beach County are not alone in dealing with financial exploitation and elder abuse. 

When is a second power of attorney invalid and an act of over-reaching or even financial exploitation? This is a question which family members in Florida often ask when there are facts which suggest financial exploitation or elder financial abuse Palm Beach County.   What if a neighbor or non family member has your mom or dad sign a power of attorney in Florida? What if an aunt or uncle is recovering in a rehab facility Delray Beach and then someone has them sign a second power of attorney?  Is that proper?  If someone in Florida uses or mis-uses the Florida POA, they can be charged with crimes, and there are also civil remedies, as well, which family members may be able to file. 

Are you trying to avoid a relative appointing a guardian in  West Palm Beach? Did you know the West Palm Beach probate courts have to first address if there is an alternative to guardianship? If there is an alternative that is sufficient the probate court cannot appoint a guardian. In this recent appeal the Fourth District Court of Appeal found that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to appoint a professional guardian when it had previously found that the wards wife had a sufficient substitute with a power of attorney.

Are you involved in guardianship matters or end of life,    health care decision-making?

Are  you the beneficiary of a Florida revocable trust and wonder if the trust has all the money it is supposed to have?  Put another way, if your mom’s revocable trust leaves the trust equally to 4 children, do you think thesuccessor trustee took trust assets before the inheritance split?  Did the successor trustee or Power of Attorney use the POA to transfer assets to himself instead of to the revocable trust which gets split evenly 4 ways?  Consider reading a July 31, 2015 Ohio probate litigation case involving a POA, and a successor trustee who was found to have committed concealment and embezzlement. This case makes you ask: if your brother or sister took money from dad, how do you really tell if it was embezzlement or a gift or a loan?