Did your relative have a contradictory estate plan? Often times a person will leave property in his or her will and also set up trusts towards the end of life. What happens when the will leaves the property to you but it was transferred to a real estate trust first? Can you set aside that transfer? That is what one appellant tried to do in this recent case out of the Court of Appeals in California.
So, maybe you are the beneficiary of dad’s revocable trust, but you are wondering where all of dad’s money went. Why isn’t there more money in dad’s Florida living trust? Did my sister, who was dad’s Florida power of attorney, mis-use the POA to take dad’s money? Did my sister, who was dad’s successor trustee of his Florida trust, hide assets from me and not put all the money in the revocable trust? If my sister says dad made a $300,000 loan or a gift to her, how does that get proven in a probate litigation trial West Palm Beach?
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?
Are you the trustee of a Florida trust? Maybe you are the successor trustee of your mom or dad’s revocable trust which they had when the lived in Boca Raton. You thought that a Florida revocable trust wouldavoid Florida Probate and you would not have to deal with a brother or sister or step-parentthat you don’t like or don’t get along with. But you agreed to serve as successor trustee of the Florida living trust and the beneficiaries are giving you, the Florida trustee, a hard time. Here are 5 pointers on how to deal with crazy Florida trust beneficiaries if you are aFlorida trustee of a trust.
What do you know about marital assets in West Palm Beach? Did you know that by co-mingling funds in a joint account you can turn property that was once yours into marital property? Do you know why that matters? In divorce non-marital assets are not subject to equitable distribution. So what happens when an elderly man accidentally deposits three million dollars into his joint account when he meant to put it in a separate account? That is just what the court had to decide in this landmark case out of the Fourth District Court of Appeals.
Most of us will make more than one will in our lifetime. Circumstances change: new beneficiaries are born, old ones die, and often relationships change and unfortunately sometimes it becomes necessary to disinherit a previous beneficiary. When these situations change so does your estate plan, at least it should. Strangely people seem to remember to create new wills much more than they remember to audit and change their living trusts. This always shocks me as aPalm Beach Probate Attorney because one of the primary benefits of a revocable living trust is just that – its flexibility to adapt.
Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, set up an irrevocable trust which held a significant portion of his $2 billion estate. Recently though, Benson instructed the trustee of the trust to transfer controlof his pro sports franchises, auto dealerships, real estate, and banking interests to his wife, Gayle. Now, Benson’s daughter and grandchildren have thrown a flag on the play. Their stance: you cannot change an irrevocable trust.
One major concern for those considering creating a trust agreement in Florida, is whether the trust should be arevocable trust or an irrevocable trust. West Palm Beach Estate Planning attorneys get this question all of the time. In reality, however, there is no clear winner when considering anirrevocable trust vs. a revocable trust Florida. Both Florida estate planning tools have significant value, and the right choice for you will often depend on what goals you want to accomplish.
Palm Beach probate litigators are not the only ones who deal with allegations of forged signatures on trust documents. A recent, October 28, 2014 Montana Supreme Court case dealt with some wild facts in thistrust lawsuit which demonstrates that trust lawyers Palm Beach are not the only ones with interesting trust lawsuits. If you are involved in a trust challenge Florida, you may want to read this trust opinion.
If you are trustee Palm Beach and are involved in a trust lawsuit Florida or legal issue of restitution, you may want to read a recent, November 5, 2014 Florida trust appeals case from Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal. This Florida trust case also deals with the legal issues of res judicata and the rule against splitting causes of action, which your trust litigator Delray Beach may want to know about.