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Serving South Florida
since
1982
Board Certified Elder Law
Attorney
By the Florida Bar and
National Elder Law Foundation
West
Broward
Fort
Lauderdale area
(954) 726-6602
Boynton
- Delray
(561) 496-0077
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Please call us for a free elder law report. |
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Probate
Probate is the
court process for gathering a decedent's assets, paying taxes
and claims, and distributing assets to the beneficiaries.
Generally probate is only necessary when a person dies with
assets in his or her own name alone. Assets in a living
trust, jointly held or with a beneficiary do not have to
go through probate.
Probate has a
bad reputation and rightfully so! It is expensive. Legal fees
are approximately 3% of the probate assets and the personal
representative (executor) can also take a fee up to 3%. If there
is real estate in more than one state, there can be multiple
probates. Additionally, probate takes at least six months and
sometimes more and delays the distribution of the assets to the
beneficiary.
Probates occurs
because of one or more of the following:
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"Let the kids
worry about it--I'll be dead."
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Poor planning
and lack of information
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Procrastination
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Not wanting
to deal with unpleasant subjects
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Waiting to
let the surviving spouse "take care of things" (and he/she
can't or doesn't)
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Fear and
misinformation about living trusts and other important estate
planning tools.
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Poor legal
advice on how to avoid probate.
Lawyers no
longer keep these tools a "secret" in order to generate probate
fees. Elder law and estate planning attorneys are trained to
provide information on the ways to avoid probate proceedings and
otherwise properly plan your estate.
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West
Broward (Fort Lauderdale area)
Cinnamon Tree Plaza
Click here for directions
5701 N. Pine Island Rd, Suite 260
Tamarac, Florida
33321
Phone: (954) 726-6602
Fax: (954) 721-0910 |
Boynton
- Delray
Delray
Commons - SW Corner
Click here
for directions
2160
West Atlantic Avenue, 2nd Floor
Delray Beach, Florida 33445
Phone: (561) 496-0077
Fax: (954) 721-0910 |
Florida
Elder Law, Estate Planning &