An advanced health directive can allow your aging parents to clarify their wishes about medical orders like DNR (do not attempt resuscitation) or POLST (physical orders for life-sustaining treatment). Simply put, advance directives empower older adults to make known...
Estate Planning
5 different types of trusts
A will is a legal document that helps designate assets to beneficiaries. However, this document can also face taxes, disputes and delays. People can add trusts into their estate plans to avoid these issues. A trust allows a grantor to give assets to a trustee who is...
Understanding liability on contaminated properties in a living trust
Trusts are tricky, but once you get a good grasp of how they work and the responsibilities that come with it, you can add properties without worries. However, when the properties you want to include in your living trust are contaminated, the rules on liability are...
How often should you update your estate plan?
An estate plan is one of the most important legal documents you can ever prepare. With a valid estate plan in place, you can rest assured that your wishes will be honored if you are incapacitated or when you are not around to speak for yourself. For your estate plan...
What is the difference between an heir and a beneficiary?
When creating an estate plan, people are generally leaving their assets to heirs and beneficiaries. These groups may have some overlap, but there are some key distinctions between the two. To start with, heirs are direct descendants of the deceased. This term is most...
When should you update your estate plan?
One thing that is clear about estate plans is that they do need to be updated. Simply writing the plan and then forgetting about it means that it could be outdated when you pass away. But when should you update it? There are two main ways to address this, both of...
FAQ about Florida estate planning for business owners
In Florida's dynamic business environment, many entrepreneurs dedicate themselves to building and expanding their businesses. As a business owner in the Sunshine State, you need to protect your business's future and guarantee its continuation after your death. Owning...
4 reasons you might want to avoid the probate process
Probate is a process in which the court distributes a person’s assets after death. The process might provide some protection for the decedent’s assets, and it might discourage disputes among potential heirs. Despite these benefits, there are several reasons you may...
3 powers a trust gives you that a will does not
Your Florida estate plan might include any number of different components, and some possible inclusions may give you more power than others. For example, while a will is a key part of any estate plan, there are limits to what a will enables you to do. According to...
Can I add another property to my existing living trust?
When creating the terms of a trust, we usually consider present circumstances and existing assets. For instance, we include beneficiaries thinking they would still be in our lives by the time of the trust’s execution. But unforeseeable events can force you to change...
