Search Results: heirs

Watch out what you say –and agree to — in court, you Palm Beach estate beneficiaries. If you are involved in Palm Beach probate litigation or even a Palm Beach probate that doesn’t have an inheritance lawsuit yet, don’t think that just because “something isn’t in writing” means that an agreement is not enforceable.  This April 4, 2014 case from Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal stands for the proposition that ” a deal is a deal“–even when the agreement is oral & in open court.   This is a good case for those estate beneficiaries and family members and heirs at law who want to “Monday morning quarterback” or re-neg on what they previously agree to.  You can’t agree to a deal in a court on a Monday, and then deny it on a Tuesday.

If you are involved in a lawsuit in Broward County or Palm Beach County, you may want to read this April 16, 2014 opinion of the Palm Beach Appeals Court.  This case involved attorneys fees from a Ft. Lauderdale lawsuit:  a law firm claiming it was owed money and which won on “summary judgment” against 1 defendant but not against 2 others.  What is also important about this case is that the law firm’s clients had 15 days to object to any discrepancies in the bill for legal services.

This is a case of a minor child born out of wedlock and her Florida probate rights to inherit from the estate of her father, who disappeared.  If you are the parent of a child whose father just disappeared, your child may be able to inherit if the father is presumed dead by a Florida Probate Court.  If a minor child is left out of the last will in Florida, the minor child may also be able to inherit. It depends on whether the child is a pretermitted child (left out child) under the Florida Probate Code. You will want to read this April 9, 2014 Florida Probate Code opinion from an appeal in Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Palm Beach probate has seen probate disputes about money and big Palm Beach Trusts, for sure.  And often, heirs don’t agree on who inherits the personal property like the stamp collection or artwork, jewelry or family photos.  But it’s sad when families are fighting in Palm Beach County, Florida over the remains of one who has passed away.  Ashes. Burial instructions.  A Palm Beach County case right now is on appeal dealing with who controls the ashes of a young man who passed away in 2010.  Parents fighting in court over a son’s ashes.

Think you have your estate plan all up to date and in place, right? You carefully scrutinized your will & revocable  trust after evaluating who gets what when you’re gone. What could go wrong, right? If you think there may be an estate lawsuit over “undue influence”, or if you are involved in one right now, read on.

Are you worried that a Palm Beach inheritance lawsuit may mean that your private financial information becomes a court record?  Do you want the whole world to learn how much you are worth just because you objected to a will in a Palm Beach probate?   Is the other side to a Palm Beach probate litigation case trying to “discover” information about your assets, or business or wealth?  You may want to read a very recent case from Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal which was just handed down on March 14, 2014.

Let’s say your mom is a successful real estate mogul who lives in Boca Raton with all her wealth wrapped up in her company.  BIG retirement account.  Not worried about an inheritance?  How about your dad: maybe he’s a wealthy deal maker who lives on the ocean in Delray Beach, Florida. (Huge joint account at a Palm Beach trust company).  They are divorced but they each remarried.   They love you, right? No chance to be cut out of the Palm Beach will, right?  (You’ve even seen the Palm Beach will and the revocable trust. You inherit. )  And you gave them grandchildren. But accidents do happen.

Can someone who is suing you in an inheritance lawsuit get access to all your emails?  Put another way, can someone you are suing in a Palm Beach probate lawsuit read ALL your emails?

How does inherited wealth affect your heirs?  Does leaving an inheritance to adult children help them in life or does it remove incentive and a desire to be productive?  Anderson Cooper, the CNN newsman, and host of the news show AC360, http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/, was in the news himself lately.  Yahoo reported that Cooper, son of Gloria Vanderbilt, told Howard Stern, http://www.howardstern.com/, that he would not be inheriting from his mom’s wealth. 

This is a March 27, 2014 guardianship case from the Supreme Court of Mississippi which dealt with prudent investing and transfering a guardianship to another state.  The minor’s guardian petitioned for transfer of the guardianship to Louisiana, where the ward and guardian had moved.  It involves a minor’s $$$, lots of money:  from the loss of the minor’s father at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20, 2010.