Search Results: revocable trust

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — On April 27, 2016, guardianship litigation attorney John Pankauski spoke to approximately 80 employees of the V.A. in West Palm Beach. 

Many times, a family member, or even a lawyer, or neighbor, may file for Florida guardianship when one is not necessary. If you are the person who someone thinks needs a guardian, or if you are a family member, wife or spouse, or adult child, of someone who is accused of being incompetent, you have rights. You can try to stop the guardianship. How do you stop a person who filed for guardianship? There are three ways to stop a guardianship in Florida. First, you can, perhaps, object to standing. Standing is often described by Florida guardianship lawyers as the legal ability to come into court and be heard. The right to participate in a lawsuit. You or I can’t go to a court and start arguing points of law, in say, some patent infringement case about a Silicon Valley company. Why? Because we live in Florida, and have absolutely nothing to do with some patent infringement case in California. There’s no connection. The same holds true for probate litigation in Florida. A person down the street, or at the Greyhound bus terminal, just can’t, on their own, come into court and claim that you need a guardian. There has to be some connection, or nexus, to filing for guardianship in a Florida probate court. The person who files has be “interested” in you or your welfare. If they don’t have a connection to you, you can ask that the petition for guardianship be dismissed for lack of standing. Who […]

Our law firm is a small to medium-size boutique law firm who limits its practice. Our practice is limited to trials and appeals involving wills, trusts, and estates and related issues such as guardianship matters, rights of beneficiaries and surviving spouses to trusts and estates, and reformation and modifications of will and trusts. The firm is also involved in and interested in hot topics and legal trends that are sweeping the country. Can you reform or change a will even after the person dies? Can you modify or reform a trust when the trust says it’s irrevocable? Same sex couples, do you have inheritance rights? Will DOMA be overturned? Has it been overturned? Our practice is limited to these areas of the law and while we’re based in West Palm Beach, Florida, our practice extends throughout Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin counties, and throughout Florida. From time to time, we act as co-councel with other law firms on a limited basis outside the state of Florida. We’re located two-and-a-half blocks from the main courthouse in West Palm Beach and handle matters in probate divisions and civil divisions throughout Florida.

Let’s say that you are in the middle of a trust lawsuit Palm Beach or maybe a will contest Florida.  The other side just filed a motion for summary judgment and your probate litigator Florida just told you that this may be the end of your inheritance case.  What?  Or, perhaps, you have asked your estate lawyer Palm Beach whether filing a motion for summary judgment on a limited issue makes sense, and now you are discussing trial strategy.  When does a summary judgment make sense in a Florida probate lawsuit?  Here are 5 things to consider when involved in estate lawsuits Florida and also trust litigation Delray Beach:

Florida guardianship lawyers have had an increasing amount of work over the past 10 years or so. Why? Well perhaps more adult children or 2nd and 3rd spouses are seeking to control or protect someone with the help of the probate courts.  Other probate lawyers Palm Beach might say that adult children and 2nd and 3rd wives and husbands are just more litigious about money and inheritances and the use, or mis-use, of someone’s money as they age, and perhaps get frail or suffer fromdementia.  What costs can a family-member-turned-guardian recover?  Here are some points to consider before you expect to be reimbursed for travel or other expenses which you, as guardian, claim to be spending for your parent’s benefit.

So, let me guess: you are in the middle of a will contest Florida or a trust challenge Palm Beach Gardens, and your probate litigator Florida is talking to you about evidence and the need of expert testimony at your estate trial.  Or, perhaps you are in the middle of a trust lawsuit and your trust lawyer Florida is suggesting that you bring in someone, to offer expert testimony, on fiduciary duties, the Trust Code or Chapter 736 F.S., and what a proper trustee should have done under certain circumstances. Is an expert witness necessary in your estate lawsuit, or does it make sense to have an expert testify about matters in your Palm Beach probate matter?  The2nd District Court of Appeal in Florida recently discussed the use of an expert witness in an appeals case known as Taylor v. Culver, not a probate case, but you can read this Florida appeals opinion at 40 Fla. L. Weekly D2654 or by clicking on this link to the 2nd DCA appellate opinion:

It is, to say the least, an uncomfortable motion for a probate litigation law firm Florida to file. What I am speaking about? Why, it’s a motion to disqualify the probate court judge.  Some estate lawyers Palm Beach refer to it as a motion to recuse.  Sometimes, not all the time, you will see these motions filed in atrust lawsuit or even a Palm Beach probate administration.  Many times, you see one side in awill challenge Florida or will contest Boca Raton trying to get rid of the judge.   Why?  Well, if beneficiaries or heirs at law or step-sons, or step-daughters, are fighting mom or dad’ssecond spouse, or there is sibling rivalry, there is a lot on the legal line, right?   And, sometimes, not all the time, if one of those parties to a probate Florida loses a motion, or anevidentiary hearing, they feel, well, down.  And instead of focussing on the facts, or discovery, or trial strategy, or setting depositions, they improperly get mad at the probate judge.  Is this right? Is this what serious trial lawyers do? (No….)

Do so-called “illegitimate” heirs or children inherit from their parents’ estates? A recent story out of Spain reveals that anillegitimate son of a wealthy Spaniard just won an estate lawsuit to inherit money.  What can such children born out of wedlock learn from this probate lawsuit?

If you are thinking about bringing a trust lawsuit Palm Beach or perhaps filing a a will contest Broward County, you may be wondering: how am I going to pay my Florida probate litigation law firm?  Many times, prospective clients who want to object to the will or file a revocable trust Florida lawsuit want their probate attorney to take the case on a contingency fee.  Here are 8 things about Florida contingency fees which you might not have known as it relates to probate litigation in Florida. And, yes, this includes probate lawsuits over joint bank accounts.

“It’s all about the money!” some probate lawyers West Palm Beach may say.   But what about that money you are supposed toinherit from that Palm Beach probate? Where is the estate executor with your check?  Why haven’t you received your inheritance yet?  It’s been….what???….. 7 months?   1 year?   2 years?    Just how long should I have to wait to get my inheritance money from a Palm Beach probate or Florida estate?