Florida Estate Planning

When referring to your Florida estate planning, the term “estate” consists of the bundle of assets and liabilities that  you own at time of your death.  When referring to your “assets”, they consist of anything that you own that has some value.  Your  “liabilities” are basically debts or amounts that you owe to third parties. Despite the […] Read more

Successful marriages are often described as partnerships.  Ideally, there’s a mutual respect and appreciation for one another’s contributions.  And, although marriage usually involves a bigger emotional commitment than a business partnership, in either relationship you’re likely to find jointly owned property. However, when it comes to joint ownership, a spouse gets the edge over a […] Read more

Protecting and promoting healthy relationships is near and dear to everything that we do when helping people with estate planning matters.  A couple of caveats for this article are as follows.  First, estate planning is all about identifying key relationships with family and friends, both past, present and future, in so many ways.  Second, estate […] Read more

Florida law recognizes three basic forms of joint ownership.  Two of the three—joint tenancy and tenancy in the entireties—come with what is referred to as a “right of survivorship.”  What that means is that, when one co-owner dies, the surviving owner automatically receives full, undivided ownership of the asset.  By definition, a co-owner who holds […] Read more

WEB BASED ESTATE PLANNING:  THE NEXT FRONTIER OR A DEAD-END STREET? With each passing year, more and more of everyday life moves online.  The emergence of COVID-19 and its impact on Florida estate planning, has only accelerated that trend. You can work from home, go on virtual tours of museums, or even take guitar lessons […] Read more

In 2019, the U.S. Congress significantly overhauled the laws affecting retirement planning when it passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (better known as the “SECURE Act”).  The SECURE Act’s primary objectives are to expand access to tax-advantaged retirement accounts like IRAs and 401ks and to allow more retirees’ savings to last […] Read more

The definition of “family” has expanded to become more inclusive over the past 25 years to include many variations in lifestyle. For those who live a non-traditional lifestyle, the importance of non-traditional estate planning in Florida may be even greater than for traditional families. A non-traditional family may involve a couple living in an unmarried relationship. A blended family with […] Read more

An estate plan can be designed to serve multiple goals, depending on the individual.  Your objectives might be to reduce taxes and transaction costs while providing for the long-term support of loved ones.  Someone else might be more concerned with ensuring assets remain in the right hands and simplifying the estate-administration process. Florida estate planning […] Read more

I personally draw many analogies and life lessons from surfing and being in the ocean. I believe that nature tells us so much about life if we only care to listen. Does it make sense to plan ahead for the big storm swells of life while seas are relatively calm?  Unfortunately many people wait until the […] Read more